Donna Kirby, the Vice President of Operations at the Pensacola Blue Wahoo’s AA Baseball team, joins Janet Pilcher this week to talk about Donna’s journey to becoming a leader of best practices in minor league baseball. Donna and her team at the Blue Wahoo’s stadium are sought after as an example for creating the ultimate fan experience. 

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• What is the passion behind Donna Kirby’s work?
• How can a focus on customer service improve life in your community?
• What creates loyal fans of an organization? 

We will continue the conversation with Donna Kirby in episode #41 by discussing the value of great service. 

Recommended Reading: Exceed With Delight

Recommended Watching: Defining Service Excellence

Many successful, hardworking Americans experience burnout more than once during their careers, even people who are passionate about what they do. High performers can be obsessed with achieving excellence and exceeding results to the point of exhaustion. And when the candles are burning at both ends for too long, we do ourselves, our clients, and our team a disservice. Begin reducing stress by taking small steps to prevent overload burnout.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• What is overload burnout? 
• How does being overly stressed affect our teams and productivity?
• What can we do to monitor our burnout levels? 

 
 Recommended Reading: From Hopeless to Champion & Is it Really Urgent?

The way we provide feedback makes a difference in how people receive and act on the feedback. If our goal is to provide feedback to change behavior for the right reasons, we need to message our feedback in the right way. Dr. Pilcher dissects real-life situations where feedback was given that wasn’t asked for, or that hurts the receiver, and offers solutions and tips to improve the interaction. 

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How can we provide feedback that changes behavior? 
• What happens when we send emotionally charged responses? 
• How does aggressive language negatively affect the receiver? 

Recommended Reading: Three Positives for Every One Constructive Feedback & Provide Feedback that Inspires& Key Words at Key Times & Plus/Delta

There’s a fine line between giving feedback for improvements and leaving an employee feeling criticized and deflated. Few of us respond well to someone telling us what to do or how to fix ourselves. Yet when feedback is provided in the right way, individuals are motivated to learn and improve. To create excellent organizations providing others with feedback is necessary. Reshape your feedback conversations to focus on achieving a positive outcome.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• What is the most productive way to give feedback?
• How does feedback fuel the achievement of excellence? 
• How can leaders use feedback to inspire a change in behavior? 

 
 Recommended Reading: The Feedback Fallacy By Marcus Buckingham & Ashley Goodall

Recommended Learning: Three Positives for Every One Constructive Feedback

Making intentional connections with employees is especially important when the employee is within the first 30 and 90 days. Research shows that up to 22% of turnover takes place within an employee’s first 45 days of employment. 30-day conversations reinforce that leaders are committed to retaining the new employee and provide leaders with a fresh perception of the organization. This week Dr. Pilcher dives into what a 30-day conversation is and then provides a real-life example with Studer Education℠ new hire Beka Padilla. 

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How can I build a relationship with my newly hired employees?
• How can I ensure new employees are engaged and connecting with the organization’s culture?
• How can I understand the challenges new hires are facing? 

 
 Recommended Reading: 30-Day and 90-Day Conversations, How to be Intentional and Most Effective with 30/90-Day Conversations

Additional Resources: 30-Day and 90-Day Conversations Tracking Form

Why is a commitment to excellence important as a leader and as an organization? Dr. Janet Pilcher interviews Harry S. Hertz Leadership Award recipient, Dr. JoAnn Sternke, to get her perspective on what it takes to pursue performance excellence. As a superintendent of Pewaukee School District, JoAnn led the organization to receive a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. In this episode, she reveals the key to seeing results and getting the entire group of leaders moving forward. 

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• What do great leaders focus on? 
• How can you approach the organization’s goals more systematically? 
• What has the greatest impact on moving the organization forward?
• What is the significance of using the Baldridge Framework along with the Nine Principles®? 

Recommended Reading: Case Study: 10-Year Quality Journey Leads to Baldridge Honor for Wisconsin School District

Recommended Learning: Leading Change

It’s difficult to become a great organization, and even more difficult to sustain that success. This week, Dr. Pilcher explores the 5 stages of defeat as identified in Jim Collin’s book ‘How the Mighty Fall’ and what you can do as a leader to get up before you fall too far. 

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• Why do successful organizations fall?
• How can you get up before we fall too far?
• How do you lead your team to work with relentless resolve every day to achieve results, manage through difficulties and come out better at the other end?

Recommended Reading:How the Mighty Fall by: Jim Collins

Recommended Learning: Reflective Practice – Do More of What’s Working

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How can organizations set themselves apart and provide their stakeholders with unmistakable value? It all starts with effective leadership and a culture focused on purpose. Dr. KK Owen joins Dr. Janet Pilcher to discuss how she helps organizations mold a culture around unmistakable value in real life. 

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• What is ‘unmistakable value’?
• How do organization’s mold a culture around unmistakable value?
• What leadership characteristics make an effective leader? 
• How do you start a culture change?

Recommended Reading:Improve Performance with Leader Led Conversations

Recommended Learning: Executive Leader Reflection

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Are you really listening to your employees? Many employees don’t think so, in fact, more than half of employees say their company fails to act on good ideas, and a third of employees feel their ideas are ignored. Why? Because leaders demand action without input, receive feedback and avoid making changes, and lack a clear process for managing ideas. It’s crucial for leaders to let employees speak and pay ridiculous attention to what they are saying so teams are motivated to collaborate towards a solution and action plan. 

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How can you support an employee to change their behavior? 
• Why is there a disconnect between leader and employee perceptions of quality communication?
• How does listening foster team collaboration? 
• Why do some team members have deep convictions to their ideas? 

 
 Recommended Reading: To Change Someone’s Mind, Stop Talking and Listen By Nilofer Merchant

Recommended Learning: Conduct a Listening Tour

One of a leader’s greatest responsibilities is to ensure teams are engaged and productive. People are motivated to increase productivity when leaders take time to get to know them personally, make them feel comfortable, and help remove barriers in the workplace. When we connect with employees in ways that are meaningful to them, they become more engaged, productivity and profits increase, meanwhile, turnover, absenteeism, and shrinkage decrease. 

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How can we gather feedback from our employees?
• Is there a way to establish genuine relationships with others at work? 
• Is it important to have a good relationship with coworkers and subordinates? 
• How do I prioritize which processes in the organization need improving? 

 
 Recommended Reading: Meet 5 Critical Employee Needs w/ Leader Connection Questions

Recommended Learning: Leader Connection Questions