Accelerate Your Performance

In this Accelerate Your Performance Podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher discusses her soon-to-be-released book, Hardwiring Excellence in Education: The Nine Principles Framework. The book reflects our team's and partners' work across the country with the Nine Principles. Listen now as Janet explains the importance that the core values from the Nine Principles Framework (discussed in her book) have in fostering excellent leaders and how excellent leaders are needed to grow excellent organizations.Recommended Resources: Hardwiring Excellence in Education: The Nine Principles Framework, The Nine Principles and The Pursuit of Excellence, Nine Principles in Action, & The Nine Principles for Organizational Excellence

In this Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Dr. Matt Hillmann, Superintendent of Northfield Public Schools, to discuss the progress and successes his district has had along their continuous improvement journey. Dr. Hillmann cultivates a culture of positivity and recognition through systems, his "what's next?" philosophy and a commitment to continuous forgiveness. Listen to the recently awarded Minnesota Superintendent of the Year as he shares an inspiring call to action for leaders in education. This episode addresses questions such as:How can I build buy-in among team members when it comes to implementing continuous improvement strategies?How do I build meetings where people are highly engaged in the work? What are some ways to implement reward and recognition tactics in my district that boost positivity and fuel the culture? Recommended Resources: Build a Culture of Improvement, Listen Intently, Reward and Recognize, & Students are Treasures

In this Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Dr. Shawn Tennenbaum, Superintendent of San Benito High School District, and the district's Board President, John Corrigan, to discuss the great impact leader rounding has had on their district. This has allowed them to understand how constituents feel about developing a new school, engage in one-to-one conversations with employees to gather feedback, and allow board members to have productive dialogue with community members. Listen now as Dr. Tennenbaum and Mr. Corrigan discuss how they built rounding into their district's culture. This episode addresses questions such as:What are some examples of who should round with whom in an organization?How can rounding improve communication between educational leaders and members of the community in a district? What questions can help drive meaningful dialogue during rounding?Recommended Resources: There is More Than One Way to Round, Rounding With The Board, Tailor Your Rounding Questions, & Building Transparency and Trust

In this Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Dr. Lupita Hightower, Superintendent of Tolleson Elementary School District, to share about her district's successes and learnings from their continuous improvement journey. Dr. Hightower was recently awarded Arizona Superintendent of the year. During the conversation, Dr. Hightower discusses leader engagement, building professional relationships, and supporting student performance. Listen as she discusses how she uses her engaging leadership skills and tactics to cultivate a community founded on the belief that students are treasures and assets to the district and community.This episode addresses questions such as:How can I build a culture that believes in all students without exception? What does it take to achieve a mutually supportive relationship with the school board? What steps could you take to be strategic in how you go about supporting students to be able to be engaged and thrive?Recommended Resources: Inspiring Young Futures, Preparing Students for Success From Kindergarten and Beyond, Build Strong Board Relationships, & Working With The School Board

In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Sergio Mendoza, Superintendent of Burton School District; David Shimer, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services; and Julissa Leyva, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, to discuss their improvement journey and the tactics they used to reach successful outcomes in their district. In this episode, Sergio and his team also share about their upcoming presentation at the 2023 Carnegie Summit, where they will discuss the speed at which they were able to implement continuous improvement strategies and how they got them to stick. Today, Julissa, Sergio, and David share their advice with other leaders who are considering committing to the work of continuous improvement.This episode addresses questions such as:How can leaders maintain a "just keep going" attitude in the midst of challenges in the work of continuous improvement?What does it take to fearlessly commit to the work of improvement?What impact can strategic planning and scorecards have on your improvement journey? Recommended Resources: Effective Leaders are Consistent, Unrelenting Commitment to Improvement, Improvement & Innovation, & Continuous Improvement: Where Do You Start?

In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance Podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites back Terrie Morgan, Superintendent of Hardin County Schools, to discuss how she uses different leadership and strategic tactics to improve her district. Terrie discusses how tactics, such as scorecards, strategic planning, and surveys, have helped her district's improvement journey. Listen now to hear about her district's journey and consider how you might implement improvement tactics in your own district.This episode addresses questions such as:How can scorecards drive improvement?What impact could strategic planning have on your organization?When is the right time for a school district to commit to the work of continuous improvement?Recommended Resources: Great Leaders are Learning Leaders, Excellent Leaders are Intentional, Organizational Scorecard Examples, & Roll Out Survey Results With Employees

In this episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Terrie Morgan, Superintendent of Hardin County Schools, as a guest on the Accelerate Your Performance podcast. Terrie discusses how she got involved with Girls, Inc. The initiative inspires the future of young students and serves as their connect to purpose so they can learn about what future career paths are possible for them. Terrie and Janet discuss why the school board supports an initiative like Girls Inc. and the lasting change they hope will take place due to the program.This episode addresses questions such as:What is your connect to purpose that drives you to feel like your work is meaningful?What might you do to help students think outside the box to choose career paths that excite them?How can you inspire others to find purpose in their work and prepare for their future?Recommended Resources: What Drives You?, Preparing Students for Success from Kindergarten and Beyond, Inspire Others to Achieve, & 4 Questions to Plan a Meaningful Life

How can you grow your commitment to excellence by leading with transparency and trust? In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance Podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Rob Clayton, Superintendent of Warren County Public Schools, to discuss how he effectively models “cascading information” and leads with transparency and trust. Listen as Dr. Pilcher and Mr. Clayton explain how leading with transparency allows you to build trust and foster relationships within your community.This episode addresses questions such as:What does leading with transparency in action look like? How can you effectively “cascade information” in your school district?How can you model a commitment to excellence, holding yourself and others accountable?Recommended Resources: Lead Collaboratively and Transparently, Excellent Leaders are Intentional, Trust: Consistency of Leadership, & Cascading Communication

In a Harvard Business Review article, Jesse Sostrin stated, "One of the most difficult transitions for leaders to make is the shift from doing to leading." In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher utilizes this article to discuss the importance of a leader's understanding of how to effectively delegate. Listen as Janet explains how leaders can empower other leaders and team members to contribute their best work to shared priorities.This episode addresses questions such as:What is the difference between being involved and being essential? What does it mean to shape the thoughts and ideas of others instead of dictating their plans?How can you insure progress is being made even in your absence?Recommended Resources:  What Can I Stop Doing For a Strong New Year?, Great Leaders Are Learning Leaders, Be The Best Leader You Can Be, & Excellent Leaders are Intentional 

How can you work to overcome division, create unity, and strengthen relationships in your district? In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Dr. Ed Manansala, County Superintendent of Schools for El Dorado County in California, and Dr. Ken Futernick, writer and educational consultant, to discuss how they worked together to find solutions for these issues. They explain how the Bridging Divides-El Dorado initiative was formed, how they built the conditions for a culture that promotes collaboration across community agencies, and how they improved communication between the public and public officials. This episode addresses questions such as:What is the Bridging Divides -El Dorado initiative, and how can you apply some of its core values to help alleviate division in your community?How can you work to build a culture that promotes collaboration between your school board, school executives, and community agencies to solve problems and build relationships? What are the potential consequences caused by polarization, division, and strife within communities, and why is it important to safeguard ways to combat these issues? Recommended Resources:  Bridging Divides, Teachers Stories Podcast, Lead Collaboratively and Transparently, & Collaborate and Innovate With Your School Board Members

What habits might be holding you back? In this Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher discusses how starting the year with a "stop doing," or bad habit to break, can help you be a better leader, employee, and person. She explains how she will practice the act of leaving behind her phone and breaking the habit of dependency. She encourages us all to consider what our personal "stop doing" for the year will be and how that will affect our leadership and help us accelerate forward. This episode addresses questions such as:Why is stopping a bad habit more beneficial than a New Year's resolution, and how can it make you a better leader?How can being dependent on your phone affect your cognitive ability even when you are not on it?What is a negative habit you can stop this year to make yourself a better leader?Recommended Resources:  New Year, Positive Mindset, Great Leaders are Learning Leaders, What it Really Takes to Prevail, & Make Way for Innovation

What impact would it have on children's futures if they were dramatically prepared to enter Kindergarten?  That's the mission of our guest in today's Accelerate Your Performance Podcast episode.  Today, Rina Irwin, CEO of the Child Development Centers, Inc. and a 2022 Difference Maker Award winner joins us to discuss her passion and commitment to preparing children for a successful educational experience as they transition into Kindergarten and beyond.This episode addresses questions, such as:What happens during the early childhood years that benefits children entering Kindergarten?How can leaders build team alignment and commitment around the organization's vision?What could a child entering Kindergarten look like if there were strong partnerships with Early Childhood providers?Recommended Resources:  Great Leaders Are Learning Leaders, Be the Best Leader You Can Be, Create Resilient Leaders, How Focus Leads to Results

What does it mean to be a learning leader? In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Mark Bielang, Superintendent of Portage Public Schools and winner of a 2022 Difference Maker award, to be a guest. Mark discusses why being a learning leader helps him lead his team, and he also shares about his commitment to prioritizing the student voice. Listen as he explains how their voices have shaped school culture and helped foster unity across the district.This episode addresses questions, such as:How can leaders go about connecting with students to prioritize their voice?Why is it important to establish a set of organizational core values, and how do you begin this process? How can you work to enhance your leadership skills and become a learning leader to improve your organization?Recommended Resources: Be The Best Leader You Can Be, Lead Collaboratively and Transparently, Collaborate and Innovate With Your School Board Members, & Why Do Values Matter?

Striving to be an excellent leader and accomplish great goals in an organization takes commitment and hard work. In this Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Dr. Xavier De La Torre, Superintendent of Ysleta Independent School District and recent recipient of a 2022 Difference Maker Award, to share about his district's improvement journey. Ysleta Independent School District is an “A” district in Texas, and 98% of the schools in this district are earning A's and B's. In today's discussion, he shares the impact creating a strategic plan with a scorecard has had as well as how the district has achieved excellent student achievement outcomes.This episode addresses questions, such as:Why is it important to use surveys to understand and garner parent, student, and employee satisfaction?How can implementing a strategic plan using a scorecard improve an organization?What does being the best leader you can be look like to you, and what is one next step you can take to get there?Recommended Resources: Lead Collaboratively and Transparently, From Input to Action: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Excellent Leaders are Intentional, & Organizational Scorecard Examples

What does it take to be a collaborative leader who leads transparently and commits to improvement in an organization? In today’s Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Jeff Dellutri, Superintendent of Fox Point-Bayside School District, to discuss his ‘why’ for committing to the work of improvement. Listen as he shares about the results he has seen from applying the improvement work and how his collaborative leadership style has contributed to these results.This episode addresses questions, such as:What role does listening and asking questions play in being a collaborative leader?Why is working collaboratively and relying on others to do their jobs well an important part of the improvement process?What is your 'why’ for committing to the work of improvement for your organization?Recommended Resources: Unrelenting Commitment to Improvement, Get Clear About Action, Make Way for Innovation, & From Input to Action: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

"We have to know we will prevail and do so by facing the brutal facts." - Dr. Janet Pilcher. Sometimes having an overly optimistic attitude and disregarding perceived negative data can be harmful to an organization and individual. In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance Podcast, Dr. Pilcher discusses how you must often be a realist and address the hard facts while continuing to be persistent and motivated in your problem-solving. She goes on to analyze and quote the beliefs of Jim Collins, who is the author of Good to Great, and Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was a prisoner of war. This episode addresses questions, such as:Why is an overly optimistic outlook or the disregard of negative data damaging to organizations?What is a continuous improvement process, and how does it relate to the Stockdale Paradox?How can you cultivate a culture where individuals do not shy away from negative data or circumstances?    Recommended Resources: Passion and Perseverance, Unrelenting Commitment to Improvement, Fire Up Your Inner Drive, & Good to Great

How do you gather, analyze, and implement data in order to achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion? In this Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Angela Frazier Arthur, Vice President of Student Services at Waukesha County Technical College, and Sherry Simmons, Chief Diversity and Compliance Officer at Waukesha County Technical College, to discuss how they gathered data through surveys and translated it into actions to improve campus diversity and inclusion. In this episode, they dive into their three-year data-gathering period, what they have learned, how they gathered momentum for change, what obstacles they have faced, and advice they have for other leaders seeking to enact change and growth. This episode addresses questions, such as:Why is gathering data an important step of the improvement process, and how might you start gathering data in your organization to seek growth and development?  How can you cultivate a culture of continuous improvement in your organization? What impact can diversity, equity, and inclusion have on a campus as well as an organization?Recommended Resources: Excellent Leaders are Intentional, Unrelenting Commitment to Improvement, Passion and Perseverance, & Sample 360 Feedback Survey

Recently, we hosted our annual What's Right In Education (WRIE) conference in Pensacola, Florida, where we heard from leaders in education across the country about the successes and struggles they have encountered on their continuous improvement journeys. In today's Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher summarizes some of her favorite parts of WRIE and reflects on one of the key takeaways that surfaced throughout the two-day conference. To be an excellent leader and to be an excellent organization, you need to be intentional. Listen as Dr. Pilcher explains what this means.This episode addresses questions, such as:What are the key traits that mark intentional leaders?How can you work to actively be more intentional as a leader and encourage intentionality throughout your organization?   What does being intentional mean to you? Recommended Resources: Unrelenting Commitment to Improvement, The Big Picture Synthesizing, Bullseye: Framing a Strategy Session, & Champion of the Goal

In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites back a guest we have had the pleasure of hosting before, Dr. Jennifer Lowery, Superintendent of Tea Area School District in South Dakota. Dr. Lowery discusses how she has fostered growth in her school district through commitment to improvement, focusing first on culture and a commitment to excellence. Listen as Dr. Lowery shares the successes and lessons learned along the way.This episode addresses questions, such as:For leaders beginning their improvement journey, where do they start?How might you open doors for the future generation of leaders and push the growth of your district?What results would you like to see from improvement processes, if you were to implement them in your district, school, or classroom? Recommended Resources: Build a Culture of Continuous Improvement, Improvement and Innovation, Continuous Improvement: Where to start?, & Improvement Action Plan

Steve Jobs once said there is something that separates successful entrepreneurs from non-successful ones... perseverance. What does it take to lead with perseverance? According to Dr. Janet Pilcher in this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, you need passion to fuel your perseverance and enhance your skills as a leader. According to Marcel Swamp, "Passion is the engine that puts perseverance into overdrive to think up big ideas, solve big problems, and make the world a better place."This episode addresses questions, such as:Of the qualities marked by Level 5 leaders, which do you live out the best, and which one would you like to work on more?How can you focus more on the "people" and recruit those who are passionate?Why is it difficult to persevere without passion?Recommended Resources: Different Types of Leaders, How Resilient Are You?, Communicate Clearly, With Simplicity, & Essentials for Developing Leaders