Accelerate Your Performance

As leaders of teams and organizations, it is never our intent to create distrust. However, there are times when employees will observe our behavior and distrust can ensue. Today, Dr. Janet Pilcher, continues her thoughts from episode 163 Lead by Example , to reflect on what leader actions contribute to the deterioration of trust. This episode addresses questions, such as: What leader actions resul...

Rural communities are inspiring places to live - people are always there to lend a hand and support one another through challenges and disasters. Rural communities also face unique challenges - the outmigration of talented workers, aging infrastructures, and consolidation into larger, less local systems. A Huron senior director, Tad Hunt , who oversees the rural and critical access segment, discus...

People in leadership and government roles, teachers, and sports coaches have one thing in common: their roles are positions of power. People look to leaders like these for inspiration and to provide guidance and direction. Just like leaders in society, if we say one thing and then do another, we may lose our team's trust in our organization. Today, Dr. Janet Pilcher reflects on the importance...

In rural areas and small communities, we often find health and school systems are the largest employers. These industries are more alike than different in several ways. Today, Quint Studer and Janet Pilcher discuss the intersection between healthcare and education, and how these two industries have the power to transform their communities into successful, thriving places filled with talented worke...

As we progress through phases of transitioning back into something that resembles life before the pandemic, people will need their leaders to lean into the emotional side of the workplace more than ever. This change won't happen overnight, rather we will move through stage after stage - each requiring us to build energy into our workplaces. To help teams thrive on the other side, Janet shares...

Inspiring an entire organization of people to commit to continuous improvement and service excellence is an admirable goal - one that will also pay off through challenging situations. Returning from episode #158 , three leaders from the School District of Menomonee Falls share how a foundational culture of shared leadership and consistent communication empowered people to collaborate and transform...

Change is continuous, and in our organizations, leaders have the responsibility of balancing employees' emotions with the rational side of work. This past year has taught us that it's easier to lead with agility to manage change when we hardwire leadership fundamentals in our organizations. Today, Janet shares the foundational tools and tactics to advance our leadership and provides the...

What happens when an organization committed to improvement has to transform everything they do in 5 days? People let go of being perfect and rely on their relationships, values, and communication to achieve results. Joining Janet today are three leaders from the School District of Menomonee Falls; Casey Blochowiak, Tina Posnanski, and Sue Lee. Listen as they share how their team has remained agile...

As the world continues to change at a rapid pace we need to help people in our organizations more than ever hardwire leadership fundamentals. To do so, we focus on the Nine Principles for Organizational Excellence . The best organizations continuously transform and review their practices to identify opportunities to improve, because we are only at our best when we strive for excellence in everythi...

What makes employees engage, commit, and connect with their organization? Leaders that listen and use feedback to transform the culture of the organization. Today's guest, Tim Hire,  Superintendent of Schools , Tulare County Office of Education reminds us that there will always be plenty of work to do - make sure it's the right work. If your organization doesn't live by its values -...

How can we leave our workdays feeling less stressed and exhausted? This is a common question for many leaders. After days filled with meetings and unexpected interruptions, there is often little time left over for deep-thinking or other critical tasks that contribute to our organization. In today's episode, Janet reflects on this challenge, sharing her own exhaustion and desire to manage time...

Sports and athletics have offered many of us an opportunity to develop critical leadership and life skills. Today's episode features a special guest who faced a unique set of circumstances requiring him to remain agile and authentic throughout his childhood and young career. His focus on being persistent and developing personal relationships recently paid off as he was selected in the 2020 NF...

What are the signs of a workplace culture in need of shifting? Are you noticing a disconnect between what leaders are trying to accomplish and what employees are internalizing? Do your employees continue to ask questions about what the organization can do for them, rather than speaking to how their lives are better because they work there? Today Janet provides 6 actions to stop doing and 6 actions...

Dale Shaver returns from epsiode #151 to share the biggest challenges their data reveal and key takeaways for all leaders willing to collaborate to find creative solutions to community wide problems. Waukesha County Government was no stranger to partnering with schools, however, this pandemic brought about an opportunity Dale refers to as, "Snow days on steroids." Through their collabora...

Recently we've been hearing conversations around data demonstrating that with certain approaches to safety, students can return back to school in classrooms. Dale Shaver from the Waukesha County Government returns to the podcast to share the strategic efforts their county has applied to connect public health and k12 education. The results of this high-performing, collaborative community effor...

A leader's most important challenge is to keep the organization from falling. To remain good, or even great depends on how we roll strategy, people, and service into how we approach leadership in the next decade. As change becomes ongoing and more complex, a traditional strategic plan will no longer suffice. To continuously improve and continuously adapt to change we need a fluid, dynamic, ag...

Some topics are easier to approach in the workplace than others. Conflicting issues and viewpoints often leave leaders stuck between a rock and a hard place. Discussing topics like diversity and inclusion can feel risky for leaders who don't know how their teams will react. With these leaders in mind, Dr. Gayle Juneau Butler and Dr. Janet Pilcher collaborated to develop a 3-stage framework to...

Reflect on the last time someone gave you constructive feedback... did it feel like a gift? That likely depends on the intent of the person providing the feedback. Within our own teams and organizations providing constructive feedback to one another is a necessary step in the improvement process.  Yet feedback that is littered with generalizations does little to help others improve. Listen as Dr....

To have any chance at alleviating the growing number of teacher shortages , traditional and nontraditional institutions responsible for educating teachers have to consider new business models that meet potential teachers where they are in their lives, careers and educational journeys. It’s time for a wholesale rethinking of how we recruit, educate and support teachers for the workforce of the futu...

Routines provide structure and comfort within our teams. Rituals go beyond providing structure to instill a deeper meaning behind a sequence of actions. As we continuously navigate change, we need structure to reduce people's anxiety and increase their confidence. People need to know their work has purpose and is worthwhile in helping an organization achieve results. Today, Janet shares one o...

What skills do we need to cultivate now to lead our organizations into the future? In this episode, Janet challenges the solution of reorganizing the hierarchical structures within our organizations and recommends we focus on increasing agility to manage through consistent and continuous change. As leaders our most important job is to develop and coach employees to work across boundaries, transfor...

Politics, violence, hate... These topics aren't often discussed in our workplaces. Yet people on our teams are feeling pain, disbelief, fear, anger, confusion, and frustration. As leaders, our teams are looking to us to lean in and provide support to manage these feelings. In this episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher shares an approach she created and followed to encourage inclusive conversations on he...

Continuous improvement is a process,  a mindset, and a set of tools. It's organization-wide and specific to each individual. At its core are the people who do the work. Through sustained, system-wide improvement, teams can deeply understand and solve problems, while thriving through crises. Two experts in continuous improvement,  Dr. John Toussaint and Dr. Christina Dixon join us again to dis...

There is a lot of information out there about continuous improvement and lean thinking. But, do we know what is really at the core of those methodologies? Dr. John Toussaint and Dr. Christina Dixon join Janet today to dig deep into the core of improvement work. It is no secret that many systems struggle to sustain improvement work beyond isolated occurrences and leaders. In this episode, experts C...

In this ever-changing climate, continuous improvement is more vital than ever, and it's something today's guest, Dr. Ed Manansala , County Superintendent of Schools at El Dorado COE , and the President of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association are deeply committed to. Listen as Janet and Ed discuss how to engage people in continuous improvement, 5 bold ste...