Accelerate Your Performance

As we begin to focus on the principle of rewarding and recognizing others, please join us for a special episode where Dr. Janet Pilcher shares four valuable life lessons from one of her most influential mentors and friends, Ms. Georgia Blackmon. Although Ms. Blackmon recently passed away, her legacy as a visionary, community leader, political activist, and strong advocate for both children and the...

Would you like to strengthen communication within your organization? Listen along as Dr. Ryan Carpenter of the Estacada School District discusses how he establishes effective two-way communication through his implementation of daily huddles and scorecards. He explains how scorecards drive success and enhance communication while huddles allow teams to build culture, chemistry, and ensure alignment...

In this Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Dr. Ryan Carpenter, Superintendent of the Estacada School District, to discuss his efforts at enhancing communication at all levels in his district. Effective communication is a key part of an improvement mindset that extends to the workplace and the community, and Dr. Carpenter has excelled at this. Listen as Dr. Carpe...

In this Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Dr. Angela Bush, principal of Erwin Middle School in Birmingham, Alabama, to discuss how she has moved her school from low-performing to now the top-ranked school in the Jefferson County School District for attendance. They were also ranked #5 out of fifteen middle schools in the county in 2022 by US News. Listen now to...

In this Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Nannette Johnston, former Studer Education Leader Coach and 2014 Superintendent of the Year, awarded by the Kentucky Association of School Administrators. She joins us to discuss what it takes to succeed in the continually changing K12 education landscape and also share her experience serving one of our partners, Rob Cl...

What does it take to facilitate meetings people look forward to coming to? In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher discusses her approach to designing better meeting agendas and strategies that have helped her become a better coach and facilitator. Listen now to learn more about these tips for agendas, including how incorporating questions rather than topics c...

In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher discusses how professional development for leaders can impact employee retention and workplace environments. She explains the importance of helping leaders learn how to build inspiring workplace environments that build strength in teachers and staff and that develop their skills. This supports a positive learning environ...

Dr. Janet Pilcher discusses how leaders can foster a workplace environment where employees feel engaged and connected to their work in this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast. Today's focus is employee engagement, a key leadership principle she discusses in her new book, Hardwiring Excellence in Education: The Nine Principles Framework . Listen now as she gives examples of tac...

Dr. Janet Pilcher interviews Superintendent Dr. Christi Barrett, of Hemet Unified School District in Hemet, California, on this Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode. During their conversation, they discuss Christi's commitment to leadership development, student safety, community opportunities, and improvement work. Listen now to hear Janet and Christi discuss the tactics, such as daily...

Featured in this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast is Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann of the Northfield Public School System in Northfield, Minnesota to discuss leadership development. Dr. Janet Pilcher also highlights him in chapter 4 of her book, Hardwiring Excellence in Education as an example of a high-performing executive. In this interview, Dr. Hillmann explains how he clea...

Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Amy Mikesell, principal of Estacada High School, and Kate Dean, instructional coach, as guests on this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast. Amy and Kate share their continuous improvement journey and the strategies, such as PDSA, rounding, and Plus/Delta, that have helped them achieve great progress in helping students own their learning. Listen to them dis...

Recently, Dr. Janet Pilcher participated in a podcast hosted by Dr. Brendan Kelly, University of West Georgia President, called Off the Cuff. Dr. Kelly is featured in the second chapter of Janet's newly released book Hardwiring Excellence in Education . In today's episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, we share the recording of their conversation. Listen now to discover how...

In this Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher welcomes Dale Shaver, Director of the Waukesha County Department of Parks and Land Use in Wisconsin. He is a model leader in how he uses measures that matter to achieve successful outcomes. Listen now to learn how Dale and his team use this principle to gather data, define problems, align teams, and build strong relationships w...

In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Janet invites two leaders who exhibit the first principle in the Nine Principles Framework, Commit to Excellence. Listen to the Chancellors of Fletcher Technical Community College, Dr. Kristine Strickland, and Bossier Parish Community College, Dr. Rick Bateman, as they discuss their recent leadership awards, strategic focus on cultivating...

In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance Podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Jon Malone, Regional Director and Chief Executive for the Northwestern Illinois Association, and Alicia Hulin, Executive Director for Human Resources and Strategic Engagement at South Louisiana Community College, as guests. They are shining examples of leaders committed to excellence in their organizations. Janet...

In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance Podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Matt Renaud and Dr. Kyle Thompson, who both serve as Regional Superintendents for the Regional Offices of Education in Illinois, to discuss how they each work to help recruit and retain teachers in their districts. Listen now as they discuss many of their recruitment tactics from consistently looking for effectiv...

This episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast will be the first in a series to highlight some of the stories and results chronicled in Dr. Janet Pilcher’s newly released book Hardwiring Excellence in Education: The Nine Principles Framework . The first guest to be interviewed is Dr. Pat Greco, Senior Director of Thought Leadership at Studer Education. Listen as Janet invites Pat to discu...

How do you build an improvement-focused culture of engagement and service excellence? This is what the new book, Hardwiring Excellence in Education: The Nine Principles Framework , helps leaders focus on. The book is written by our own Dr. Janet Pilcher. Listen to this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast where Janet discusses her newly released book and how it can help leaders on th...

In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites CheyAnne Fant, Director of Nutrition Services at Barren County Schools in Glasgow, Kentucky, to the show. Eight schools in CheyAnne’s district have been named Healthiest Schools in America, awarded by Alliance for a Healthier Generation's annual recognition program. Listen as CheyAnne shares how they reached...

Is my role as a leader to have the answers, or to impress upon people that I am the expert? Am I set on continuing to learn as a leader? How can I better serve others? These are some of the questions our host Dr. Janet Pilcher regularly reflects upon so that she can grow as a leader. In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Janet models how employees on every level in an organiz...

Dr. Janet Pilcher invites a multi-international award-winning photographer, author, and soon-to-be teacher, Mary Davis, as a guest on this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast. Mary discusses her journey and how she came to the decision to enroll in TeacherReady, our online teaching certification program. Listen as she shares her works, her latest children’s book, and how the Teacher...

What must our organizations do today to help our country maintain its greatness and to sustain the democracy? What does business owe the world? In this Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher discusses these questions posed by Frances Hesselbein in order to understand the importance of creating healthy schools and communities. Listen as Janet reflects on how individuals, org...

In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Sergio Mendoza, Superintendent of Burton School District in Porterville, California, to discuss his retirement announcement and journey as a leader in education. Listen as Sergio discusses key tools, such as scorecards and PDSA cycles, that he has used to cultivate a culture that drives continuous growth. Recomme...

Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Dr. Casey Blochowiak, Director Coach, as a guest on this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast. Casey shares tips on how you can create time and space to intentionally slow down, pause, and reflect on the past year and prepare for the next school year. Casey encourages leaders to not get stuck in a “should have” mindset and to instead focus on positive accomp...

Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Dr. Sarah Miller, Senior Director of TeacherReady, as a guest on this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast. Dr. Miller explains how we utilize a continuous improvement process to update and advance the TeacherReady program, an alternative path to teacher certification. Listen as they discuss current district partnerships, results seen from TeacherReady alumn...