Accelerate Your Performance

Change has accelerated for all of us over this past year. External demands and pressures are calling for leaders to change the way they do business. While the majority of our employees want to help the organization achieve excellence, not everyone feels this way. Our responsibility as leaders is to focus on building work environments that empower solid and high performers to be accountable and see...

Leadership is a full-time job that requires relentless commitment. For leaders living in rural communities, there is an added challenge of everyone knowing you personally as well. Today, Randy Drost , Superintendent of Rice Lake Area School District joins Janet to share about leading in his hometown community, Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Listen as Randy and Janet discuss the connectedness, challenges an...

A goal of many organizations is to build an inclusive, positive workplace culture that achieves positive results. Doing so requires us to address how our individual behavior contributes to the culture. The truth is, we are all biased at times, and those biases can cause conflict and even toxicity in the workplace. Today, Dr. Janet Pilcher will discuss two cognitive biases we all experience from ti...

It's no secret that higher ed hasn't worked at the speed of business. Yet the past year left institutions with no choice other than to transform - and transform quickly. This week, Georgia Southern University President, Dr. Kyle Marrero joins Janet to discuss how his institution has used its mission and values to maintain focus through the uncertainty. With accelerated communication, sel...

Do you know someone who seems to be unable to control their emotions? Maybe you feel this way yourself at times. We all have varying degrees of emotional intelligence. Although it's difficult to face our challenges and shift our behaviors, it can be done. During today's episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher shares 9 Signs of Low Emotional Intelligence from Kendra Cherry via Very Well Mind as well a...

How do we maintain the momentum and elevate an already outstanding higher education institution? The way we've defined transformation in the past has been put to the test over the past year. Today's guest, South Louisiana Community College Chancellor, Dr. Vincent June, explains to become the best resource for his community takes more creativity than he anticipated. Listen as he shares ab...

Although there are differences between rural and urban communities, many of our problems are the same. We are all interconnected as we are solving these critical issues in America. While Janet reflects on our Strengthening Rural America event, she explains, "the quality of life in our country is dependent on our ability to connect with each other and strengthen America." Our communities...

How can higher education transform to inspire a new generation of learning, thinking, and imaginative invention? We can start by listening to those we serve and embracing the call for diverse learning and experiences to overcome the status quo. Today, Dr. Brendan Kelly, University of West Georgia President , joins Dr. Janet Pilcher to discuss the positive progress UWG has made despite a year of ch...

Have you ever worked with a leader who is physically there, yet psychologically absent? Someone who avoids ownership, meaningful engagement, and shifts the blame to others? This type of leader can be difficult, if not impossible to please - slowly killing productivity and engagement in the workplace.  While an absentee leader's behavior may not come across as toxic, it can be more harmful tha...

Conversations about the need for transformation in education aren't new. However, this past year has demonstrated that transformation is possible - and at greater speeds than we ever realized. As we look ahead to the future of higher education, it's filled with both excitement and uncertainty. Today, Dr. Janet Pilcher is joined by Dr. Natalie Harder , President of Coker University , to d...

Loyalty and trust go hand and hand. Great teammates have both loyalty OF the team and create loyalty TO the team. Listen as Janet shares insights from the article, Why Loyalty is Crucial to Basketball Excellence and how we can transfer those to our work teams. A good coach can't play the game with their team, but a good coach can set the team up for success. Create winning teams with the righ...

Strategic plans and goals are created with the best intentions to propel an organization into the future. There are also situations that require us to refresh these goals and readjust the next steps. Today, Dr. Sue Savaglio-Jarvis , Superintendent of the third-largest school district in Wisconsin, Kenosha Unified School District , joins Janet to share how her leadership team made the decision to r...

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...