Hardwiring Courageous Leadership to Inspire Bold Action Dr. Karen - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Hardwiring Courageous Leadership to Inspire Bold Action

• Dr. Karen Wendorf-Heldt

CESA (Cooperative Educational Service Agency) 9 AESA 2018

Are you better today than you were yesterday?

Will you be better tomorrow than you are today?

Learning Intentions

• Hear “a” story of “a” continuous improvement work in progress at an ESA in

rural northern Wisconsin-reflect, relate, refill your bucket

• Understand the critical relationship between leadership, culture, behavior, and

results

• Leave this session and the conference inspired, equipped with additional tools,

and re-committed to take your next intentional steps in courageous leadership to inspire bold action

Melissa Matarazzo, Studer Education Tim Kight, Focus3

How do YOU know? Turn and Talk

Moving beyond “cardiac assessment”

In our hearts, we “feel” like we’re doing a good job!

When you think of getting better at what you do... ...what challenges do you sometimes encounter?

Three Strategic Directions

• Knowing our customers better

○ Understanding their work and needs

• Our customers knowing us better

○ Marketing to prevent “best kept secret syndrome”

• Strengthening our service design

○ Continuous improvement and innovation

Commit to Excellence

• Quality service, improving education
• Hire the best, support them, encourage them, invest in them, retain them
• Build culture—high expectations, high support
• Connect to purpose
• Inspiration-rekindle the fire
• Coach for resilience
• Organizational scorecard and setting the overall tone for excellence
• Address performance & system issues that are a barrier to excellence

Measure the Important Things

• Rounding summaries
• Program evaluations
• Annual District Services Survey
• Annual Employee Engagement Survey
• Effectiveness of staff meetings
• District and School Report Cards
• Monthly financials
• Annual audit
• Informal pulse checks

Build a Culture Around Service

• Routinely connect to purpose (mission, vision, values, goals)-agendas,

etc.

• Understanding need (get to know our districts)
• Nimbleness (become what our districts need us to become)
• It’s not about me! Outward focus--service mindset
• Lead learners
• Cohesive, connected, integrated service delivery model
• Continuous improvement and innovation
• Annual presentation to PAC (our districts know us)

Create and Develop Leaders

• Growing our own leaders from within
• Hiring leaders (and leadership potential) from the field
• Capacity building as part of meeting agendas
• Coach and connect
• Invest in professional learning for return on investment
• Book studies
• Sharing of professional learning
• Move the cheese sometimes—outside of comfort zones, build new skills

Focus on Employee Engagement

• Intentional culture building
• Book study: “The Great Employee Handbook” by Quint Studer
• Addressing conflict-having the tough conversations
• Solution-focused, “together, we can”
• “With” not “to”
• Goal setting and evaluation
• Feedback
• Rounding and employee check-ins (new employee 30 and 90 day)
• Engaging, responsive staff meetings
• Surveys

Build Individual Accountability

• Autonomy, mastery, purpose as intrinsic motivators-Daniel Pink

“Drive”

• Results-oriented work environment (high expectations/high support)
• Sing for your supper
• Employee goal setting and annual evaluation
• Ongoing feedback and support
• Coaching and connecting
• Improvement plan and extra support when needed
• Building skill in those with will

Align Behaviors with Goals and Values

• Cascading—from the 30,000 square feet big picture to my 20 square

feet

• Modeling and expecting alignment
• Discipline over default
• Articulation and review
• Keeping “leadership-culture-behavior-results” and E + R = O on the

front burner

• Agendas, goal setting forms, etc.
• Live it every day. “Do the work!” (Tim Kight)

Communicate at All Levels

• Quarterly newsletters
• Social media: Facebook and Twitter
• Email blasts (especially three-month look ahead at PD)
• The good, old-fashioned methods—face to face, phone, etc.
• Monday Morning Huddles (support staff--Focus3 training videos)
• Zoom meetings--blended professional development
• Financial newsletter: https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/#drafts
• Wednesday Words of Wisdom-staff
• Results Roll-out—reflecting on and action planning from annual

surveys

Recognize and Reward Success

• Celebrations and shout outs
• Managing up-encouraging one another
• Traveling Good Apple Award and Journal: Good Apple Award
• Thank you Thursdays (notes)
• Work anniversaries and birthdays
• Intrinsic motivation: autonomy, mastery, purpose (Pink)
• Opportunity to grow and develop
• Board recognition
• District, school, staff, and community success

COURAGEOUS BOLD IMPACT

From Excellent to Elite

Elite = best version of self best version of organization Talent, barriers, skill Tim Kight

WRCCS

COURAGEOUS

Our journey… Better today than yesterday… Better tomorrow than today… Your journey too?

Questions & Wonderings What’s STICKY?

So how will YOU be better tomorrow than you are today?

• 3 things you learned or were reminded of that you

already know

• 2 questions you have or ideas you’d like to explore

further

• 1 thing you’ll do in the next week to lead courageously

and inspire bold action

Thanks!