Don't Let Limited Thinking Stop Your Creativity

One thing is for sure, if you keep on doing what you have always done you will get less.
Here is a test designed to help stop thinking in the same old way.

What is the reason for the logical sequence of numbers below?
8-5-4-9-7-6-3-2-0

The answer: they are in alphabetical order.

If you didn't get that answer you are ready to start thinking outside the box and get different results.

With today's cutbacks in education it is critical you look for ways to create fresh solutions to your problems.

Tom Borg Consulting, LLC., is a consulting group that specializes in without the box strategic planning, leadership training, team building, and customer culture transformation, for public school systems in Michigan and the United States. For a free 30 minute consulting session or for more information please call 734-404-5909 or visit our website at www.TomBorgConsulting.com

3 Ways to Start Taking Action Outside the Box

For many school administrators and teachers, thinking outside the box is about as far as they get. They don’t take any action. Although their intentions are good, it seems they reach a certain sticking point and can’t go any further. It is as if they are mired in thick, sticky glue that won’t allow them to move through the door and make changes that will grow their organization. If an  company cannot grow, it cannot create careers for people looking to be hired by that organization.

Of course, the bigger the organization, the harder it is to follow through and make the new changes work. As I have said before “People do prefer comfortable problems versus uncomfortable solutions.” Despite the fact that things need to change in order to eliminate the frustration and challenges that are facing them, people tend to want keep doing things the same old comfortable way. It is as if they are afraid of being successful, because it will bring new challenges that might make their lives more difficult. This type of thinking will not build a stronger economy and create more jobs.

Denis Waitley tells the story of a primitive tribe of natives in South America who live in adobe huts. The people of this tribe have been suffering from an illness that causes premature death.
It was discovered that the cause of this illness are the bites of insects that have laid eggs in the walls of their adobe huts. When it was revealed to the leaders of this tribe that the reason their people were dying prematurely from the bite of these insects, and that they should move, they refused.  It was more comforting for them to remain and do nothing, and continue to live and die as their predecessors had in the past.

Here are two ways you can help your school system progress by stretching the boundaries of how you operate. First, hold a group meeting and discuss all the obstacles that could prevent the identified and necessary action from being taken. Let everyone contribute their concerns as to why things would not work if your organization did things differently.

Once that has been exhausted, identify the overwhelming benefits that will come by doing something a different way. What advantages will your employees and management team, as well as the organization, be able to enjoy, by incorporating the changes discussed? Make a written list of the immediate and midterm benefits, and how they will positively impact the people in your organization. Discuss what the long term effects might be, and how everyone will gain. Elaborate on how this change could take your school system to the next level and position it for future success.

Finally, during this group meeting, identify the next steps that must be taken, who will be responsible for taking them, and schedule follow up meetings to adjust the path that is being taken to achieve the goals identified. Don’t forget to schedule the “milestones” to celebrate the victory when the goals been identified. By following through with this approach, you will be able to take action outside the box and succeed.

For information on our services please contact us at 734-404-5909, email tomborg@tomborgconsulting.com or visit our website.

Good Meetings Make Good Sense

I was doing a brain storming session with a client recently and an issue they were having with the  
inaccuracy of their website, was identified. Several participants complained that
no one was asking for their input from their department, and as a result, the organization had a website that was improperly informing their customers about new services that were being provided.

Good public relations begins at home. Happy staff equals happy customers.
Meaningful and staff meetings can be a very powerful tool in helping your company meet the needs and expectations of your customers. As situations come up, mini-meetings and brain-storming sessions that quickly solve problems can also be used very effectively.

Regular meetings held with a purpose can keep the lines of communication open.

Often employees feel stymied in their ability to communicate their feelings and viewpoints to management. The staff  feel like second-rate people because they are never given an opportunity to be heard. What most organizations lack is a structure to insure that the meetings are held on a regular basis.

To insure that the meetings are effective in your school district, it is important that some preparation be made before each meeting. What are the challenges that need to be addressed? What is being done about the issues that were discussed at the last meeting? What is going right? Why? How can we make things even better? By asking these kinds of questions, you are building a framework to give communication within your company a place to grow and develop.

By holding meaningful and action-oriented meetings, you make it easy for your employees to communicate with each other as well as with management. Many times, it’s not a “generation gap” that prevents teamwork within a school district, but a “communication gap.” By following through with a plan for communicating, you are insuring a clearer, more effective form of constant communication in your organization. As a result, by keeping miscommunication to a minimum, you will have a happier and more productive staff.

For more information on how to help your public school team run the best meetings possible please contact our office at 734-404-5909 or visit our website at: www.TomBorgConsulting.com

Listening to Your Customers is the Key to a Successful School System.

One of the smartest things you can do with your school district in these tough economic times is to make your students and parents happy. This happens by design not by accident. The people you and your staff serve want to feel important and they will reward your school district with their loyalty and support.

This all starts with the attitude of running your organization or department like a marathon, not a fifty yard dash. It is too easy to cut corners on scheduling and hiring when you are trying to save money. That makes the bottom line look good in the short term, but if you are planning on keeping your school district over the long haul, you have to think in terms of your customer’s best interests.

So what are the things that make your parents feel important? What are the actions you and your staff can take that will make them feel like valued human beings? One of the best ways to find out is to ask them. Sitting down with a parent over a cup of  coffee (your treat), can help them give you insights you never dreamed of hearing.

Many times the things you think are important to parents and students are not.  Curiously enough, the list of things that are important may change from week to week or may remain constant. This depends on the circumstances surrounding the people you serve. By having an ongoing dialogue with your parents and students, you can keep abreast of their service perceptions and realities.

In this age of increasing technology and the everyday frenzy that accompanies it, slowing the pace down and getting face to face with parents and students can be priceless. Investing fifteen minutes to simply ask a few questions and sincerely listening to the responses can be like hitting the mother lode of gold.

For more information on how we can help make your school district the best it can be, contact our office at 734-404-5909.

Help Your Employees Create the Right Kind of Cultural Awareness

Creating the right environment for the development of cultural awareness within your organization does not happen by accident. At your next company meeting, make some time for your employees to raise their level of understanding of the different cultures  within it. This can lead to a positive impact on the quality of everyone’s life within your workplace.

Get Your Employees Involved

Paul Gorski, founder of EDChange, makes the point that when you get your employees involved in cultural awareness activities, it allows people to learn more about each other. It helps them eliminate preconceived notions and myths about each other’s culture, and allows people to become more comfortable with each other. Here is an exercise that Gorski recommends that can be used to develop cultural awareness within your organization.

Cultural Awareness Exercise

Ask the participants in the meeting to find someone who they do not know. Ask them to introduce themselves to that person and spend five to ten minutes talking about respect. What does it mean for you to show respect, and what does it mean for you to be shown respect? After the allotted time, ask the participants to return to their seats, and open the discussion. What ideas did people discuss?

When you get the participants back into the large group and discuss the discoveries that were made, responses could include things like:

·         Not everyone wants to be treated the way I want to be treated.

·         Not all cultures are comfortable shaking hands.

·         Different cultures have different expectations in social situations.

Learn From Each Other’s Differences

This type of an exercise can help your managers and employees learn from each other’s differences. When people are able to communicate openly about the differences between their cultures, mutual respect, trust and understanding can develop. In addition to the differences, people begin to see how many similarities there are. By structuring cultural learning time into your meetings on a regular basis, improved cooperation and greater cultural inclusion within your company can be obtained.

Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC. He is a business consultant, speaker, trainer and author. He and his associates help public schools become more successful and service oriented. For more information on our services contact our office at 734-404-5909 or visit our website at www.tomborgconsulting.com.

Don’t Use These Words

The words you use color your attitude. If you are constantly using words that are negative, you can be sure you will have a more negative outlook on life. One of the best ways to change your attitude is to be careful with which words you use.

When you are caught in a slowdown in traffic? What do you say? Don’t call it a “traffic jam”.  A more positive way to refer to it would be to describe it as “a chance to slow down and do some thinking”.

Rather than calling a disagreement with another person a, “heated argument’, you can refer to it as a situation where you both saw things from a different perspective”.   

When you make a mistake on a project and, “have to start over”, use self talk that describes it as “an opportunity to make it even better”.

Rather than complaining about the broken dishwasher, discuss the advantage of how it might be time for a new, more efficient one.

When you are running low on groceries, don’t complain about how much food costs. Simply say, “it would be fun to get out of the house and do some grocery shopping”.

The key here is to start positively reframing the situations you are experiencing.  By looking at things from a different perspective, it gives you a more pleasant and optimistic outlook on life. It allows you to look up and see things that you might have missed if you had kept your head down and kept complaining.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people think they have it bad when all they have to do is look around and see how good they really have it. It reminds me of the poem I once heard that goes like this:

“I had the blues because I had no shoes,

Until on the street I met a man with no feet.”

Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC. He is a business consultant, speaker, coach and author. He shows school districts and organizations how to attract and retain more clients and customers. For more information on his services please contact our office at 734-404-5909 or email him at: tomborg@tomborgconsulting.com

Using an Analogy to be a Better Communicator

If you are a school superintendent, principal, secretary or an employee, it is critical that you use as many tools as possible to help you communicate effectively. Most people will criticize things they don’t understand.  In order for you to be convincing, you must keep your communication tools as sharp as possible.

One of the best ways to verbally convey ideas that may need some explanation, is to use something called an analogy. An analogy is taking something that is familiar and comparing it to something that is not familiar. By taking this approach, it allows the listener to bridge the gap between something they are already accustomed to, to something they are not. Using an analogy can be the difference between having the person or group you are talking to agree or not agree with you.

For example, if you were trying to explain what the office paper shredder does, you could use an analogy of how a cheese shredder works. A cheese shredder takes a block of cheese and slices it into tiny fragments. The office paper shredder does the same, only it takes paper and cuts it up into very small pieces

Another example is, if you were trying to explain how easy it is to accomplish a major project. You could use the analogy of how a large bundle of twigs cannot be broken in half as a bundle, but when taken apart, each twig could be easily broken. It is similar to how you can break a major project down into small enough tasks that would allow the person to easily complete them one at a time. By taking this approach, the entire project would gradually be completed.

Using an analogy to communicate your ideas can help you gain the understanding and support you need to communicate your ideas effectively.

For more information on how Tom Borg Consulting, LLC can help your school system please call us at 734-404-5909 or visit our website at:  www.TomBorgConsulting.com

Do This to Avoid Email Problems

Email is everywhere in public schools across America. What’s worse is that it is getting more burdensome than ever. What is a person to do? Here are five tips from Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge for Business Leaders E-publication.

 1. Make Action Requests Clear - If you want things to get done, say so. Clearly. There's nothing more frustrating as a reader than getting copied on an e-mail and finding out three weeks later that someone expected you to pick up the project and run with it. Summarize action items at the end of a message so everyone can read them at one glance. This rule  is mandatory for professionals who want to land a job in communications.


2. Combine Separate Points into One Message - Sometimes the problem is the opposite—sending 500 tiny messages a day will overload someone, even if the intent is to reduce this by creating separate threads. If you are holding a dozen open conversations with one person, the slowness of typing is probably substantial overhead. Jot down all your main points on a piece of (gasp) paper, pick up the phone, and call the person to discuss those points. I guarantee you'll save a ton of time.


3. Edit Forwarded Messages - For goodness sake, if someone sends you a message, don't forward it along without editing it. Make it appropriate for the ultimate recipient and make sure it doesn't get the original sender in trouble.


4. Check E-mail at Defined Times Each Day - We hate telemarketers during dinner, so why do we tolerate e-mail when we're trying to get something useful done? Turn off your e-mail "auto-check" and only check e-mail two or three times a day, by hand. Let people know that if they need to reach you instantly, e-mail isn't the way. When it's e-mail processing time, however, shut the office door, turn off the phone, and blast through the messages..


5. Use a Paper “Response List” to Triage Messages Before You Do Any Follow-up - The solution to e-mail overload is pencil and paper? Who knew? Grab a legal pad and label it "Response list." Run through your incoming e-mails. For each, note on the paper what you have to do or whom you have to call. Resist the temptation to respond immediately. If there's important reference information in the e-mail, drag it to your “Reference folder.” Otherwise, delete it. Zip down your entire list of e-mails to generate your response list. Then, zip down your response list and actually do the follow-up.


Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC. For more information on how he and his associates can help your public school please contact our office at 734-404-5909 or visit our website at www.tomborgconsulting.com

School System Uses Tablets not Texts

Learn how this school district is saving money by transitioning to the use of tablets not textbooks.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/article_e7bf7411-5ef0-553b-9046-bb0145ef0139.html#ixzz1W3i5TzUE

For more information on how we can help your public school district contact us at: 734-404-5909.

Merit Pay for MI TEachers

Lori Higgins writes about some good news for MI teachers.
http://www.freep.com/article/20120927/NEWS06/120927067/educational-achievement-authority-grant
For more information on how Tom Borg Consulting, LLC can help your school district contact us at 734-404-5909 or email us at tomborg@tomborgconsulting.com

Shifting Paradigms for Public School Administrators

Times have changed and it is critical that the leaders of public school systems begin reshaping the way they and their team of administrators, teachers, transportation personnel, food services personnel, school board members, coaches, volunteers and anyone else they have on their team,  represent their school district.  Why? Because coupled with declining birth rates and an economy that has forced some adults—often with children in tow-- to leave the state in search of new jobs, school

systems are losing enrollment.

Leaders of school districts must look at what they can control that will retain their present student base and attract additional students. That is, the need to look at the quality of the experience students and their parents experience within their school system. School of choice has given parents and their children the powerful option of attending the school they want to attend. They are voting with their feet, choosing different options for schooling, and taking their state funding dollars with them.

Some of the places that are competing for students today are
    Private schools
    Charter schools
    Other school districts
    Voucher schools
    Online schools
    Home schools

Leaders in public school districts no longer have the option to believe that if they just wait a little while, this whole idea of treating students and parents like customers will just go away. Why should it? The people they and their respective school districts serve are human beings who want to be treated with courtesy and respect.


For more information on how Tom Borg Consulting, LLC can help your school district change it's paradigms and thrive in today's world please contact us at 734-404-5909 or visit our website at www.tomborgconsulting.com

How Public School Districts Can Thrive in Today’s Economy-Part II.

A Special White Paper by
Tom Borg, MS; Keith B. Elliott, RA, CSI; and Katherine Pinard ©2015

In Part II of this paper we continue to discuss how American public school districts continue to be hit hard by cutbacks from state and regional funding. Most districts immediately look for areas where funding and staffing may be cut to reduce overall expenditures. This is the first logical step with any budget, but when the proposed reductions get to the point of cutting so deeply that curriculum variety, quality and class sizes will suffer, it may be time to create a flexible and unique strategy for the development of new funding opportunities to help offset the future reduction strategies.

We recommended that the first step that administrators, teachers and school boards need to embrace is to change the way they think. Once that is accomplished all things are possible. The simplicity of that statement is intentional; the actual process takes time! We presented concepts and structured guidelines on how to create and use Action Groups, composed of representatives from teachers, administrators, transportation and food service personnel, as well as other pertinent groups that represent stake holders in any part of the school district team.

In this section of the white paper we would like to discuss how you can leverage the opportunities that exist when the action group process is applied to marketing your school district. This means marketing not only to the present client base of students, parents and community members, but also to potential students and parents who are not yet part of your school district.

Today, it is a necessity, that public schools develop an effective marketing plan that promotes their school district in a positive and proactive light. With one recent public school client we were able to assist them in creating and facilitating an ongoing Marketing Action Group that continues to produce impressive results. One key factor for this team’s success was the recruitment of representatives, from all pertinent sectors, who could amplify its success. A representative from the school board, administration, teachers, business community and other entities came together to form a powerful and action oriented group that gained impressive marketing results.

The reason for this success stems from a team process, where participants are empowered to contribute their own broad range of ideas to a consolidated, stake holder based marketing approach that is sponsored by the Action Group, and then rolled out to the rest of the district. Remember from Part 1 of this paper, “People don’t argue with their own data.” When they can contribute their own ideas, they usually support them.

Direct advertising by school districts continues to rise in the formats of direct mail, newspaper ads, radio and cable television spots, and more recently, lawn signs. Individual schools, as well as entire districts, commit to promoting themselves as the school of choice over their nearby competitors. The unfortunate mistake being made is these school districts advertise to the universe and other school districts and not to their established base of students and parents. We all need to be aware that current market research suggests that it costs six times more to attract new clients than to satisfy and keep present client base (students and parents). It makes sense to invest the majority of the dollars spent on advertising, on services that exceed the expectations of the present student and parent base.
If a school district effectively services the currently enrolled client base of students and parents in a caring and professionally flexible culture, most parents would not consider moving their children to another school district, private school or homeschooling environment.
Barring the inevitable moves away from the area due to the parent’s employment challenges, the school district needs to commit to retaining current students and parents support for the entire thirteen years of schooling.

In the past, many school districts actually have engaged in some form of marketing, however subtle. Unfortunately, these commonly disjointed efforts have lacked an organized or centrally coordinated plan. The soccer team solicits for donations for its athletes, the high school band promotes its’ spring concert to a certain audience, and the following week, the drama department promotes its’ spring play to a whole different group of people. The high school football team boosters will involve themselves with some form of fundraising just before a different group of students moves in to raise money for their class trip. Then the administrators and school board go to the voters with the hope of passing a millage to support the new school facilities.

These types of marketing efforts never seem well coordinated (if coordinated at all) with the myriad of student activity clubs, sports team fundraising, and millage efforts. This is a good example of where all the entities within a school district must work together, if it wants to survive, let alone thrive, in the years to come. A coordinated presence, a uniform presentation, and the well-timed “Ask” or request for funds from prominent individuals or corporations, will become a key survival tool.

We have found the most critical element that must be analyzed, enhanced and maintained is ongoing internal and external communication. The administration, teachers, assistant teachers, coaches, food services, transportation, and all other parts of the school district (internal clients), must have clear and concise ongoing communication between all departments. Observing what happens when staff members learn to actually talk to each other in terms of what they need for improvement, can be an amazing revelation.

Simple, ongoing communication is commonly hampered by internal politics, union concerns, and lack of communication structures that are designed to encourage “open and often” communication.

Once a solid communication stream is either re-found, or created anew and continuously supported from the top-down, the school district and all departments aforementioned must use it to communicate clearly and concisely with the students and parents (external clients) on a regular basis. It never ceases to amaze us, how easy it is, for all departmental staff, students and parents to NOT effectively communicate with each other. Talk, communication, a two-way flow of information; how simple yet so effective!

By implementing solid communication processes between all departments and stakeholders, a marketing plan can be established and a specialized Action Group, representing both your internal and external clients, can be implemented. You will find that there are multiple ways you can market your school district for little or no money.

We recommend that your Action Group use a 12 month look-ahead calendar to schedule the marketing activities. By plotting out the entire school year, it is easier to strategize and coordinate the different marketing approaches you will employ. You will also find that your marketing efforts generate the highest return on your investment in both materials and staff hours.

As a general summary statement: “It is all connected!” Not one part of this puzzle stands alone. When your school district teams create and maintain ongoing internal and external communication, coupled with a solid and continuously updated 12 month marketing plan, you will be able to leverage your marketing Action Group’s creativity and develop an effective marketing structure to promote your school district in a uniformly positive and proactive light.

In Part III, we will highlight the opportunities that arise when the Action Group process is applied to a school district’s creation and growth of an alumni association.

Tom Borg Consulting, LLC., is a consulting group that specializes in outside the box strategic planning, leadership training, team building, and customer culture transformation, for public school systems in Michigan and the United States. For a free 30 minute consulting session or for more information please call 734-404-5909  or visit our website at www.TomBorgConsulting.com

The 4 Things the Parents You Serve Really Want to Know About You

Among the many things that people want to know about the people who serve them, research shows that four specific items are at the top of the list. Here is what the studies have identified.  Customers

typically want to know the answers to four questions. They are:
          1. Do you like me?
          2. Do you care about me?
          3. Can I trust you?
          4. Do you know what you are talking about?

The first thing they wanted to know was if they were sincerely liked by the person serving them. The customer knew this from how the representative interacted with them. Did they use their name, did they really listen, and did they have sincere empathy in their voice?
The second thing people wanted to know about the professionals who serve them was, did the representative care about them. The customer could sense this from the questions they were asked, again, the tone of voice, the little things they said or did that indicated they indeed cared, and how helpful the representative tried to be.

The third question they wanted answered was, could they trust the representative. Indications of trust could be seen in how confident the representative was and did they follow through as promised. One example of how trust can be lost by a public school administrator, secretary, teacher or some other representative, is by how promptly a phone call or email is returned  to the parent. When there is a long period of time that elapses between the time the parent contacts the school and there is follow up by the school, or worse yet, no follow up, trust diminishes rapidly. A good rule of thumb is to have all phone calls and emails returned within 24 hours or less.

Finally, the fourth thing people want to know about the professionals who serve them was, was  the person serving them knowledgeable and competent. Indications of these qualities were demonstrated if the individual was familiar with the particular situation the customer was experiencing and had they solved similar types of problems for other customers in the past.

In summary, to build lifetime customer satisfaction with the parents you serve, make sure your school system is able to provide customer service training that teaches the right kind of customer service skills. These skills should empower all of your administrators, secretaries, teachers, bus drivers, food service and all other employees to treat your parents in such a way that consistently answers their four most common questions about your school system.

For more information on how we can speak at your next in-service or provide consulting and training to help you attract and retain more students, please contact our office at 734-404-5909 or email Tom at Tom borg@TomBorgconsulting.com or visit our website at www.TomBorgConsulting.comwww.tomborgconsulting.com

Leadership in Public Schools- Garbage in - Garbage Stays

Be careful what you watch, listen to and read. It will definitely alter your attitude towards life and

work. I encourage you to be very selective in what you allow to enter your brain. As Nido Qubein says, the old saying “Garbage in – garbage out, is not true. Rather, garbage in, garbage stays.”

If you allow negatives to enter you mind, they have a tendency to limit your thinking. The wrong kind of thinking limits your actions. The wrong kind of actions will limit your potential in life and work. It is difficult to keep a PSL with a constant negative flow of information into your brain.

It has been reported that the Coca Cola Corporation spends over one billion dollars per year on advertising. Over the years they have used catchy slogans like, “Coke is the Real Thing,” or “Things Go Better with Coke.” More recent slogans include “Life Begins Here” and “Enjoy Coca Cola.”  The Coca Cola Corporation is not unusual. Most large companies spend enormous amounts of money to advertise their products or services. They do it because it works.

It has been proven that with enough exposure to an advertisement, a certain percentage of people will be influenced enough that they will try a product or service. If they like it, they will continue to buy and use it.

Why not take a lesson from big business and do something to influence the minds of your staff or fellow employees. Create your own advertisements. What I am suggesting is to create your own positive communications, to promote the optimistic and results oriented thinking that is needed in your school district.

In the school districts where we have conducted our workshops and training programs, we have had them participate in an exercise where we divide the participants into small groups. Then they brainstorm slogans or sayings that espouse a positive alternative to negative thinking.

Some examples of the slogans they have created are:
“We care.”
“Do it now.”
“Expect the best”
“The best is yet to come.”
“Big enough to deliver, small enough to care.”
“We are the best, but were getting better.”

Often, the teams create posters or banners that contain the slogans  they have created. Then they post them around their building on walls and bulletin boards. It serves as a constant reminder of their commitment to create a more positive and productive school environment.

For more information on the services of Tom borg Consulting, LLC and how we can help your public school district attract and retain students call 734-404-5909 or visit our website www.tomborgconsulting.comwww.tomborgconsulting.com

How to Keep Your Staff Meetings Productive

When you count up the amount of hours a meeting lasts and multiply it times the number of people in the meeting, it adds up to a significant amount of your school administration's hours.

By bringing several people together it can gather much needed input and direction yet, unless the good input is utilized, it will have a tendency to create ill will and feeling of non importance among the meeting participants.  The importance and value of future meeting participation will be jeopardized by this type of superintendent or principal practice.

Hidden agendas are another way to sabotage meetings. When the people participating are not up front and honest about their reasons for pursuing a particular agenda item, more non productivity and group politics can be the result. This form of miscommunication can be very unproductive and should be avoided.

Being guilty of using either of the above practices can lead to wasteful meetings and will tie up valuable time of the attendees that can be used else wise more productively. It is up to the school leaders to do his or her best not to let this happen.
For more ideas on how to make your meetings or in-service programs more productive and successful please contact our office at 734-404-5909 or visit our website at www.tomborgconsulting.com

Don’t Worry About Criticism

I remember when I was recreation director for a small township in Michigan, and my department had been invited by four other recreation departments to participate in a regional winter festival. It was agreed that my small department, which was composed of a few part-time employees and myself, would organize and facilitate a fun run.

Much planning went into organizing this winter festival. Many of the activities were based on having a reasonable amount of snow on the ground. Usually in southeastern Michigan you can depend on having plenty of snow on the ground during the month of February, but this particular year was a different story. The weekend of the winter festival came and there wasn’t even a trace of snow on the ground. No, nada, nyet snow. Oh, it was very cold, but absolutely no snow. Most of the winter festival activities were cancelled due to the necessity of having snow, but not the fun run. As matter of fact, it was perfect for it. The dry roads were ideal for the runners. Our race was a huge success and actually made a profit for the festival.

A few weeks later, all of the regional recreational directors came together for our follow up meeting. The first person who spoke, was the director of the park where the entire event was held. This gentleman lashed out at my program because of some trite mistake we had made in conducting the fun run. Much to my surprise, the rest of the group spoke up and defended my event by saying it was the most successful, well attended event, and that I should be congratulated. My critic was soon silenced and the meeting continued.

What I learned that day, is that when you are doing anything that garners some success, you will have critics who will find something to criticize about it. It just comes with the territory. As Dale Carnegie once said, “”Remember that unjust criticism is often a disguised compliment.” Here is my point. Do your best at whatever you do, and don’t be surprised by the critics. Your benefit, you will be able to have fun and more fully appreciate the experience.

Tom Borg Consulting, LLC., is a consulting group that specializes in without the box strategic planning, leadership training, team building, and customer culture transformation, for public school systems in Michigan and the United States. For a free 30 minute consulting session or for more information please call 734-404-5909 or visit our website at www.TomBorgConsulting.com

How to Create the Right Brand for Your School District – Brand Insistence – Part 4 of 4

When you can consistently exceed the expectations of your parents and their children, (your clients) you can become the only school district they want to send their children to.  In other words, you create something called brand insistence.

In a business sense, Brand Insistence is where a customer will only buy from one company. For instance, when it comes to men’s dress shoes, I am insistent that I will only buy Johnston-Murphy dress shoes. I purchased my first pair over 25 years ago and have purchased four more pair since. I have come to believe that they are the best shoe company for me. The recommendation I received to buy them from a business colleague 25 years ago, plus the extremely high quality of these shoes, have made me a loyal lifetime client.

The goal for your school district and every school district should be to create brand insistence from your parents and their children. You must form the right kind of image in their minds.

In order for this to happen, you must have and consistently work a plan. To set yourself apart, you have to create a WOW experience for the people you serve. Promising a lot and delivering even more, will be mandatory. You cannot be just like your competitors. You’ve got to be the kind of school district  your parents and their children need and want. Somebody they just can’t do without.

Contact our office for more information on how we can help you develop your customer service culture and market your school district effectively. You can reach us at Tom Borg Consulting, LLC 734-404-5909 or visit our website at:
www.TomBorgConsulting.com

How to Create the Right Brand for Your School District – Brand Preference - Part 3 of 4

Brand Preference is when your parents send their children to your school district on a regular basis. They like your school system and will send their children to it, when they need it. However, yours is not the only school system they will use for all of their children.

For example, they may have a daughter who needs special assistance, and a neighboring school district
receives special funding and has the ability to provide that type of help. Rest assured, their daughter will attend school in the other district. You probably won’t be able to do much about this situation.

In another example, they might feel that another school district has a better high school band program. . They have heard some good things about this other school district from a neighbor who has chosen to send their daughter there. Since their son is musically inclined, they decide to send their son to the same high school that they believe has a superior instructor.

Although your school district would normally be their preference, in certain situations parents will send their child or children elsewhere.

So, in summary, brand preference must be earned.

Contact our office for more information on how we can help you build your customer sevice culture and market your school district effectively. You can reach us at Tom Borg Consulting, LLC 734-404-5909 or visit our website at:
www.TomBorgConsulting.com

How to Create the Right Brand for Your School District – Brand Image – Part 2 of 4

Do your parents insist on keeping their children in your public school district? Are you creating the

right brand? Part of this is creating the right Brand Image.

Brand image is what people “think” about your organization. It is what comes to mind when they hear your school district’s name.

By creating the right brand image, you create something every superintendent wants: loyal parents that want to send their children to your school district. When you have this, you attract and retain more students in your public schools, which insure funding from the state for those students. By consistently providing excellent communication and the kind of customer service that meets your parent’s and their children’s expectations, you can create life-time clients.

Contact our office for more information on how we can help you develop your customer service culture and market your school district effectively. You can reach us at Tom Borg Consulting, LLC 734-404-5909 or visit our website at:
www.TomBorgConsulting.com

Making Service Count in Your School District

Watch this Michigan Association of School Administrators (MASA) video/webinar presentation by Tom Borg and Keith Elliott of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC present their program entitled Making Service Count. This program is designed specifically for public school districts.

In this program you will learn the basics for what it takes to create service culture with your entire public school staff. Click on the link and learn.  http://vimeo.com/52823461

For more information on the services of Tom Borg Consulting,LLC
please contact our office at 734-404-5909 or email us at:
tom@tomborg.com