How to Get More Done Each Day and Lower Your Stress Levels

Have you ever had a day in the office go by and you felt like you didn’t accomplish anything of real importance? If you answered yes, you are not alone. If your day begins like most other public school administrators or secretaries, there are emails waiting, calls to return, projects that are overdue, interruptions, family emergencies, the latest student disciplinary problem and the list goes on and on.

The reason we feel overwhelmed from time to time is because the plan we are using doesn’t work as well as it could. It is bound to fail because we let our “school office happenstance” dictate what happens to us. We feel manipulated by others due to their own inability to plan. We become frustrated by the people that don’t return our phone calls or emails. And since they seem to be so irresponsible, we wonder just how they keep their jobs.

Here is one simple way to help you get control of your day before it begins. Fifteen minutes before you end your day, start preparing for the next one by getting prepared. Take a 3X5 post it note and write out the six main things you need to get done the following day. Next prioritize the list with a 1-a for the first thing you need to finish, a 1-b for the second thing you need to finish and so forth. The idea is to prioritize the things you must do first or work on until you can go no further. If you finish all the items on the list add a few more (this rarely happens).

The goal of this system is to give yourself a structured way to realistically accomplish the main things you must finish each day. When you are able to implement this simple but tested system, you will feel good about what you are achieving on a daily basis. Knowing days turn into weeks, and weeks turn into years, you will find yourself living a more productive and satisfying professional life.

Tom Borg Consulting, LLC works with public schools and colleges and helps them attract and keep students and their parents support. For more information on our services please contact us at 734-404-5909 or visit our website at www.tomborgconsulting.com

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

Three Ways to Effectively Deal with People and Reduce Your Stress

                                                     

The late author, Og Mandino, said, “In life we always headed towards a crisis, in the middle 

of a crises or headed out of a crisis”.  In other words, if you are experiencing problems, you are alive and be thankful.

That may not make you feel much better so let’s talk about how you can make the most of the stress you do experience in being part of a school system. 

The important thing to remember is that everyone experiences stress, and if they can deal with it, so can you!  When you can develop a system for successfully dealing with stress, you will have something that will be a dependable tool that you can use whenever you find yourself facing a stressful situation.

The three most common areas where people experience stress in their lives are coping with:

            Financial concerns

            Family members

            Co- workers, customers, managers and bosses

As you look at the list of the most common areas of stress, it is interesting to note that people make up two thirds of this list. Successfully dealing with people is an art. The human race is composed of individuals who are similar in some ways and unique in many others.  People’s values, expectations, upbringing, and a host of other variables make them different from you. These differences can serve as a stumbling block, or a stepping stone. The choice is yours.

Here are three tools you can use to be more effective when dealing with others in a stressful situation. First is communication. Most successful people are able to communicate with others in a way that creates a connection. Even though they may not agree with the other person, they are able to find some common ground or area of agreement.

The second tool is listening. When you can simply listen to the other person without interrupting them, you can resolve most disagreements. The real challenge is truly listening to the other person and not rehearsing what you are going to say to them when they stop talking.

Finally, the last tool is flexibility. Being flexible with others and not rigidly adhering to your own view point can allow you to come to a compromise and resolve the issue being discussed. One analogy that demonstrates this concept is comparing the oak tree to the willow tree. The oak tree which is very rigid and hard will lose several branches or have its’ trunk severely damaged in an ice storm. The willow tree which is very flexible will simply bend but not break.

So, by using these three tools: communication, listening and flexibility, you can effectively reduce your stress when dealing with other people.

For more information on the services of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC can help your public school administration and staff improve communication, please call our office at 734-404-5909 or email us at: tomborg@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

How to Tap the Mind Power of Your Local Business Leaders

One of the key result areas every school district should take advantage of is the wealth of mind power and potential financial support from local business leaders in your community. By connecting this group of people with your school board members, you can create a very powerful and influential team.

Far too often these two groups do not have the opportunity to communicate with each other on a regular basis. One way to make sure that this happens is to create a structure for it to happen.

Here is a three part formula to make this idea become part of your strategy to strengthen your school district. 

First, create a list of local business leaders from your community. Invite staff from all departments to submit names of various business leaders in the community with which they have a connection.

Next, set up a time to meet with each business person on an individual basis. Explain that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss the idea of tapping the mind power of the business community and discuss their possible interest of being included in such a group.

Finally, once you get enough people interested, conduct the meeting and generate a to-do list of possible projects that could be acted upon.

The main ingredient in building your school district is to get all interested stakeholders from your business community to communicate with your school board in an ongoing basis. The action oriented business people in your community can be key contributors to the success of your school district.

Contact our office for more ideas on how to maximize the wealth of mind power between your business community and your school board. We are available for in-services or for consulting. You can reach us at 734-404-5909.

How to Help Your Staff Be More Productive

If you are a school superintendent or principal who needs to have your employees become more productive, read on. One of the main factors that lie at the root of non-productive employees is a lack of true communication. I am not talking about just the day- to-day, “How are things going”, but, rather, an innate understanding of what it is that motivates that person. It can vary from employee to employee, depending on a number of different factors.

When it comes to motivation, it can change from one month to the next, depending on what is going on in that person’s life at that particular time. For some, it could be money. Others it could be recognition, still others it could be a flexible work schedule or a combination of all of the above. Sometimes job security or incentives to earn more money the harder they work motivates people.

Here are a few questions to consider using to understand your employees more thoroughly:
How would that person prefer you communicate with him?
How would that person prefer you not communicate with him?
What is the ideal work environment for that individual?
Which management style does he prefer his manager to use with them?
Does this individual know his true value to the organization for which he works?
Is he aware of other people’s perception of his work style?

One of the keys to helping your employees be able to work at their full potential, is to communicate with them and come to a mutual understanding of how they really are, and the potential they possess.

For more ideas on how to help your school district be more productive or to use us for an upcoming in-service program, please contact our office at 734-404-5909.

Public Schools Need to Generate Revenue

• When it comes to funding, The leaders of public schools need to experience  a paradigm shift in their thought process. With a continued eroding of funding from state and federal sources, public school districts must begin to explore and implement ways to generate and increase revenue on a long term basis. Up to this point the only approach for most public schools districts has been to merely continue making cuts. If continued, this approach will most likely  result in diminished services, erode staff morale, increased loss of confidence from parents, and continued student attrition.

 It is time to re-examine  the strategies for funding and start to explore and implement funding that could be generated by providing services to the public and business community. 

For some ideas on how we can help your school district create and implement this strategy please contact our office at 734-404-5909 or email us at tomborg@tomborgconsulting.com

Do You Know the Lifetime Value of Your Students?

How often has it happened to you or one of your staff where you took a student for granted?

When you stop to think how much a student is actually worth, in dollars and cents, it makes you sit up and take notice.

For example, let’s say Joe Smith, one of your students, represents $6,900 to your school district. Every year that Joe is enrolled, your school district receives $6,900 in state funding.  If Joe Smith’s parents believe your school is doing an excellent job of educating their son, they will see to it that he attends school for all thirteen years of grades K-12. When you multiply that amount of $6,900 per year times 13 years, it equals $89,700.

So, you see in fiscal terms, Joe Smith is an $89,700 client. If Joe’s parents have other children enrolled in your school district, the overall value of the family goes up proportionately.

Whenever you or your staff deal with people, you are going to have misunderstandings and misconceptions that need to be clarified and resolved. By taking the time and investing in the education, training, and patience that is necessary in handling these kinds of situations, with your students and their parents, you are insuring a greater degree of successful student retention.

Many times you will have staff that do not realize the total fiscal value that each student represents.  As a superintendent or principal, it would be advisable that you educate your team to understand this vital concept. Yes, there will be times when you have students that will have to be asked to leave your school district. However, if you and your team can strive to minimize this sort of action, you can retain as many of your students as possible.

With the loss of every student, you lose funding. Lose enough students and you will have to start making even more budget cuts than you have made in the past. So, even though from time to time, most of your students will have issues that must be dealt with, you must remember that they are the very reason you have a school district. It makes good business sense to keep as many of them as you can.

For more ideas on how to increase student retention in your school district, please contact our office at 734-404-5909 or email our office at: tomborg@tomborgconsulting.com.

Seven Ways to Insure Your In-Service Programs Get Results

Far too often in-service programs fall far short of their potential to create meaningful change in a school district.

Here are 7 ways to make sure your School in-service programs get the kind of results that make them worthwhile.

1. Get input from all of your staff on the type of programs they would like to attend.

2. Form an Action Group with representation from all of the different departments to formulate a list of topics distilled from the input you get from all of your staff.  Identify and select the most important ones. 

3. If possible, conduct concurrent sessions on various topics that have been identified.

4. Make sure that people from different schools and departments, are mixed in the seating arrangement. This allows for an opportunity for people from different schools and departments to get to know each other and for a fresh exchange of ideas during the program.

5. Begin and end the program with the sharing of successes that have been experienced in the last year.

6. Have all participants set a goal of using one to three ideas over the next six months. Pair each participant with a “buddy” and have them report to each other the results of their efforts to implement the ideas they have identified.

7. Encourage all school board, PTO and other school related volunteer groups to attend.

For more ideas or to book a speaker to make your next In-service program a success, please contact our office at 734-404-5909.

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

Public Schools MI-What Public Schools Can Learn from Other Failing Institutions

There are several examples of how large institutions or organizations lost power because of their unwillingness to listen to their customer base. Following World War II, the railroad industry started its’ nosedive. When President Dwight Eisenhower enacted the interstate and highway system in 1956, it sent a huge signal that times were changing. The highways being built  enabled people who could afford it, to buy their own cars which would transport them to anywhere they wanted. The interstate trucking industry began to develop at a rapid rate which took even more business away from the railroads. Add to that the development of jet airplanes and the railroad industry, as it was known at

that time, began to shrink.

Despite government restrictions that had been placed on it, the railroads also, in a way, caused their own downfall by the shoddy and monopolistic practices they took part in during the 19th and early 20th centuries (which resulted in many of the regulations imposed on them).

Their disregard for the people they were serving led to a general overall dissatisfaction and was a major factor leading to a shift to other forms of transportation.

Another more current business example is the fall of K-mart Corporation. Some of the major problems that were identified included: lack of customer focus, poor inventory management resulting in empty store shelves, and a poor, undifferentiated marketing strategy.1.

One final example is the United States Postal Service. With the steady decline of first class mail, the increasing use of electronic communication, unwillingness to make changes that were being demonstrated in Europe in the early 1990’s, and a history of a less than stellar customer service, the USPS started losing money in 2000.

“What didn’t help was “The USPS was slow to react to shifts in the industry. In the late '70s, Congress prodded it to allow private companies to carry letters needing urgent delivery. FedEx and UPS built enormously valuable businesses on the USPS's turf.”2

With these three examples cited, is doom and gloom all there is for public schools to look forward to in the United States?

The answer is a resounding no, if public school leaders and their team of employees can begin changing their paradigm of the business they are really in. We use the word business to describe the approach school systems must follow in order to be successful. It could be called a non-profit business, but it is still a business.

We would like to suggest that public schools are in the business of not just educating their students, but they are, in part, in the business of creating a solid foundation that will prepare  these students for a successful life and professional career. They are also in the business of helping parents feel secure, knowing their children are getting what they need and want to prepare them for future learning, whether or not it includes college.

For more information on how Tom Borg Consulting, LLC can help your school district attract and retain more students please contact us at 734-404-5909 or visit our website at www.tomborgconsulting.com

1. Source: K-Mart: Fall of a Marketing Giant Case Study, ICMR, Center for Business Research, 2003
gomasa.org

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

Why are Public Schools Privatizing?

An interesting article by Lori Higgins of the Detroit Free Press and why public schools are privatizing things like food service and other departments.
http://www.freep.com/article/20120814/NEWS06/120814053/Report-Growing-number-schools-privatizing-food-custodial-services

For more information on the services of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC please call our office at 734-404-5909 or visit our website at www.tomborgconsulting.com

How to Praise Your Team Members

In one of my training sessions with a school system, I explained to the participants the importance of sincerely complimenting fellow team members.

No matter what your position is, one of the best ways to build your school district is to find the strengths in your employees and fellow staff members and praise them on a regular basis. Whether they admit it or not, from time to time, everyone loves to receive sincere recognition. It doesn’t cost anything to give this, and yet, it can pay huge dividends in the form of productivity.

An easy way to pay a sincere compliment to others is through the use of the SES formula.  Let’s take a look at what it is and how to use it.

The first S stands for the word “sincere”. Find something about the person that you can sincerely compliment. It could be something they did, something they own or a personal quality they possess.

The E stands for the word “evidence”. Give some solid evidence that would support what you are saying. It is hard for someone to deny a compliment when you are sincere and give some form of proof of what you are communicating.

The final S stands for the word “short”. Keep you compliment short. The reason for this is twofold; one it is easier to give and two, it is easier for the person to receive it. Most people are uncomfortable receiving a compliment and the easier you make for them to hear it, the better. Once you finish the compliment, move on to another topic or walk away.

An example of how to give a compliment might sound like this: “Mary, nice job on the Smith company report. I say that because it was concise and to the point. Keep up the good work, I will see you tomorrow.”

In summary when we properly pay sincere compliments, it can build good will and help us to feel better too.

Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC., a company that specializes in working with public school districts. They show their clients how to attract and retain students and build connections with the business community. For information on our services, please contact us 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