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

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.

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

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.

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

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 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

Seven Tips to Better One-on-One Communication in Your Public School System

Clear communication is one of the key result areas that allows your staff and employees to successfully perform at their job. My recommendation is that you invest in your team by taking the time to communicate with them more effectively.

Here are 7 things you can do to enhance your one-on-one communication process with them.

1. Stop finishing the other person’s sentences. Marshall Goldsmith reminds us that this approach does nothing to help your employees and managers think for themselves.

2. After a team member shares with you some great revelation they have discovered, don’t say “I knew that.” All that does it extinguish the flames of excitement for their learning process.

3. When others praise you, just say “Thank you”. Don’t deny or talk down or trade the compliment. By simply receiving the compliment, you give the person giving it, a chance to feel the power of giving something special.

4. Stop using the word “no”. Instead, give people options. They may not be able to do something a certain way, but usually there are other possibilities that could be considered.

5. Stop using the word “but” or “however”, and start using the word “and”. When you do this, it prevents you from negating what the person is saying and allows them to be more open minded to what you suggest instead.

6. Don’t allow yourself to “multi task” when you are communicating with another person. Keep your eyes on that person and not your computer or the paperwork in front of you.

7. Stop trying to impress your subordinates with how smart you are. Just because you are the boss does not mean you are always right, nor does it mean you have all the answers.

By taking the time to communicate in a more focused and proactive fashion with your staff, you will be creating the kind of work environment that is destined to improve both the productivity of you and your team.

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it. Pick 3 items from the seven suggestions listed above and use them for five days.  Evaluate the results and decide for yourself whether or not they are worth using on a regular basis. I have a hunch you will be glad you did.

Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC. He is public schools consultant, trainer and author. He can be reached at 734.404-5909  or visit his website at: www.tomborgconsulting.com

Moments of Truth in Your Public School

Any time your students and parents come into contact with any aspect of your school system, however remote and thereby has an opportunity to form an impression it is called a "Moment of Truth".
-Jan Carlzon

So what are some of the moments of truth in your school system? They could be everything from how the telephone is or is not answered to a visit to your website to the appearance of your school buses. To get a better idea, hold a meeting and ask for some examples of the moments of truth.  Take an inventory and assess how they can be improved. By doing so it could help your school district retain a substantial number of students.



For more ideas how we can help you change your service culture in your school district please contact our office at 734-404-5909 or email us at tomborg@tomborgconsulting.com

How to Help Your Employees be More Powerful and Productive

One of the best ways to make sure your get the most productivity out of your staff is to hire the very best people you can find. Once you find those outstanding people, invest in them.

Most school superintendents and principals would agree that the physical equipment in their school system must be maintained. If they neglect this must do activity, it can get very expensive to repair that equipment. The successful organizations recognize this and budget for this activity accordingly.

The same goes for the people in your school system. The fact of the matter is that they are much more valuable than your equipment. Why? Because as you invest in them, they can become even more capable of performing in their position. This in turn  can make your organization more successful and profitable. One way you can invest in your team is by taking the time to communicate with them more effectively.

Here are 7 things you can do to enhance your one-on-one communication process with them.

1. Stop finishing the other person’s sentences. Marshall Goldsmith reminds us that this approach does nothing to help your employees and managers think for themselves.

2. After a team member shares with you some great revelation they have discovered, don’t say “I knew that.” All that does it extinguish the flames of excitement for their learning process.

3. When others praise you, just say “Thank you”. Don’t deny or talk down or trade the compliment. By simply receiving the compliment, you give the person giving it, a chance to feel the power of giving something special.

4. Stop using the word “no”. Instead, give people options. They may not be able to do something a certain way, but usually there are other possibilities that could be considered.

5. Stop using the word “but” or “however”, and start using the word “and”. When you do this, it prevents you from negating what the person is saying and allows them to be more open minded to what you suggest instead.

6. Don’t allow yourself to “multi task” when you are communicating with another person. Keep your eyes on that person and not your computer or the paperwork in front of you.

7. Stop trying to impress your subordinates with how smart you are. Just because you are the boss does not mean you are always right, nor does it mean you have all the answers.

By taking the time to communicate in a more focused and proactive fashion with your staff, you will be creating the kind of work environment that is destined to improve both the productivity of you and your team.

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it. Pick 3 items from the seven suggestions listed above and use them for five days.  Evaluate the results and decide for yourself whether or not they are worth using on a regular basis. I have a hunch you will be glad you did.


For more ideas on how Tom Borg Consulting LLC can assist your public school system develop its' staff, and retain more students,  call our office at 734-404-5909 or email us at: tomborg@tomborgconsulting.com

Ten Tips on Dealing with Change in Your School District

Here are 10 tips to help you deal with change more effectively.

1. Don’t be surprised by trouble.
2. Don’t act like a “clenched fist”.
3. Allow for renewal on a regular basis.
4. Find something to be cheerful about when you are unhappy.
5. Accept what you cannot change.
6. Remember to live one day at a time. If that is too difficult try one hour at a
time.
7. Count your blessings.
8. Don’t forget that based on the law of averages only 8% of the things we worry
about are worth being concerned about and taking action.
9. Remember the saying “This too, shall pass”.
10. Expect you will have control over your future and then take action.

For more information on Tom Borg Consulting, LLC and our services please contact our office at 734-404-59096 or visit our website at: www.TomBorgConsulting.com

Communicating Clearly with Your Staff-Public Schools, MI

If you are a superintendent or principal, 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.

Tom Borg of TomConsulting, LLC.  located in Canton, MI. works with public school superintendents and principals to help them keep the support of the parents of their students and keep student retention consistent.. You can contact him email him at tomborg@tomborgconsulting.com  visit his website at www.TomBorgConsulting.com or call him at 734-404-5909.

How to Create the Right Brand for Your School District - Brand Awareness – Part 1 of 4

There are four basic levels of branding you can create for your public school district:
Brand Awareness - people know about you.
Brand Image – what people think about you.
Brand Preference - they prefer your services or products to others, but they will use others.
Brand Insistence - they demand your services or products and no one else.

In this article let’s look at Brand Awareness. Brand Awareness is something your school district earns by being visible in the marketplace. Some of the things you can use to create brand awareness are advertising, publicity, public relations or word of mouth. In other words your prospects become more aware of who you are and what you do.

For example, Target Department stores, advertises on a regular basis. Their post cards and newspaper advertising help create an awareness of who they are and what they sell.  Target could get publicity by building a new store. In order to develop public relations they might sponsor or contribute to some charitable event. Of course, word of mouth would come from what their customers are saying about them to their friends and business acquaintances.

Regarding your school district, you could advertise in many different ways. One great way is to do what Wayne-Westland Community Schools does. They create and periodically mail out a publication called Wayne-Westland Connections to the parents of the students in their school district. This excellent piece does a number of things. First it communicates to the parents timely and important information about their school district. In the fall edition, it publishes the start and dismissal time of all of their schools. It also includes a school bus schedule of all of the pickup times and locations. This is vital information to most parents and their children.

Publicity is another way to build your brand awareness for your school district. Articles about your school that you can submit to your local newspaper are a good example of this.

Public relations can go a long ways in helping create brand awareness for your school district. It is here that a good public relations firm can help you craft a campaign of messages that are communicated to the community.

Word of mouth, by far the most powerful, is what people say about your school district to their friends and acquaintances. This is the result of all of the other efforts you put into place, i.e. the quality of service you provide, how you handle the problems that come up, and how you deliver what you promise.

In summary, good brand awareness is something your school district earns by consistently doing the right things to be visible in the marketplace.

Contact our office for more information on how we can help you build 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 Public School Districts Can Thrive in Today’s Economy - Part I.

A Special White Paper by
Tom Borg, MS; Keith B. Elliott, RA, CSI; and Katherine Pinard - Copyright 2011


In this and future sections of this white paper, Tom Borg, Keith Elliott, and Kate Pinard of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC., will share concepts, processes, and strategies they use with their public school system clients that are designed to bring about the necessary changes to help them survive and thrive in the 21st century.

All of our American public school districts continue to be hit hard by cutbacks from state funding. Most districts immediately look for areas where funding and staffing may be cut to reduce overall expenditures. This is a logical first step with any budget, but when the team gets to the point of cutting so deeply that curriculum and quality will suffer, it may be time to create a different kind of strategy for future funding opportunities to offset the reduction strategies. The key is to remember the statement, “People don’t argue with their own data.” We will talk further about this approach in getting “naysayers” to become part of the solution as opposed to being part of the problem.

The first factor that must change is how you think. All of the school staff: educators, administrators, and school board members, need to shift the entire realm of past paradigms by beginning to think the way successful businesses do. The well-worn, but not well-applied phrase, “Think outside the box,” becomes the part of a vital strategy to identify and capitalize on new and successful funding opportunities. Albert Einstein is often quoted: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Invariably, as you explore new approaches to solving your current funding dilemma you will have administrators, board members, teachers, union representatives, parents, and those whom you have never heard from before, question and condemn (not necessarily in that order), the suggestions made. It is true that when one door shuts another one opens. What many struggling teams simply don’t realize is they have to knock on that next door of opportunity to make it open for them. It does not necessarily seek them out.

The next step to take is to work with a training and facilitation consultant to initiate a planning session for all staff and stakeholders in order to ask some specific and possibly difficult questions that would include but are not limited to:
• What are your district’s areas of limitation?
• What are your district’s areas of unlimited opportunities?
• What makes your school district different or better than competing school districts? And at what?
• What are some of the strengths of your competing school districts?
• What are some of their weaknesses?
• Who are some of the key people in your community, and on your payroll, that can serve as resources to implement growth and retention strategies?
• What are some the initiatives you can take to become, not only another school of choice, but the school that is Chosen?


This will most likely play out as a multi-session effort and careful attention should be paid to capturing every fact and comment brought forward. Once those questions have been answered, and distilled into brief action oriented statements, you are ready to enlist the assistance of school staff and volunteers from the community. With our school district clients, we call these teams “Action Groups”, as we do so for a reason. Where a quick and loosely formed “committee” would spend most of its’ time pondering and pontificating, action groups get results through their specific and focused actions. Each action group selects a leader and an alternate leader and begins the pursuit of a specific and coordinated problem area or initiative on which to work with.

The action group leaders are part of the “Action Group Leader Council” which meets monthly to discuss their specific action group’s progress, stuck points, and solutions. It is at this time the members of these team’s will share resources, ideas, and action concepts that coordinate with each group leader as an aid to reaching conclusions on proposed action steps.

A “Central Team,” composed of: Administrators, School board members, Technology department heads, among many others meet periodically. It is at this time, when the Action Group Council Leader and the outside consultants report to the central team. Updates are given, requests for assistance are made, and action is authorized to implement the ideas generated by Action Group teams.

What is critical to this process is that the Action Groups develop a critical solution and experience successes early in the process; we call this reaching a milestone. We always recommend a celebration event for each milestone that has been obtained. Once action groups can see the positive results of their efforts, they can then begin to realize the power they have to make things happen, thus adding to the motivation in taking on bigger, more advanced projects.

In part two, we will discuss the opportunities that exist when the action group process is applied to marketing, alumni groups, and in developing your web marketing strategy.

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 734-812-0526 or visit our website at www.TomBorgConsulting.com