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.

How to Build Relationships by Using Names

Do you know the names of all of your teachers in your school district? Or how about all of your volunteers who serve on your PTO? How about all the members of your city council? Why not? As Dale Carnegie once said, “A person’s name is to that person the sweetest, most important sound in any language.” Research has shown that there is a particular chemical reaction that takes place in our brains when we hear our name.

An easy way to experiment with this idea is to walk into a crowded mall and call out in a loud voice a common name like Bob or Linda. You’ll see many people by the name of Bob or Linda turn around and look at you. Why? Because it belongs to them.

If you or your staff and teachers are not regularly using the names of your students, parents or community members, you are missing out on a strategy that can help build a lifetime relationship with them. An easy way to get and use the person’s name, if you don’t remember it, is to read it off of any available source. If they are phoning you, it could be off of your caller ID. In some cases they may even have a name tag they are wearing from their place of employment. When in doubt, simply ask. A simple way to do this is to use the fill-in-the-blank method. It would work like this: “Hello, my name is Tom Borg, and your name is …..?

Once you get that person’s name, use it in the conversation a few times. It helps to write down the names of the people you have trouble remembering. Review the list from time to time. You’ll be surprised and delighted at how easy you will be able to build a sincere rapport with the people you come into contact with on a regular basis.

By the way, a critical place to provide name tags to parents is at all school functions. One reason, is so you and your staff will know their names, but another major reason is that parents will be able to initiate conversations with the other parents.

I remember one particular school orientation session where the administrator did not provide name tags to the parents. Afterwards I asked why he didn’t provide them. His answer was that parents didn’t need to know each others’ names, and besides, it would take too much time to write them out or print them off in advance, not to mention the expense.
This is a good example of how to miss an opportunity to create a positive experience for the parents of your students attending a school function.

So in summary, names are important. Take every advantage of any opportunity to remember and use them with the people with who you come into contact. Your benefit will be that it will help you to build the relationships and support that will help your school district thrive.

How to Thrive on Change in the 21st Century

As the famous folk/rock singer Bob Dylan once said, “the times they are a changin’.” And changing they are!

In the last 25 years we have witnessed many historic and life altering changes that have taken place. The crumbling of the Berlin Wall, 9/11, the quantum leaps of the internet, a stock market crash, tremendous downsizing by the big three US automakers, huge layoffs, the iPhone, the country of China emerging as a huge economic leader, the BP oil disaster and the list could go on and on.

People love change and they hate change. They want to see the models of the new automobiles for the next year, but they hate the fact that they have to change their area code on their telephone number (and everything else that has their telephone number on it). They love the fact that their new cellular telephone has the latest upgrades on it, but they dislike the chore of having to sort through their trash and put recyclables in a separate container. They like the idea of ATM machines but fear the loss of their job due to a downsizing of their company.

The right amount of change in a person’s life is similar to the sun rising on a new day. It’s full of possibilities and opportunities. It is that special something that adds to the magic of life. Like a fresh diaper, some changes are needed and wanted. If not, it’s the same old stuff.

It would be boring (for most of us) to see the same old reruns of the Monk TV show week after week. We want the all new comedy program. Many of us would not want the same redundant meal, night after night; we need and want a variety of delectable and healthy foods. Change is predominantly good and of course, change will always be with us.

So how do we deal with the issue of change? Are there some guidelines that will help us through the maze of confusion? The answer is a resounding and emphatic YES!

A famous success philosopher, Kop Kopmeyer, once suggested a system for dealing with adversity that has served me well. He called it “The Four A’s for Dealing with the Challenges of Life”. Let me share with you my interpretation of them and how they can help you deal with the challenge of change.

The first A stands for Admit. We must first, admit to ourselves, that change is inevitable. It is going to happen. It has been, will be, and is part of every facet of our lives. So, when faced with a change at hand, the first step is to simply admit that this change, whatever it might be, is or has happened. To admit or acknowledge that this change is real is the vital first step.

The second A stands for Accept. It is important to accept the shift that is taking place. Not lip service, but a true acceptance of this modification of our present existence is needed. It means recognizing things will never be the same again. We don’t have to like the change, but we do need to embrace the reality that has occurred. The job is gone; the child is now an adult, or the strength and quickness we knew as a youth has been diminished.

Since the door to the situation as we knew it, has been closed, we must seek entry through a new door, down the hall that is now open. In order to be able to pass through that door we must first accept the change that has taken place.

The third A stands for Adapt. What are we going to do about it? What kind of a plan can we create to help us make a successful transition into this new reality? What type of help or professional assistance will we need to seek out? What kind of knowledge or skills must we acquire to help us turn this potential loss into a win?

After we have deployed the creative resources to come up with a plan to adapt, we must take the next step which is to take Action. As the saying goes, “you can’t get to second base if you leave one foot on first”.

All the planning in the world is useless, unless we take action. What happens to some people is that they go through the first three steps of this formula, but hesitate to take action. A good example of this is when Chrysler, Ford and General Motors created an electric car but failed to totally commit to marketing and selling it. In the meantime, automakers like Toyota and Honda did, and gained a huge head start on the big three. The key here is take action.

Another example, on an individual level, is when a person loses his or her job. The first move might be just a telephone call or simply doing some research on the internet about the change he or she is contemplating. It may mean securing the services of a career planning specialist, doing some informational interviews, or enrolling in a training program to begin the process of upgrading ones’ skills. The important thing is to get moving; like the saying goes “the universe rewards action.” It is vital to move in the direction of our goal. Once we get moving, adjustments and corrections can be made.

In summary, the four steps to successfully deal with change are:
Admit – admit that the change has happened or is about to happen.
Accept – accept the change, and welcome it with open arms.
Adapt – come up with a plan to help you adapt and make the best of the situation.
Action – take the necessary action and follow through to insure your get the desired results.

By implementing the above formula for dealing with change in our lives, we can grow and benefit from the myriad of challenges and transformations that are sure to come our way in the months and years ahead. Not only will the times be a changin ‘, but so will we.

To learn how to help your public school district succeed in 2012 and the years to come contact our office and request your free e-copy of our white paper report entitled: “How Public Schools Can Thrive in Today's Economy.”

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