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

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

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

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 working in your public school district.

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.

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 acrross 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

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

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

4 Questions to Guide Your School District's Next Strategic Planning Session

Each year every superintendent and his or her team need to invest the time in strategic planning.

Like a space shuttle headed to the moon, constant course corrections need to take place. A strategic planning session can help to tweak the direction and focus of your school district.

Here are 4 main questions with sub questions to ask your team that will guide your next strategic planning session.

1. Where are you now? How are you positioned in the academic market place? What are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?

2. How did you get here? What decisions and actions have led your school district to where it is now?

3. Where do you want your school district to be in the next 3 to 5 years? What kind of standards must you meet? How do you want your value to be perceived in the community?

4. How will you and your team get there? What are the strategies you will implement? Who are the people you need on your team? Who do you need to add or deploy? Which programs and external consultants do you need to get there?

When done properly, your annual strategic planning session can keep your school district on course and effectively deal with the challenges it will inevitably face.

Tom Borg Consulting, LLC works with schools systems that are having issues with retaining students and community support.
For additional information on how we can help your team with its next strategic planning session please contact our office at 734-404-5909.