FAQs - K-12 Educational Organizations

1. You have consulted for 15 years to multiple industries. Why do you like consulting to educational organizations?
2. What are the key challenges that educational organizations face today?
3. What should we do to overcome these challenges?
4. Is education different? Do educational organizations have unique challenges that are not true for other sectors?
5. Our school seems to be stuck in a rut - we never do anything different, and our teachers and students seem to be bored with the same old routines. How can we become more innovative?
6. How can we improve employee morale?
7. How can we reduce or eliminate waste and inefficiency?
8. How can we do a better job retaining our teachers?
9. Our district superintendent tells us that we should develop a strategic plan, but most of us think it is a waste of time. What do you think?
10. The parents of the students in our district are not involved with their children's education. Is there a correlation between student performance and parent involvement? If there is, what can we do to engage these parents?
11. Our school district seems to be issuing edicts which make no sense to those of us who work in the schools. It seems as if the strategies they have developed do not match their actions.
12. How can we have better coherence in our instructional programs?
13. How can we better communicate with our stakeholder groups?
14. What can we do to develop more and better leaders?
15. In the last 5 years, our administrators' duties have multiplied 10-fold - they are expected to be instructional leader, in charge of school site operations, and other key areas of responsibility.  How do our administrators balance the myriad of duties they must perform and still remain the instructional leaders at their schools?

Q: You have consulted for 15 years to multiple industries. What is special about educational organizations?
A. I teach courses at several universities, and am inspired by the impact I can make on my students. Therefore, when I began consulting to educational organizations, I felt a connection on a deeper level than I previously had felt when consulting in other industries.

I come from a long line of educators, and am excited by the opportunities available to me to make valuable contributions to improving education. I believe that this critical sector needs significant change if we are to evolve in a positive direction as a country. Having consulted in a variety of industries, I bring fresh perspectives and new ideas to a sector that needs change. Finally, I am excited by the potential to help millions of people become what they want to be in their lives.
 

Q. What are the key challenges that educational organizations face today?
A. Our educational institutions face a myriad of challenges and are, for the most part, not living up to their potential which negatively affects our children and our future.

But here is the good news: We have the ability to transform them into high performing organizations designed to educate students who can meet the challenges of the 21st Century.

• NCLB. There are positives and negatives about No Child Left Behind (NCLB), but regardless of what we think of it, No Child Left Behind is a reality and we must work within it.  We can help you improve performance across the board, meet its goals, and help prepare children to succeed at the next level.   
• Qualified Teachers. Having qualified teachers is one of the key aspects of the NCLB Act, but it does nothing to address how to do this. Districts must elevate their ability to attract, develop and retain top teachers. We can help you develop strong recruiting, developmental and retention programs
• Teacher Testing. Up until recently, teacher testing was a taboo subject, especially with teachers' unions. However, the reality of it is that many districts are using this tool successfully to demonstrate their having qualified teachers. We can help you work with unions and teachers to implement a fair testing program which ensures students are getting strong teachers which will help them succeed at the next level.
• Class size.  Bottom line, class sizes are too large, especially in grades 4-8. These grades are particularly challenging - both academically and emotionally - because there are more demands on children who are still growing and are not yet fully mature. Teachers must be able to give students more individualized attention and assistance in these critical years. This is a funding issue which we can help with.
• Time in the classroom. Our current model is based on an agrarian society where children were expected to be working in the fields during the summer months. This model allows for long periods of time off, during which children generally forget what they learned the previous year and requires teachers to spend valuable time reviewing old material - time that could be spent gaining new knowledge. This is frustrating for both teachers and students alike. We can help you maximize your instruction time with students to ensure their improved performance.
• Adminis-trivia.  Administrators and teachers at every grade level are bogged down with unnecessary paperwork; and administrators have too many responsibilities. One study we did showed that the workload for administrators has increased 10-fold in the past 5 years. All this "adminis-trivia" distracts our educators from their primary mission - teaching kids! We must do everything possible to help them return to the mission that attracted them into education in the first place.

• Revamp the curricula to ensure that all children in a school district are being taught to grade-level standards.
• Ensure there are accelerated courses, honors and advanced-placement courses and gifted programs in every school.
• Reduce class sizes to ease the burdens on our teachers and improve learning of our students. No teacher can adequately teach 35 students at one time.
• Equip our teachers with superior curricula and instructional models, and provide them with year-round professional development to improve instruction.
• Expand school choices by creating charter schools and placing magnet schools in neighborhood schools. These steps will also provide our children with quality choices - no matter what their family income levels are.
• Develop true leaders in education who are ready to step into administrator roles

Q. Is education different? Do educational organizations have unique challenges that are not true for other sectors?
A. Although their mission and purpose may be different from other sectors, in the final analysis, schools and school districts face challenges similar to those in industry: no strategic plan... no shared vision... low employee morale... poor leadership... high employee attrition... poor implementation of programs... ineffective communications... ineffective processes... ineffective or not enough resources... and poor performance.

We should also be aware that educational organizations function similar to "businesses"; they are made up of people organized to do work; require funding to operate and create a "product" (in this case, an educated young person prepared for success in the future); and have "customers" for that "product" (society, parents, political entities, and businesses).  

Their "business processes" are related to how they teach their students, and their "manufacturing plants" are their schools. 

Like any industry, there is specialized knowledge required; but for the most part, the leadership and organizational principles that are applicable to other sectors are equally applicable to educational organizations.

Q. Our school seems to be stuck in a rut - we never do anything different, and our teachers and students seem to be bored with the same old routines. How can we become more innovative?
A. If you want to become better innovators, you must focus on the three keys to innovation:

• The generators (the personal qualities that foster innovation)
• The cycles (the phases an idea goes through to become an innovation)
• The context (the internal forces that enable or hinder innovation). 

Once you understand these three key elements, you will be able to determine what you are doing well and what you can improve - and then you will be able to leverage your strengths to improve the areas which need improving.

Q. How can we improve employee morale?
A. I have always believed that "People support what they help create." Therefore, to improve faculty and employee morale we must:

• Involve faculty and employees in decision-making and implementation processes.
• Improve communications with ALL key stakeholder groups. Communication is not just talking, it is both talking AND listening - God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason! Ensure communications are two-way by listening to other people's opinions, and then implement those ideas when they make sense.
• Reduce and/or remove the "adminis-trivia" and needless bureaucracy that prevent people from focusing on what they love to do - teach!  

If you do those three things, faculty and employee morale will improve, and your job will become much easier. 

Q. How can we reduce or eliminate waste and inefficiency?
A. A more useful question might be, "Are you getting the 'best bang for your bucks?' "

Budgeting is the "affirmation" of an organization's strategic plan, and should be the final step in a strategic planning process prior to starting the implementation phase. 

Therefore, if you want to significantly reduce or abolish waste and inefficiency, structure your budget to fund only those strategic initiatives that you have identified as your top five priorities - and eliminate the rest.

Q: How can we do a better job retaining our teachers?
A. There have been a number of studies on faculty retention which found that pay isn't nearly as important an issue as are the teaching and learning environments. The key ways to retain high performing faculty are:

• Improve the quality of relationships among staff.
• Remove the needless adminis-trivia and bureaucracy that inhibit teachers from doing AND enjoying their jobs.
• Give teachers the opportunity to participate in decision-making at their schools.

Q. Our district superintendent tells us that we should develop a strategic plan, but most of us think it is a waste of time. What do you think?
A. Emerson once said, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."  If you want to visit New York City on vacation, you certainly would not attempt the trip without first figuring out how to get there (plane, train, car, etc.), learing about the city and what you want to do when you are there, booking a hotel., etc.!

Strategic plans are an organization's travel plans, and become the basis for its shared vision and implementation strategies. Without such a plan, you are flying blind.

Perhaps your president is pushing for a strategic plan without having first developed a vision - with university-wide participation - about the direction your institution should take. This is a good opportunity for faculty, administration, and other stakeholders to engage in discussions about that vision.

That is a necessary step in developing a shared vision which is critical to successful implementation.
 
Q. The parents of the students in our district are not involved with their children's' education. Is there a correlation between student performance and parent involvement? If there is, what can we do to engage these parents?
A.  Numerous studies of both urban and non-urban school districts have revealed that there is a strong correlation between the level of student performance and the extent of parental involvement.

The best way to begin involving busy parents is to start communicating with them directly. What might that mean?

It could mean teachers going to children's' homes to give parents reports about their kids... or, it could mean administrators calling parents regularly to give them updates about their children. If that's what it takes, then please do it! 

The more knowledgeable parents become about their children's education, the more they will become involved and invested in their children's academic success. This will lead to better student performance in the classroom, less discipline problems, and other important improvements.

Q. Our school district seems to be issuing edicts which make no sense to those of us who work in the schools. It seems as if the strategies they have developed do not match their actions.
A. Have you ever been to one of your children's high school band concerts? How does the level of their playing compare to that of a professional symphony orchestra?

For an organization to perform in an outstanding manner, its strategies, people, and processes must be working in concert.  We all want our organizations to be as good as - say - the New York Philharmonic; but without an overall alignment of its administrative and instructional strategies with its business and people processes, and funding, institutions will operate on par with a high school band whose members had just picked up an instrument for the first time.

Once you align your strategies, processes, and people, you will be amazed at the results!
 
Q: How can we have better coherence in our instructional programs?
A. This is a challenge which faces many educational institutions. Frequently, this is a result of too much focus on accountability and not enough focus on planning which results in what can only be called the "unintended consequences" of implementing ill-conceived and poorly implemented out programs.

We take a systems approach to designing and implementing curriculum and programs. Newton said it best, "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." All ramifications must be thought through PRIOR to a program being implemented. No one wants to be caught up in unintended consequences.

Q: How can we better communicate with our stakeholder groups?
A: Communications takes both talking AND listening. A better question is do you know how to listen?

Socrates said that when you are talking you're not communicating.  Try listening more to your key stakeholder groups, and your communications will be far more effective.

Remember the adage - people support what they help create. It truly works.

Q. What can we do to develop more and better leaders?
A. This is a significant challenge facing educational organizations.  In the next 5-10 years, nearly 40% of senior administrators will be retiring which, because there is no viable leadership training or succession planning, will result in a significant leadership vacuum. 

The best institutions have active succession planning which includes both leadership training and formal mentor programs.  Faculty members are identified early and groomed for leadership positions through work on university committees, and many institutions have revised their annual evaluation to include evaluating employees in the area of leadership.

Still, this is not enough. Pogo said, "we have met the enemy and he is us." Getting the culture to accept leaders from within their ranks is important. This can be done by including key stakeholders on the hiring committees, and giving them an active say in who is ultimately hired.

Q. In the last 5 years, our administrators' duties have multiplied 10-fold - they are expected to be instructional leader, in charge of school site operations, and other key areas of responsibility.  How do our administrators balance the myriad of duties they must perform and still remain the instructional leaders at their schools?
A.Many administrators have told me that the demands on their time have increased significantly as a result of programs such as No Child Left Behind.

There are multiple things districts can do to free administrators up to do the important things which affect student performance and learning. One of the key things is to reorganize school-site administrators' duties to free them up to do what is important, and in so move decision-making to the appropriate level.  Another thing districts can do is hire new staff to relieve administrators of non-essential duties, and reduce the "adminis-trivia" which makes so many demands of their time.

By doing so, school-site administrators' performance and morale will improve, as well as potentially providing more leadership opportunities for employees which will build leadership capacity.