Education

Reducing employee turnover and job dissatisfaction

The majority of anonymous employee surveys show that most workers do not feel valued, heard, or supported in ways that will keep them in their current job long term. In a recent anonymous survey of younger workers (ages 22–35), an unprecedented 70% indicated they would consider leaving their job in 2023! Survey results show a big drop in loyalty that many employers find alarming.

This highly focused, entertaining session shows leaders and influencers at all levels how to consistently create a sustainable culture of loyalty. This is not the view from 30,000 feet; it’s a high-energy, direct connection to the tools and tactics that are dramatically improving employee retention right now.

• Making sure your people feel valued and supported daily
• How to be right without making people wrong
• Forensic listening: Listening to those who have not felt heard in the past
• Eliminating quiet quitting by improving the employee experience
• Making work worth it: Fix the job, not just the worker
• Managing expectations and emotions

Action and adaptability create opportunity

Change is something we all have to deal with, but the stress that accompanies change is more of a choice. In this heavily researched session, Garrison applies his signature humor to a very serious topic.

This fun, comprehensive program offers tools and tips for getting through a big change with very little stress. More importantly, it creates an emotional shift for attendees as they see how much control they have over how change affects them. This session also shows attendees how stress is more about what we believe than it is about what is actually happening.

From embracing big transitions in technology to dealing with curriculum changes, student poverty, COVID and family factors, this presentation helps superintendents, principles, and teachers implement necessary changes with minimal resistance.

• Curing disengagement
• How to get "buy-in" on change quickly
• Resignations and retirements: retention and recruiting
• Working from home with no distractions
• Social distance...not emotional distance: overcoming silo-ism
• Managing mental health: what the most successful do differently
• COVID induced worry: separating the data from the drama
• Dealing with resistance to change
• Change is easy… you go first!

This extremely informative, entertaining, solutions-based session explores why younger and older people don't see eye to eye, and what to do about it in the workplace. From pointers on motivating, managing and retaining younger employees to ways of preventing older managers from losing their minds, this research-based program shows it's possible for baby boomers and Gen X and Y employees to work well together.

What the Most Influential Educators Have in Common

Give students the knowledge and they’ll pass the exam, the course, the grade. But teach them to think, and you’ve equipped them with a powerful tool to carry them through life. The best educators share one strong belief: We don’t want to just transfer our ideas to students; we want to enable them to generate their own ideas and solutions.

This entertaining, insightful keynote examines the need to strike that tricky balance between teaching so students make the grade and teaching so they make it in life. Faculty and administrators must be on the same page in these challenging times regarding what that balance looks like and how it fits into the group mission. To get there, they’ll need the kind of influence it takes to get buy-in from busy peers, as well as the attention of time-pressed, socially stressed students.

Budget cuts, resignations/retirements,COVID and unstable class sizes are just some of things educators face these days. Adapting to necessary changes is a challenge for administrators, principals and teachers. Garrison Wynn (the son of a 35 year veteran schoolteacher and a product of the public school system) has more than two decades of experience helping weather ground-shaking transitions in education. He brings a research-driven, results-oriented approach to strategies for change management.

Accepting the necessity of change is a critical ingredient of any transition. All members of an organization must understand that all institutions must adapt and change before any progress can be made implementing new strategies.

But even in the best circumstances, our natural reaction to change is resistance. Wynn finds there’s no better way to minimize resistance to change than to ensure everyone gets involved, from those responsible for implementing a change to those affected by it. When people feel they are valued participants in planning and implementing a new course of action, they are more likely to follow it through.

Knowledge is not necessarily power and processes aren’t the key to success. Real solutions are much simpler. They are based on learning to minimize what you do poorly and a sharpening focus on what you do well.

Any member of an educational team can help motivate his or her peers, but research shows that leadership influence and involvement is the greatest contributor to success during any change. If people don’t know “what” the change is and “why” it’s here, then “how” to implement a policy shift or new strategy is a moot point. Leaders during a transition must back their words with behaviors and actions that support change.This session focuses on educators using the tactics that are working right now to move change forward and make sure everyone feels valued along the way.

Garrison Wynn’s seen it all in his travels, from global companies looking to improve internal and external relationships to organizations just trying to get people to be more tolerant of each other’s ideas and beliefs. Getting your team members on the same page can be a daunting task. In the educational arena, it’s downright critical to maintaining a productive environment with diverse workforces.

Wynn’s perspectives on fostering tolerance and idea-sharing cover a wide range of topics, including:

Understanding intellectual prejudice: Contempt prior to investigation

How to become more open to new ideas outside of your own culture

Cultural communication issues: Origins, issues and solutions

Specifics: Customized for the cultures involved (example: How Americans interpret European communication styles and customs)

How a lack of intellectual diversity reduces productivity

Dealing with culturally based agendas: A repeatable process for gaining agreement

Working better together: Adjusting our approach when necessary

Research-based communication and diversity solutions

What does success look like? Defining the outcomes we are trying to achieve

This research-based entertaining program focuses on the difference between managing people and leading them to be responsible, empowered and confident contributors. People need to know their contribution to an institution’s success. It is the baseline of effective leadership and the key to productivity to inspire commitment to the mission and let educators know they are essential to the entire school’s success.

How can you instill a climate of ownership so that everyone feels accountable and responsible for success? How can you motivate your team to focus on the goal rather than themselves? How can you help create an organization where change and innovation are embraced with courage and respected as a tool to beat the competition?

Great leadership requires developing a shared vision that everyone can get behind. The result is a more productive and efficient workplace with superior morale that can rapidly overcome challenges in a competitive environment.