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Innovation Celebration North Penn School District. Christine Liberaski-Manager of School and Community Engagement Bob Schoch-Director of Business Administration. North Penn School District. 12,700 students 2,000+ employees 42 square miles Montgomery County, northwest of Philadelphia
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Innovation CelebrationNorth Penn School District Christine Liberaski-Manager of School and Community Engagement Bob Schoch-Director of Business Administration
North Penn School District • 12,700 students • 2,000+ employees • 42 square miles • Montgomery County, northwest of Philadelphia • Mixed commercial, industrial, residential • .1600 aid ratio • Diverse population
Context for this Initiative • Six day teacher strike in April of prior year resulted in 4% salary increases for teachers • Zero tax increase requirement after ten years at 3% • 5% staffing reduction through attrition • 38 demotions of teachers • Strategic plan with many initiatives approved prior to recession
“If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.” - (A. Einstein)
Objectives • Provide a positive experience in a very difficult time • Develop community’s appreciation of staff (6-day teacher strike in prior April) • Balance the budget both short- and long-term • Encourage change from business as usual due to long-term financial challenges • Energize and engage entire school community to envision new ways to operate more effectively (cost effectively) • Obtain input on idea and its implementation • Begin to publicize ideas • Build teamwork • Build community support eventually needed for referendums
The Concept • Engage stakeholders (students, staff, community members, volunteers) to be part of the solution • Design an expo-like atmosphere that encourages dialogue and interaction • No cost
The Process • Announced to staff in October and November for May event • Poster board format • Using 16 PowerPoint slides • Sample format provided • Examples developed and showcased beginning in January
Encouraging Participation • Budget meetings at all schools and department-wide events in October and November • March event at Departmental Improvement Advisory Committee (DIAC) • Supervisors introduced the presentation and format within their departments
Challenges • Encouraging participation • Sample presentations at • Administrative meeting • Support staff meeting • Board meeting • Uniformity or creativity? • Provided templates-12 to 16 PowerPoint slides • Suggested topics and layout • Resistance to low-tech approach
Employee Engagement • Employee Suggestion Program • Employee Challenges • Mid-year reductions in current year-$500,000 target for schools, $1 million for central administration and support services • Improvement Challenge: 3-year program starting next year • 50 ideas worth $500,000 • New ideas each year • Sustainable improvements • Public presentation of ideas annually in May at School Improvement Expo (science fair format) • Objective: prove cost effectiveness to community
"Companies have to nurture [creativity and motivation]—and have to do it by building a compassionate yet performance-driven corporate culture. In the knowledge economy, the traditional soft people side of our business has become the new hard side."— Gay MitchellExecutive VP, HR, Royal Bank
DIAC Exercise-One Hour • Purpose: To help refine presentations so that they convince public and school board that they are ready to use to balance 2011-2012 budget. • Format: • Presenters rotate 8 times between groups in 5-minute sessions. • Groups will be mixed so that no more than 3 people in a group are from same function/department in order to show various perspectives on a proposal. • Audience members offer improvement suggestions, raise questions, then dot vote on readiness for implementation. • Brief recap at end on lessons learned today. • Publicity for May 2 event.
Elementary Supplies Provided By Parents$60,000 Expenditure Reduction
ACCESS/Medicaid Revenue$150,000 to $800,000 in 6 years. Can we do better?
“In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman.” - (David Ogilvy)
Energy Management$1.5 million potential in 3 years? 2 years?
“The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.” - (Rupert Murdoch)
Logistics • Monday, May 2, 2011-7 to 9 p.m. in Penndale MS gym • Easels and tables provided • No cost to taxpayers-all supplies donated, voluntary/no pay • Poster Boards available in business office • Green-revenue • Yellow-expenditure reduction • Other colors-investments in productivity • Format-see story boarding prompt, 16 PowerPoint slides • Push pins to draft, eventually spray adhesive (with assistance caution) • Ideas now-works in progress are welcome • Approval to participate in late April • If not ready, prepare in future • Widely publicized-invitations to local officials, media • Assistance available by unpaid intern skilled in PowerPoint, Excel-charts/graphs, Visio, MS Project Schedule • Several opportunities in advance to simulate event at other meetings
Dot-Voting the Readiness to ImplementEach Person Votes with a Colored Dot on Each Presentation
Input Received • Practical constructive advice • Community acceptance • User fees from facilities rental to pay-to-play • Dot voting
The Financial Potential of Today’s PresentationsHow Soon Can the Potential be Achieved?
Publicity for May 2 Event Logos Widely Publicized http://nptv.pegcentral.com/player.php?video=2b7af69f004b25eac87c321319dab7f5
Lessons Learned • Low tech-face to face collaboration and relationship building • People had difficulty understanding the concept, format • Time consuming to encourage, spent 6 months identifying presentations in meetings and discussions with staff • Anyone can present in this format • Fear of job security • Different from other events (Tech Connect, Community Forums, etc.) • Press coverage is fickle • Live coverage by our staff during the event, later rebroadcast extensively
Continuing Benefits • All presentations posted on website • Content for educational television spotlighting great work of staff • Appreciation of school board and community of work of staff • Proving cost effectiveness across all functions (referendum readiness) • Appreciation of complexity of organization and skills of staff • Collaboration • Cross functional teams
“People who don’t take risks generally make about 2 big mistakes a year; people who do take risks generally make about 2 big mistakes a year.” - (Peter Drucker)
Next Steps • Innovation Celebration is theme for the year. • Innovation Celebration 2012 set for April 18th
"Innovation— any new idea—by definition will not be accepted at first. It takes repeated attempts, endless demonstrations, monotonous rehearsals before innovation can be accepted and internalized by an organization. This requires courageous patience." - (Warren Bennis)
Year TwoInnovation Celebration II • April 18, 2012, 6-9 p.m. • North Penn High School, Lansdale, PA • 80+ presentations • Budget background • Progress reports on last year’s initiatives • New ideas by staff, students, partner organizations • Broadcast on educational television
Improvements in Year Two • More space • More participants • Interviews • More television content • Options for input • Awards? • Food/drinks • Referendum readiness-progress reports, more ideas, more enthusiasm, more community involvement
Topics for Innovation Celebration 2012 • Budget background • Impact of recession • Five -year financial projections • Unfunded mandates • Progress reports on current initiatives • New initiative proposals • Labor saving equipment and techniques • Partner organization initiatives
