Bradley Roberson: The key component inside of improvement is not just the improvement practices, it’s the ability to share and scale inside of your system and other systems as well.

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Introduction

Janet Pilcher: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Accelerate Your Performance podcast. I’m your host, Janet Pilcher. And as part of our “Leaders as Great Coaches of Teams” series, today I welcome back Superintendent Bradley Roberson of the Oxford School District in Oxford, Mississippi. Bradley has served in many roles throughout the district and has been the superintendent since 2021.

If you’re a frequent listener, you’ll remember from past episodes that he’s a strong advocate for continuous improvement. A core theme in Bradley’s leadership is his belief that real progress comes from shifting mindsets and behaviors. With this approach, his district has made incredible gains. And in January, the National School Public Relations Association named Bradley as one of the top 25 National Superintendents to Watch.

Let’s dive in and hear his insights on how organizational excellence drives student success.

Interview

Janet Pilcher: It’s with great pleasure that I welcome Bradley back to our show today and all the way from Oxford, Mississippi. So Bradley, thank you for being with us.

Bradley Roberson: Thank you for the invite.

Janet Pilcher: Absolutely. So, first of all, congratulations on being named a Superintendent to Watch for the National School Public Relations Association. I’m sure that’s one of many of your awards and accomplishments, but really well deserved, Bradley. Congratulations.

Bradley Roberson: Thank you, Janet. I appreciate that. As I’ve shared with you before, I’m just blessed to work with a lot of amazing people that do great work inside of the Oxford School District. And this is just an extension of all that they’ve done to improve student outcomes and our organization as a whole in Oxford School District.

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, and then it takes a great leader to lead the way, Bradley. So, you know, just really pleased for you and your district. So let’s talk a little bit more about that and the amazing people that you have. And I’ve heard some of your coaches, the coaches really speak to how you communicate with your people and how you really manage them up. So can you elaborate a little bit on how you foster that collaborative environment? Because you really, really do that so well.

Bradley Roberson: Janet, when I became superintendent four years ago, I would be the first one to admit that was not a strength of mine. You know, as a Type A leader, we always seem to think that we have the best answers, especially when you’re new in a position. And it took me some time to understand the role of a superintendent. And now that I have a better understanding of that, really, I just cast the vision and mission for our organization in the Oxford School District that provides guardrails around the work of what, you know, we’re trying to accomplish across our organization. And then what I had to learn is to allow my people to utilize the skills and the talents that they have.

Those closest to the work are the ones that really can make the biggest difference in outcomes across our organization. But it takes time to be able to get there. And some of the practices that we’ve implemented that have led to this culture of knowing that it’s okay to try something and it not work the first time. Right? That’s an important part of this empowering people across your organization. Because if they’re fearful of accepting a new challenge or fearful of making a change that may or may not improve student outcomes, then you will not get the best out of your organization. People need to feel free and to feel like they have autonomy in order to do their jobs and do it well.

Some of the things that have helped us with that is our rounding throughout our organization from the boardroom all the way down to the classroom. Having those experiences to share what’s working and what’s not working with the building leaders. If you’re a classroom teacher, with directors. or with one another in professional learning communities, that’s been a huge part of our evolution of really empowering those that are closest to the work in Oxford School District.

And another one I think that often gets overlooked is for years organizations have given surveys to all of those involved in their system. Yet we’ve never really given a lot of credence to what our people are telling us in those surveys. The survey rollout has been crucial and not only just gathering the input and feedback, but giving that feedback legs by saying, “okay, here’s what you told us is not working. Now you that are closest to the work, what change ideas or actions can we put in place to improve it? And let’s track those things and see if we can get better.”

Providing a better culture across our organization is crucial to improving student outcomes as well. So those are just a few things of how we are starting empowering people in OSD.

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, and Bradley, it’s interesting because at the core of what we do, I think you’re right, especially the surveys. It’s when people say, “well, what other people do, people just do surveys,” and I’m like, “yeah, the survey is the survey. But it’s what we do with that survey that makes the biggest difference.” And even when you look at those results and it’s the conversation, the way we use data to really engage in meaningful conversations. And I’ve interviewed your principals and some of your teachers and they’re just naturals, Bradley. I mean, just naturals that really, rolls off the tongue in terms of how they do that. It’s become their habit of practice.

Bradley Roberson: Right. And Janet, an extension of that, I would say we have really gifted people that work inside of the Oxford School District. But even as many gifted people as we have, if they’re disconnected in the work, we’re not maximizing our ability to improve. So this work that we’re talking about of empowering all of our employees throughout the system through the rounding, through the survey rollouts, what’s really happened is now we have created this synergy, not just amongst employees in single schools, but this synergy from school to school to school to school. We have really, and we used to say this often, we’ve really become a school system instead of a system of schools. Right? And this work of empowering our people closest to the work is what I would pinpoint as saying this really shifted that across our organization.

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, so good. So let’s dig a little bit deeper. I know you all implement a district improvement lab. So talk a little bit about the purpose of that lab and what you do, how it’s used.

Bradley Roberson: Yeah, the improvement lab is a great opportunity for all of our school leaders and district leaders, directors and cabinet members, to get together and get feedback around a complex problem of practice that’s on their scorecard, in which we are measuring for that particular school year to get feedback on that goal and the actions that they’re implementing that, again, they may not be getting the results that they want to get.

What Janet, what’s funny about this is we thought we had the perfect improvement lab process. We did our first improvement lab in September. Following that improvement lab, we did a plus delta with all of the leaders in the room. And quite honestly, the feedback was atrocious, right?

Janet Pilcher: [laughs]

Bradley Roberson: They were like, “this was, this, we appreciate your effort, but this did not work well. It did not get the intended outcome.” So that’s just this idea of even using improvement to improve your improvement tools.

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, I love that.

Bradley Roberson: So we revisited the process and now we do, it’s really like a consultancy. They bring a particular problem or goal from their scorecard that deals with a learning goal or a key performance indicator if you’re a director in operations or something. And then they bring one of their goals that focuses on their culture goals, parent satisfaction, employee engagement, or student engagement. They share those in a short presentation. The rest of the people in their particular group treat that problem as if it were their own.

Janet Pilcher: Oh, gosh.

Bradley Roberson: They discuss it. They discuss it. While the presenter can’t talk, they have their back to the group and can’t talk. And then they turn back around and re-engage in a conversation. Our plus delta after our last improvement lab was significantly better. They liked the process better and felt like that it was really making a difference and then helping improve inside of their systems.

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, that’s so good. And it’s so interesting. I was just having a conversation with a superintendent who, you know, I think they’re going to join us as a partner. And, you know, one of the questions Bradley that he asked was that his team, their like principals and district office ask, you know, they feel like they want to be collaborative. They don’t want to be competitive and against each other.

And I was like, “oh my gosh, like, okay, let me think about this because I actually think it does the opposite.” I mean, every, where, you can be competitive in any way you are as a human being. But in terms of the system, we’re really there to look at the data points and really help each other because we’re all out for the same common purpose. And I think what you said just really reinforces that. So, you know, thank you. You could have given that example to answer that a lot better than I could probably there.

Bradley Roberson: But it made me think about when you shared that is a key component of this work is honestly to set aside some of the competitiveness because when we’re on a competitive field, we’re not as vulnerable as we need to be in order to improve, right? Setting the competitiveness aside and thinking more about a cooperative approach leads to more vulnerability, leads to getting deeper into the problems or practice that you’re trying to solve. And then you’re able to accelerate improvement. But it takes time to get there as well. You know, trust. Trust has to, you have to have trust in your organization to make that work.

Janet Pilcher: That’s right. And that’s why, like you’ve talked about, the culture piece is so significant because without that, it’s really hard to get to that, that place.

So let’s talk a little bit more about the improvement work. You’ve been instrumental, as I’ve mentioned, I’ve had an opportunity to connect with some of your leaders and teachers and staff and you’ve created that community of and improvers in ed leadership. So why is that important to you? And what are some examples that you can provide?

Bradley Roberson: You know, it makes me think about not only the leaders I’ve connected with inside of the Oxford School District, but also leaders outside of the Oxford School District. You know, we’ve had other districts attend our improvement walks and having other conversations as well. But Janet, the reason this is so important to me is this work is not just about any single child or just children in the Oxford School District. This is about the well-being of children across the state of Mississippi and across our country, right?

Leadership is important, whether it’s within the district or outside the district, because I don’t want individuals at other schools within our system or other school system outside of ours to make the same mistakes that we’ve made, right? And why is that important? If I’ve had a learning journey and experience that I can share that will keep someone else from having to experience that learning journey, in my opinion, it accelerates improvement.

Janet Pilcher: Yes.

Bradley Roberson: And what we should be wanting to do across not only our system, but other systems across the state and country is to accelerate improvement for all organizations because that is how we accelerate student outcomes for all children. And you know, just like I do, the key component inside of improvement is not just the improvement practices; it’s the ability to share and scale inside of your system and other systems as well.

So we’re an open book. We want to be an open book in the Oxford School District to be able, again, to help our own system and those outside of our system. We’ve had a couple examples. We visited South Tippah School District because they’re getting great special education outcomes and we’ve learned from them. We’ve had Alcorn School District, another district in Mississippi to come and visit us. And it’s just it’s just a special learning time every time that we get together with a partner.

Janet Pilcher: Yeah. And you know, it’s so, I mean, that that’s why I do the work, what you’re talking about right now. Because you can buy a program, you can, you know, you can look at the latest thing that comes through and you can try those. But if you don’t have that alignment,  consistency of leadership practices, build the right culture, make decisions, getting that input, and engaging people in the meaningful conversations, it just doesn’t matter what you go get in terms of the the program or the tool or the tactics so to speak.

And, and so what I see and have the opportunity to see constantly is just the impact that the work makes because of what you all do. And that’s the game changer to me, Bradley, in education. Probably a game changer across the board. I mean, I, you know I work in higher ed as well and it’s the game changer there as well. So you know we can truly make, and you’re a big part of that partner network with us, truly make a huge difference in the way we really think about our profession and people value it and we value it.

Bradley Roberson: Well, Janet, your response makes me think about something that we tend to neglect or have neglected in education for a long time, is that education is really a very complex human social system. And we’ve tried to put it in this box for so long like it’s not a complex human social system and think that we can check all of these boxes off and at the end of the day everything is going to be great. This perfect model student is going to emerge after 12 , 13 years of education, and we can move forward, right?

Well in neglecting that fact for so long, we failed a lot of children along the way, and that’s the reason I appreciate improvement work so much because it acknowledges the fact that we are imperfect human beings. We are going to make mistakes. We are going to make missteps, and that’s okay as long as we learn from them and have an improvement mindset to improve. So I think it’s important that we acknowledge that, you know, and moving forward and empowering our people and connecting with others and trying to become better as an educational institution all across the country.

Janet Pilcher: Absolutely. Such important work, and you know, as part of what we do, we talk about organizational excellence. That’s a term we use quite often, and, you know, so then people, like, “well how does that impact students?” Right. Because we’re, basically we talk about the balance scorecard, we talk about culture, we talk about people, we talk about service, and you know, all of what we do builds the foundation for being able to build student excellence as well. But you all, again, you do that so so well, so I’d like to take just a minute and just talk about why, you know, is organizational excellence essential in driving student excellence.

Bradley Roberson: That’s a great question. It makes me think of something that I tell my staff often, and it’s not something that they really enjoy hearing from me, but I still tell them often anyway because I think it’s really important. Is unfortunately the ill wills of society fall on one place to be fixed or to, to advance, and quite often that’s the field of education. Now I say that to say: families, parents that are really entrusting us as educators, right, to provide the best opportunities for their children to be successful after they leave high school, whether or not they go to college, or whatever the next step in life is. Why do I say that? Well, if we don’t have an organization that’s built on values that create excellence, that means to me we do not have systems in place, we do not have systems that are aligned to provide students with those best opportunities.

If we show up every day in isolation and our best strategy to improve student outcomes and provide those opportunities is hope, then we are failing those children and we are failing their families. So organizational excellence, creating an organization that is built on principles of organizational excellence, it’s not only necessary; it is vital. Without organizational excellence, we are leaving the outcomes of our students…we’re leaving it to hope. And we don’t that, right?

Janet Pilcher: Right.

Bradley Roberson: So I’m thankful for the Nine Principles of organizational excellence that, you know, we have from Studer Education because it gives us this framework of what we should be doing, what we should be hardwiring inside of our systems to provide every single student the best possible opportunity to be successful. From leadership behaviors that we should be exhibiting to different supports that we should be providing and creating this success based culture inside of our system to be an excellent organization, so it’s crucial. It’s crucial.

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, and when, you know, just back to when I’m having conversations with your teams. with your leaders, with your teachers, they understand what you’re saying. Like you’re not just saying it for saying, for the purpose of saying it. I mean, you could go walk into your district, you could talk to people who work in your district, and when you hear them talk, they’re living what you’re saying. And it’s so natural for them, and they’re so, you know, just, I just remember conversations where some of your team members have said, “you know, the work has never felt this good before. It’s never been this energizing before. I understand how what I do connects to the success of the district.”

And, you know, that in and of itself is so, so significant because people aren’t just showing up and going home, but they’re looking at how they’re trying to provide the best for their students and understanding how that affects the district as a whole and are highly highly committed to that. That is huge, Bradley, in terms of what you all have been able, you know, to do. So, you know, could you talk a little bit about maybe just, like, so how did you do it. What are some of those strategies that really help you get there?

Bradley Roberson: First of all, Janet, I really appreciate you sharing that because that’s reinforcement for me that we’re doing things or at least moving in the right direction. And before I share the strategies, I would say one thing that I’m so thankful for with my school leaders and teachers and everyone in the organization is we’ve been a high-performing district for quite some time. It would be really easy for us to settle in the status quo, but I really have a group of people through this work now if I’m really embracing continuous improvement and are saying, “you know what? We’re never going to arrive.” I love that idea of “we’re never going to arrive. We’re going to be shooting for one percent better tomorrow than we were today.” So that really means a lot to me because it would be very easy for them to settle.

So, again, some of the strategies you were just mentioning–I really think for us, it’s really been about, the start of our work three years ago was around the scorecard process for the departmental level, the district level, a school level, and now we have action plans all the way down to the teacher level. And I’ll tell you why I think that’s been so valuable. One, it’s brought our strategic plan to life, but more importantly, it keeps the data on the table every single day right so it never disappears like it used to, right?

It is literally on the table every single day. Our strategic plan is alive and well because of the scorecard process and the action plans. It’s alive and well because of those 45 day check-ins to where teachers are bringing leading data to the table around the action that they’re implementing in their classroom to improve student outcomes, to help meet those school scorecard goals. So we never stop thinking about improvement because of the scorecard and the action plan process is what I would say

Janet Pilcher: Yeah.

Bradley Roberson: So it’s really developed, again, a system of synergy around what really matters and measuring what really matters across the Oxford School District.

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, and I appreciate what you’re saying, too, you know, just as you were talking, I don’t know why, Bradley, but just because it was there, it just reminded me a little bit of the Super Bowl,  the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. You know and I thought about like the Kansas City Chiefs, it was almost like they, you know, they weren’t with that improvement mind focus. They kind of came in, I think, they really, you know, just didn’t work as hard as probably what they needed to work and look at where their deficiencies could be and practice to that, you know, versus a team who probably studied that to the maximum potential and, you know, came in with their game. And you see the difference in that.

So, you know, just even as good as somebody can be, you’re going to face those obstacles. It’s the extent to which you’re able to get up and move forward, but even though you may have to build improvements, you’re at that place where you’re not going to fail, right? I mean, you know, you’re not going to, you might learn from things and it might not work so well, but failure is just not an option for you all, right? And not for your students, I mean, I would think that would be, I mean, you’re just like, your people are like, “no way, man. We’re not going to do it.”

Bradley Roberson: And again, that is one of the things that I consider a blessing across my organization because I do have people that just about across the board that have that exact mindset that you just illustrated so well. And that’s where it starts, right? Of course, improvement’s about shifting the mindsets and behaviors of people, and if we’re not shifting our mindsets and behaviors as people, then systems aren’t going to improve and outcomes aren’t going to improve. So it all starts with people. You can’t refine systems without people, right? So that’s really important and, you know, I guess you really highlighted something that I haven’t really thought about in depth a lot. But if we don’t have the right people in the right places,  systems improvement, your chances of improvement are not going to happen.

Janet Pilcher: That’s right.

Bradley Roberson: Yeah.

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, that’s, I mean, I, you know, it’s that it does, Bradley, to me, it connects back to, you know, in the flywheel, it’s building that workplace where people have an opportunity and doing all the pieces and parts that we need to do there and then really developing our people, right? I mean really building strength in our people and that the combination of those two are the foundational components that help us move toward results through that improvement process.

And people aren’t going to do it alone. You know, I think, again, I’m always know I go to sports, but as a former coach, if you aren’t there coaching, if you aren’t there helping, if you aren’t there guiding, if you aren’t there creating vision and helping look at every little detail of what goes on along the way, you’re not going to get there. It’s even, as talented as you are, you’re just not going to get there. You all do that, and I, you know, I just so appreciate you, appreciate your team. And back to what we’re talking about before, I think more important than ever right now, you know, the work that we’re doing in partnership together and in the network with our school partners and district partners, I think this work is more important than ever. So I am so grateful to you.

Bradley Roberson: No, listen, we’re so grateful for our Studer partners as well. You guys, without y’all, this work would not have been possible for us. We would not be where we are right now. We’ve learned so much, so many of the tools, and again, just really changing the way that we see the work, right?

You know, I guess if I would say one other thing, it would be, I would encourage organizations and school districts not to see this as one more thing to do inside of your system but to see this as the plate in which everything else sits, whether it’s professional learning communities– this is how we go about the work of professional learning communities. Whether it’s, you know, how we design bus routes–this is how we go about the work in designing bus routes, right? This is all about mindsets and behaviors which, again, is crucial and it’s where it starts if you’re going to have systems improvement.

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, such an important add there. I love that, I love that analogy, and it really is significant in terms of how we achieve the best for the people we serve, our students and our parents. Thank you, Bradley, so much. Thank you, thank you to the district, and look forward to seeing you and being with you at our virtual conference real soon. Thank you so much.

Bradley Roberson: Sounds great. Thank you, Janet. I enjoyed it.

Conclusion

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Janet Pilcher: I truly appreciate Bradley taking the time to share how Oxford is setting the standard for organizational excellence. The work, just the incredible work we do is so important. And he’s absolutely right. Scaling that impact starts with people and having the right people in the right places is what always allows us to refine and strengthen our systems so students can achieve excellence. Thank you, Bradley, for your leadership, your commitment to continuous improvement, and for being such a valued partner in this work.

If you want to learn directly from Bradley and other top educational leaders, please join us for our virtual Destination High Performance Leadership Conference. To register, visit studereducation.com/events. And when you do, you’ll get to participate in our three-day virtual event designed to inspire and empower education leaders at every level. Again, that’s Studer, s-t-u-d-e-r education.com/events. Join us if you would.

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast. I hope to see you next time as we continue to work together to drive organizational and student excellence. Have a great week, everyone.