Joe Murley: If you can kind of explain the “why” the people opposed to just mandating something, you can be so much more impactful in your district. 

[Intro music plays in the background.]

Introduction

Janet Pilcher: Hello everyone, welcome to the Accelerate Your Performance podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Janet Pilcher, founder and president of Studer Education. 

Last week, we spoke with an operational leader who showed us what it means to get 1% better every day. And today we’ll continue that theme with a leader who took that philosophy and applied it to a core operational function, his district’s finances. 

It’s my pleasure to welcome Joseph Murley, Director of Finance for the Barren County School District in Kentucky. For the past 13 years, Joe has been a leader in education finance. His leadership philosophy is built on being clear, fair, and consistent, with a focus on accountability and helping his team succeed. His commitment to leading by example has earned him recognitions like the Outstanding Administrators Award from the Kentucky Association of School Administrators. 

Today, we’re going to dive into how Joe and his team used a staff survey to identify a need for updated financial processes and how that led to a more efficient and effective online fundraising system. We’ll also talk about the importance of building relationships and the power of explaining the “why” behind every change. Let’s dive in with Joe. 

Interview

Janet Pilcher: It’s with great pleasure that I welcome Joe Murley to our show today. Joe, welcome. Glad to have you here.

Joe Murley: Thank you, thank you. I’m honored to be here. 

Janet Pilcher: So, DeDe has shared the work that you all are doing and especially describes you as being “all in” with the work. And she’s talked about you and your team and you reading Hardwiring Excellence in Education and coming to our conferences, which has been great. So, just to appreciate the leadership that you’ve provided to your district and your team, Joe, just wanted to start out with that part. 

And let’s start a little bit. Tell us, the audience, a little bit about yourself and your role in Barren County Schools. 

Joe Murley: Well, I’ve been an Education Finance Director or Chief Financial Officer for about 13 years now. I started at an Education Cooperative where I was the CFO there for three years. And then I’ve been blessed to serve the Barren County School District in Kentucky for, this is my tenth year now. 

Janet Pilcher: Yeah. So, and just, I’m excited about the conversation that we’ll have specifically around the operational and finance piece, Joe. I think that’s such a critical part of school districts. And sometimes we tend not to talk about that because we’re so focused on the academic piece. So, talk about a little bit before we get started with specifics, you know, how you were introduced to our work together with Studer Education. 

Joe Murley: Well, our former superintendent, Mr. Matthews, he was on a board with the hospital. And he talked about the great work Studer was doing with hospitals. And he heard that they were in education as well. But he just saw how great it was and worked with DeDe Ashby a bit. And, you know, we went to a conference in Pensacola and saw presentations and things of that nature. And then our district just jumped into it. And so that’s kind of how I was introduced with it. 

Being the Finance Sirector, you kind of hear, you know, good things, but, you know, some different things about surveys and stuff. So, I was a little skeptical, you know, at first, like, as we’d be surveyed or whatever. But, you know, I found out that it was much more than that, that what Studer offers and things of that nature. 

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, that sounds good. So, let’s talk a little bit about that, Joe. So, I know in your continuous improvement work, you have conducted a staff survey and, you know, learned that there was a desire for updated financial processes. And you built a response with an online fundraising system in your accounting software. So, talk a little bit about, like, how you learned that, what you did, and how you responded. 

Joe Murley: As a district, our first district-wide survey we took with Studer, one of the responses we received was making finances easier in the district for staff, students, pretty much anyone else. So, in response to that, we thought modernizing our school activity fund software would be a great start on that. 

And, you know, we worked with the principals, the bookkeepers on, you know, looking at softwares. And basically, you know, they were all in on modernizing the online fundraising part, because prior to that, we didn’t have the infrastructure to really do online fundraisers in our district. So, we implemented it last year, got converted over with all our schools. 

We have nine brick and mortar schools in our district and they learned the accounting part great. But when I looked at the actual participation in online fundraising, it was like 5% versus cash was 95%. And, you know, I thought that really doesn’t make sense. When you look at studies, people 55 years and younger, it’s less than 20% of the time they’re actually using cash. 

However, at our school district, everybody’s using cash. That didn’t make any sense. So, when I did rounding a little bit and asking the bookkeepers, you know, what we heard was, “Well I sent the email to staff.” And, you know, so I thought, well, let’s just ask, you know, Dr. Ashby, she says, you know, “feedback is a gift,” things of that nature. I thought, “Well, maybe I need feedback from the staff.” Why are we not participating in something that just seems like it would make sense to do?

And so, I modeled the survey basically off of what we were doing in the district with Studer and just sent it to staff, parents, anyone. Yeah, I was looking for feedback from literally anyone. Overwhelmingly, you know, what I saw was that 80% of people were interested in doing online fundraising, but over half of them didn’t know that we even had a platform to even do online fundraising. So, you know, the email sent to the staff maybe wasn’t the most impactful way of relaying that we do have online fundraising available in the district. 

So, we were able to take that information and work with the School Cash On Lines, the group we have with the online fundraising platform. They were able to tailor like a marketing campaign, what I would call it, just spread awareness out to the district. 

The other thing we learned with the survey is that basically field trips, teachers really want to do online fundraising because they don’t have to do those multiple receipt forms. And so, one of the big selling points was, hey, no more multiple receipt forms, you can use online fundraising to get away with this. So, we have a big selling point for people to actually use it. 

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, and you know, it’s, I love what you did there because you really didn’t know the answer. You know, I mean, that’s the, you could have guessed or you could have said, you know, maybe this, maybe that, and then just gone with your own solution. But you know, you didn’t do that. You really went to where people were kind of boots on the ground using it or the people that needed it and said, Why not, right? What’s going on?” And then you got the, you got a good answer for how you could move it forward. 

So, as you’ve done that, Joe, I mean, have you seen the increase in use of it? 

Joe Murley: A bit. It’s so early in the year. School hadn’t really started yet. We’ve already seen the schools taking advantage of at least some of the fee parts of it more and people are more aware of it, that kind of thing. I think it’ll really take off when school gets back and we’re in, you know, doing field trips and things of that nature. 

But I’ve heard that over with us, it’s a lot that, you know, 600 different parents have used one of the fee portions of it, which is a great sign already. 

Janet Pilcher: Yeah. 

Joe Murley: The other thing I failed to mention, I added information that I was just wasn’t even aware of prior to doing survey was one of the comments the parents said was, we need to simplify all the online platforms we have because in our district, they have maybe four or five different ones, but we’ve got an official district one that can do all the things that they’re doing. And so making the process more simple for parents was one of the pieces of information I learned. So I was able to sell that as well to bookkeepers, staff, whatever we were trying to make this more simple not more complicated. 

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, so good. So it’ll be interesting, I mean it’ll be great, and you’re looking at the data as you go into the year, you’ll be looking at the data and continuing to get feedback and tweak it. And so that’s that nice feedback loop right, Joe? I mean that’s the consistency of gathering that data, analyzing it, taking an action, and continuing to collect that data to determine how well it’s working. That’s a great example of one thing that you’re really building better efficiencies and gathering data to be helpful and provide a great service. 

I know you also round with your finance directors once a semester. You know, talk a little bit about the effect of those practices and how it strengthened your relationship with them. 

Joe Murley: Oh yeah, you know having a culture where we’re in the building wherever they are and asking them, “Hey, you know, how’s it going?” Just, just a little, you know, five minute conversations. You know, it really helps me see things that I wouldn’t normally see in the office, you know, being present. And often, a two minute conversation can really save hours of time to them or even to me learning, like, maybe there’s a process that we don’t really have right, or, you know, just something, and it certainly does help. 

So we’ve tried, we’ve implemented that. We got, with Studer, that was one of the suggestions, their strategic plan was to go to the schools, talk to the bookkeepers, so I do that at least once a semester, usually at the beginning of the year just to see how thing’s, going anything I can help with, that kind of thing. 

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, that’s so good, and I’m sure they appreciate that you’re with, come to them, and the relationship that you’re building with them and have that care and concern for what their needs are. So I think that’s probably built good relations and improved those relations for you all. 

Again, I go back to kind of the operations piece. The one thing that you’re trying to do is improve the efficiencies, improve better service, build the relationships with people you serve. What I really love about this conversation, Joe, is sometimes in operations we just think we go there, we do our job, we have a job, and, you know, we get the job done. 

But sometimes we forget we’re really in service of the people within the district, I mean,  to our parents and families as well, but for the most part, you’re providing great service to those internal to your district so that they can do their jobs and really help students and families to the best of their ability. 

Joe Murley: Thank you, and what’s helped me with working with Studer and things like that, if you can kind of explain the “why” the people opposed to just mandating something you can be so much more impactful in your district. 

Janet Pilcher: Yes. Yes. And it’s just not “comply because I said so,” right? You know, “Do what I said,” but here’s how we’re doing it, and people are, aren’t they, Joe, they are really responsive and most people want to do a good job abd what’s right and they want to, you know, they want the help and support to do that. 

So as we close today, you know, just thinking about your role as an operations area in the finance area, you know, what advice would you give to other school district operation leaders when it comes to balancing the practical logistical aspects of change and, you know, just really beginning to build those human relationships and considerations of how you provide great service every day?

Joe Murley: Before I answer that, I would tell the, I would tell anybody that’s in the finance or operations role, when your district’s blessed to partner with Studer, whatever, you know, keep open mind about it. And you’re going to have a lot of resources. If you go to a conference, you’re going to see a lot of things that will definitely apply to you in, you know, in practical terms. 

You know, one of the things I thought was just a great idea was the lone wolf, how we’re trying to reduce as many lone wolves as we can. I never really thought about that and saw that at one of the conferences where they had a plan, where they made procedures, things like that. And the lone wolf, my definition of it is somebody that kind of holds all the information hostage and thinks they’re irreplaceable. And, you know, many school districts will show a plan or presentation, or, I say “many.” When I went to the conference, we saw a great presentation on how the school district was able to, in practical terms, eliminate their lone wolves which really makes the company much more better cultured and more efficient. 

Janet Pilcher: Yeah I love that. 

Joe Murley: So that would be my advice overall with your group. And then for any operations person, things that nature, you know, being compliant is always important, but people really, until they show that you, you show them that you care about what they do, you know, they’re not going to care as much about what you’re doing with compliance is what I would say. 

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, oh gosh, so good. You know, I mean, and that’s what, you know, we, I just always find myself saying, Joe, you know, do we want compliance or do we want performance, right? I mean, we’re really about, we want the best in terms of outcomes, so compliance will only get us to a certain point. But if people are engaged in the work and connecting with us, then we’ll get higher levels of performance, and compliance is just what occurs when people, as you talked about, when people understand why they’re doing what they’re doing and that they contribute to the whole, they would be responsive to that. 

Joe Murley: Right when we got started with the book, you know, with Dr. Ashby, one of the first lines as a finance director, because I was a little skeptical of it. Don’t get me wrong, looking at it, I was like “This is one of those education things…[inaudible].” 

One of the first things was, in the intro, it was like the messaging was “While we’re not getting, like, the staffing or allocation, we’re going to work with what we have.” I was like, “I love that.”

Janet Pilcher: Yeah, yeah. 

Joe Murley: I even repeated it to all principals. I, “Look, it’s right here in the book. We’re going to work with we have,” you know, just teasing all of them that kind of thing.

Janet Pilcher: [laughs] Mmmhmm. Yeah.

Joe Murley: But I thought that, that was great, and there’s a lot of great things in that book that I’ve taken away and tried to apply. 

Janet Pilcher: Well thank you, and you know, it’s, it’s interesting because, again, I love this conversation because, in many ways, what we’re trying to do when I write Hardwiring Excellence in Education, and thinking about the work, you know, we’re really kind of taking up the concept of a business model, Joe, and applying it to what it means in education. So I’m glad it resonates with you from an operations standpoint, but, and people will tell you, I’m always on our team saying, “Hey, let’s really make sure we don’t always focus just on the academics because the operational part of our district is just as important as the academics. Because without good service and building efficiencies within our processes it’s very difficult for people to be able to do a good job.” 

Joe Murley: Well thank you for what y’all do and you know how you help school districts around the country and all, all these things we certainly appreciate it. 

Janet Pilcher: Absolutely thank you for your time today and good luck as we continue your year and moving into a successful year. Thanks, Joe. 

Joe Murley: Thank you.

Conclusion

[Outro music plays in the background.]

Janet Pilcher: Thank you, Joe, for sharing your experience and your team’s story. I can tell that your work is driven by a deep commitment to serving the people in the Barren County School District. Your insights about the importance of explaining the “why” behind every decision and eliminating the lone wolves are a powerful reminder that culture and process are deeply connected. May we all seek out the “why” and use feedback as a gift to drive continuous improvement. 

Thank you for tuning into this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast. I look forward to seeing you next time as we continue to work together toward organization and leadership excellence. Have a great week, everyone.