May 14, 2025 • 54 mins
Ever feel like your day is a constant battle to stay ahead of emails, messages, and urgent tasks? You're definitely not alone. In this candid conversation with Robby Stuart, National Learning and Development Manager at Priority Management Australia, we uncover powerful strategies that can transform how educational leaders manage their time, technology, and teams.
Robby reveals the game-changing "Four Ds" framework that can revolutionise your decision-making process when facing the daily deluge of requests. This straightforward approach—Do it, Delay it, Delegate it, or Delete it—provides a systematic way to triage the constant demands on your attention. But the real magic happens when these technical skills are paired with meaningful behaviour change, creating lasting improvements in productivity and wellbeing.
What makes this episode particularly valuable is Robby's practical insights into how technology can either overwhelm or liberate us. From discovering hidden features in familiar tools like Outlook (some of which have been available for decades but remain largely unknown) to embracing emerging AI assistants like Copilot, there's something here for every tech comfort level. The goal isn't just efficiency—it's reclaiming your lunch break, getting home on time, and feeling more in control of your professional life.
Perhaps most compelling are the stories of transformation. When Robby shares feedback from participants who say "you've changed my life," it's a powerful reminder that small adjustments to how we work can have profound effects on our overall wellbeing. Whether you're looking to establish better communication protocols for your team, make smarter decisions about where to invest your time, or simply find ways to cut through the noise of modern work life, this conversation offers practical wisdom you can implement immediately.
Ready to transform your approach to productivity and reclaim valuable time? Listen now, and discover how these proven strategies could help you lead more effectively while maintaining your sanity in the process.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Drew (00:04):
Welcome to season three of Professional Learnings, the New
South Wales PPA EducationalLeadership Podcast.
I'm Drew Janicki, back as yourhost for a brand new season.
It's great for you to be withus as we continue this journey
of learning, leading and drawinginspiration from the incredible
insights of our amazing guests.
(00:25):
Let's dive into our latestepisode when we have people
genuinely tell us and take thetime to write and express in our
feedback surveys that we'vechanged their life.
Now it sounds like hyperbole,you know, it's kind of really,
but I feel like we do.
We, we do make a big differencein people's lives because we
(00:48):
spend so much time work that ifwe can show someone how to to
survive their day a little bitbetter, those are the kind of
feedbacks that I get.
I mean, it's lovely to hearthat.
The joke was funny.
Right, that's part of what wedo, that's that's getting you to
stay in the room.
But when we actually see thatthey've marked that they're
going to have a significantchange in behavior and that's
(01:10):
one of the questions in thesurvey and how will it impact or
improve the organization or theteam?
that was robbie stewart, who isthe executive coach and
corporate training facilitatorfor Priority Management
Australia.
In our podcast today, we breakdown what Robbie's role is.
(01:32):
As well as discussing theimpact and importance of time
management principles, robbieunpacks the four Ds for us and
he also discusses the impact offuture professional learning,
particularly with features suchas artificial intelligence.
Fascinating discussion, let'shear from Robbie Stewart from
(01:57):
Priority Management Australia.
Robby (01:59):
My name is Robbie Stewart and I'm the National Learning
and Development Manager atPriority Management Australia,
and I'm the National Learningand Development Manager at
Priority Management Australia.
Drew (02:10):
Well, Robby, let's start.
Robby welcome to the New SouthWales PPA Professional Learnings
Podcast.
It's an honour to have someonewith such vast experience in
systems training, executivecoaching joining us today.
Robbie, could you start bysharing a little bit about your
journey in your workplace oftransformation and training?
Robby (02:29):
Yeah, great Thanks Drew.
Happy to be here and sayinghello to all your listeners as
well.
I guess you want my originstory.
Is that what we're after?
Drew (02:38):
Yeah, let's find out about the person who delivers this
fantastic content from prioritymanagement.
Robby (02:46):
Yeah, I guess I can go right back to probably my
secondary schooling in the UKwhere we did basically a career
aptitude test to see where wewere going to go in life, what
kind of roles would be good forus, what kind of career paths we
might want to try and pursue,and my scores came back really
(03:07):
high with the helper kind ofcarer side.
I didn't know what that wouldlook like, so I got things like
medical field, church pastor, Igot social worker, all those
kind of things.
But I wasn't really into thosethings.
So I thought, oh, oh, good toknow that you know a caring side
(03:27):
to me and I guess I was alwaysa bit of a nerd as well.
So one of the big things Iguess I've, I should say it's a
blessing.
But I kind of grew up in thegolden age of personal computers
.
My first computer was actuallya Amstrad CPC464 with a cassette
deck for all the great games inthe late 80s there, or kind of
(03:51):
not late 80s, more into the 90s.
So I guess from being kind oftechnically minded and going
through all those transitions ofall the different personal
computing changes, we've hadsome kind of fundamental changes
in how we work right throughtoday.
It kind of makes sense.
I'm kind of here, uh, doingwhat I do because, as a core
(04:13):
value, I love helping people andI, like you know, I like doing
things that, in terms ofspending a lot of work I'm.
So I think that's kind of whereit's all come from, that
wanting to help people and thenjust kind of growing up
developing those skills on thetechnical side has kind of
(04:33):
landed me where I am today.
Drew (04:37):
So I hear you're a giving person, kind person and it's
good to hear that framework.
You could have gone down thatpastoral care avenue, the and I
also heard the amstrad, uh, thatfantastic computer that came
out in the late 80s orpotentially 90s as well.
(04:57):
And then were you a selflearner, discoverer through
computers and became verypassionate and in learning about
computers and programs as such,to then lead into the work that
you're leading at the momentyeah, yeah, pretty much.
Robby (05:15):
I was always interested in kind of what made it work and
you know what it could do forme and obviously at that time
you know with my it could do forme and obviously at that time,
you know, with my peers,everyone was getting computers
and gaming consoles and thingslike that and I went.
You know it really was thegolden age.
I've seen it all, from the verybeginnings to the things that
my 19-year-old son plays.
I can't compute, my braindoesn't compute that fast
(05:39):
anymore.
I just can't use those newconsoles.
But yeah, I guess it's alwaysbeen that technical side for me.
I like to kind of delve in andfigure out how to get the best
out of something and just thingslike when you get a new device,
not just using it out of thebox like what is in there, what
are the options, what are thesettings, what can we play with
(06:01):
and make it work.
For us, I guess, is a big partof what we do at Priority as
well.
So it's, yeah, that's probablykind of the two core areas,
being kind of technically minded, being a bit of a nerd and
caring enough to want to showother people how to get the most
out of it.
Drew (06:18):
I can hear.
You're the person that peoplewanted to.
Were you the person that peoplewent to with computing issues?
Robby (06:29):
Oh yeah, even if I wasn't in IT, you know the printer's
broken I was in the paymentsteam in a bank in the UK and
they'd come to me and I'd fixthe printer and those kind of
things and just help me with thespreadsheet.
And there were lots of other,you know ladies and gentlemen in
that business that were very,very good, but I aspire to be as
good as some of those as well.
(06:51):
So that, yeah, that kind ofhelped as well.
So again, just finding anopportunity to help and add a
bit of value and I guess that'swhat I've always done wherever
I've worked got that little bitabove and beyond what we try and
do at Priority as well.
Drew (07:06):
Yeah, so then we move into Priority Management.
So what did that look like foryou?
Robby (07:17):
Yeah, again, I seem to have been able to kind of find
my way organically into thesepositions and these roles and
again, if it feels right, thenthat's kind of where I've stayed
in a particular job if theorganization kind of matches my
goals and values and andsatisfies that part of me that
wants to help, and there'snothing wrong with a little bit
(07:41):
of validation along along withit.
As you know, some nice bits offeedback make us feel better,
which, as a trainer, you're onlyas good as your last workshop.
So that's always been somethingthat drives me to make sure
everyone has a great experience,and that's what I instill in
the team as well acrossAustralia when we run our work.
It's just a learning experiencetoo.
(08:05):
So, yeah, I think being withthem for 15 years kind of tells
you and the listeners that thisis a company that does care, and
if it didn't I wouldn't havespent so long in it.
You know I'm quite I'm verymuch about being in the right
place and having kind of thegoals and values aligned.
Drew (08:30):
It's so important to have that alignment in terms of your
core values as well as the corevalues of priority management.
For those uninformed, Robbie,what is priority management and
what does it do to help?
Support and support just landeducational leaders, who are our
predominant listener to thispodcast.
(08:51):
What does priority managementdo?
Robby (08:54):
Yeah, so priority management is a productivity
specialist training company.
Okay, we teach all theMicrosoft products, the
productivity tools, but with alens of working smarter.
So that's what a lot of ourprograms are called.
It's very easy to get stuck ina rut.
We get shown how to dosomething someday in an Excel
(09:14):
spreadsheet, or here's youremails, here's your login off
you go and we tend to kind oflive our lives in kind of
default mode and that'ssomething that I always talk
about in our training.
A lot of those options andsettings are still from the 90s
and we get to kind of sharethose with the group and update
them a little bit.
So globally we've been aroundfor about 40 years.
(09:36):
We are a global network inAustralia 30 years plus.
We've been doing what we do forthat long and we've got a long
experience and workingrelationship with New South
Wales Education and lots ofother clients as well, and I
think the fact that we keepcoming back to those clients and
(09:58):
they keep coming back to usthey're our partners.
It's not just kind of drain andburn.
We are in for the long haul.
We're about helping teams,organizations, departments
achieve their objectives andmaking sure they're aligned and
providing that kind of trainingthat supports not just technical
(10:19):
skills but behavioral changeand just making people's day
better.
That's what we're about.
And just making people's daybetter that's that's what we're
about, and just improvingpeople's quality of life
software platforms, that,whether we like them or not.
Drew (10:32):
And then the curiosity factor of of thinking this is a
tool that I could use, but interms of the difference with
what priority management does is, you've obviously done the deep
learning about the tool, butalso how to make you more
productive.
Is that the key message here?
Robby (10:54):
Yeah, yeah, but anyway it's the best practice.
It's not the what, it's the why, like, you can watch a YouTube
clip and see someone showing youhow to click a button in 365,
outlook Teams or Planner orwhatever apps are the latest
buzzword.
But to have that kind of testedand tried process, a behavioral
(11:18):
aspect to it along with thetechnical side, and it comes
down to things like making goodchoices about your task
selections how we communicatethose kind of behavioral signs
as well.
Drew (11:33):
Yeah, so it's really around how I heard the word
behavior changes, which we'llwe'll explore in our
conversation today.
For our school leaders, who areour educational leaders,
listening time keeps comingthrough in surveys, in different
types of surveys, that beingone of the scariest resources.
(11:57):
What are some of the practicaltime management strategies that
you recommend for principals tostreamline their operations?
Robby (12:06):
That's a big question.
Yeah, there's not one magicsolution for that.
It's about a balance across alot of different things.
I would probably say triagingis probably it's a battle
sometimes managing our time, ourcommitments, our tasks,
interruptions that could all bepart of the job.
(12:28):
People, you know, wanting apiece of you through the whole
day.
So I think triaging is animportant skill for that.
I think the four D's issomething that we teach.
If you haven't heard about thefour D's, it's kind of a
decision-making process.
So when a request comes in oran email hits your inbox or a
(12:50):
chat message hits Teams or youget another text message after
the other one, you just readthose messages, those requests,
those interruptions.
What are we going to do withthem?
And we talk about that.
There's four actions we canapply to a task or a request and
we could do it Now.
I know your listeners probablyhave lots of things that need to
(13:11):
be done right now that areimmediate, urgent and important.
So we talk about the EisenhowerMatrix or Eisenhower Principle.
Some of you listeners may haveheard of that.
So if it's do it, it's processit, it's action it, it's highly
important, highly urgent.
Then we have data activate,which is delay.
(13:36):
It's something that you need todo, but you're gonna do it
later.
So how do you do that?
And there's lots of tools thereand outlook that will help you
process and schedule things forlater, and there's some best
practice ways to do that as well.
So delegating is another one.
If you're lucky enough, I wastalking to a principal at a
(13:59):
country school, a very smallschool a couple of weeks ago.
They were the principal, theywere amazing and they ran a few
committees as well.
They were the principal, theywere class-based and they ran a
few committees as well.
I don't know how he does it,but he does it somehow Okay.
So I know there's probably a lotof people out there that have a
lot of habits they have to kindof switch between as well.
So it's very easy for me to saydo it, delegate it, do it later
(14:23):
or defend yourself and deletesome things.
There's a lot of white noisethat comes through our emails,
our communications and all theseapps that we have to use that
just try to get balance and justget the clear message of what
needs to be done.
So there's lots of thingsaround it.
I would say the 4D's is a greatplace to start, and also just
(14:47):
time blocking, just trying tocarve time out in your calendar
for that strategic stuff, thatplanning as well, um, and I
could talk for a few hours ifyou, if you have the time, but
that that's probably where I'dstart.
Have a really straightforwarddecision-making process to help
you and just cut through thenoise.
Drew (15:12):
Yeah, you have to come in with that focus when you are
looking at potentially in thisspace, in the emails, but also
just thinking of howcommunication has changed so
much, particularly in the lastlet's just say, in the last five
years.
You can come, messaging cancome through various platforms.
(15:33):
It can come through, as yousaid, through the email platform
, it can come through a textmessage, it can come through a
notification on Teams, it cancome through Messenger, it could
come through WhatsApp, andthat's just an example of
different types and there's manymore.
I'm sure that communication isimportant, but it's managing
(15:58):
your.
As we come back to whatpriority management does is
helping to manage behaviourchanges.
Robby (16:06):
Yeah, and it's about making good choices.
I mentioned it before.
But having like acommunications charter or an
agreement on how we communicateas a team yes, we have all these
different avenues and methodsto communicate.
You know, when is it a WhatsApp, when is it emails, when is it
(16:26):
in Teams channels.
I think you can get very easilyoverwhelmed with where to go
and find information.
But as a team, if we're all onthe same kind of hymn sheet and
the same kind of agreement onprotocols and guidelines, I
think learning the technology iskey, upskilling, knowing what
(16:48):
it can do, so you can make goodchoices about which way to go.
But also having agreement goingforward, like protocols, is a
way to kind of keep everybody onthe same page, and that's what
we find works quite well amongstthe things like Teams and
Outlook and all these differentcommunication tools that we've
got.
So having a bit of a plan, abit of a protocol, is a great
(17:11):
start.
Drew (17:12):
Yeah, have you seen any best practices that leaders have
been able to do in theeducation space, particularly
with Outlook or in Teams?
Robby (17:24):
Yeah, I think it's different.
I think you know larger schoolsversus smaller schools.
It's much more informal.
In those smaller environmentsit's almost more face-to-face,
because you're right there.
With people.
In the larger schools, you knowyou've got more channels, more
people to update, more people tocommunicate with.
So I think it's just aboutpicking the right tool and using
(17:46):
it the right way.
So there's not one kind ofcookie-cutter fix for it.
It's about sitting down andhaving that open conversation
around okay, these are our tools, this is our toolkit.
What are we going to use?
What's our best practice goingto be?
And I think it's different foreach team, each group.
Drew (18:07):
Yeah, and that's what I hear you go through priority
management, go through in thecourse of establishing those
protocols in using the platformsuch as Outlook or Teams, and
how that is actually utilised asa communication tool, and,
further to that, the next stepsof as you delve into the
(18:31):
Microsoft products, includingOneNote and Excel.
That is essentially the journeyof priority management in those
key Microsoft products.
Robby (18:43):
Yeah, so we have the work and smart journey which is your
Outlook, which some peoplemight think.
Why are they talking aboutOutlook?
It's 27 years old, 28 years old.
Why are we still talking aboutit?
Don't we all know how to use itby now and thanks to versions,
which is why I have a career andthings changing all the time.
(19:05):
We don't always get told whatthose new changes are, or we've
been using Outlook for so long,we're just kind of used to using
it a certain way, and I loveteaching our work in small-scale
workshop because I get to showevery workshop that I've ever
delivered in 15 years.
I've never had the whole groupput their hands up and say yes,
(19:26):
we knew that thing.
You just showed us that we'vebeen able to do since 1997.
That actually nobody actuallydoes.
I won't give it away today.
We'll do the workshop to findout that crazy thing that nobody
told you about.
But we don't always.
Things aren't always intuitive,they're not always right there
in front of us and sometimes weneed a bit of help to make these
(19:49):
tools work for us.
Drew (19:50):
So yeah, yeah, it's a tool to help us and also the
learning and the principles ofbehaviour management around the
tools to be the most effectiveas a result, the tools to be the
most effective as a result.
So, in terms of moving forward,there's obviously those
(20:12):
fantastic tips that you'vementioned around the four Ds.
Let's move to the theme ofadapting to change.
You've helped organizationsnavigate significant changes
like moving entire teams toremote work.
What lessons can school leadersdraw from these experiences to
adapt to their operations inparticularly these times of
uncertainty?
Robby (20:35):
I guess I've probably broken this down into kind of
five key areas that willprobably kind of show up again
in our other questions as we gothrough.
But I think key is preparationand flexibility to be prepared
that change will happen.
That it's a good thing.
Sometimes, mostly when we havethose changes, it's an
(20:57):
opportunity to kind of challengewhat we have been doing and see
if there is a better way.
I think our time managementstrategies applied across the
whole group is important as well.
That's your four Ds being ableto prioritize tasks.
We're talking about things likedelegation as well and having
(21:19):
that kind of building resiliencefor change as well.
It's a bit of a challenge.
We train clients from alldifferent types of industries,
all different generations ofworker, and you know we've got
lots of different names nowAlpha and I'm a Gen X.
So I'm the, I'm the uh, I jokeabout the generation that had to
(21:41):
move across all the differentproducts from cassette tapes,
you know, records and a minidisc.
I think I was the only one thatwent for mini disc in a big way
and that didn't kind of stickaround for very long.
Um, so we've kind of beenthrough that and we're kind of
resilient in terms of having tochange a lot of things.
So you know, working with youngpeople to the workforce, those
(22:04):
are kind of towards the end andthey're looking forward to their
retirement, trying to make thechange as easy as possible for
them.
So having building thatresilience through communication
them.
So building that resiliencethrough communication,
collaborative approaches andalso just talking about the
benefit and showing the benefitof the technology.
(22:24):
We're not just using this newthing because it's new, it's
going to save you time andthings like co-pilot and AI.
It would be remiss of me to notmention those two letters in
this call.
It would be remiss of me to notmention those two letters in
this call.
You know, that's a whole newthing.
It's kind of scary for a lot ofpeople.
It was scary for me to oh, I'vegot to learn this.
Now I've got to tell everybodyelse about it and show them the
(22:50):
best practices and really getinto that and talk to them about
that stuff.
But again, I'd love to be ableto just train the things we
always train because we know itworks with that.
That's the resilience part.
That, okay, bootstraps up.
We've got to learn a newprogram.
We've got to find out and diveinto it for our clients and show
them where it can really help.
(23:10):
So that's a whole other areathat's blowing up right now, as
we know.
Um, yeah.
Drew (23:17):
So I think, collaboration, leveraging technology, that
preparation, just being open tochange, um, yeah, there's a few
things, few things in there, soI would say those are probably
the key ones yeah, navigatingthrough that, and then that
seems like, yes, an ai hasreally taken across the globe
(23:40):
with many things and, in termsof you mentioned your learning
through that process, I guessit's another thing.
What's the wording is whyshould we be learning about AI,
robbie and Copilot?
What's the benefits to doingthat?
Robby (24:01):
Well, it really is a time saver.
It's a search assistant, it's apersonal assistant, for example
I'll give you some examples.
Not that I ever do this.
I write my lesson plans fromscratch.
I promise everybody that'slistening.
But you can go into Copilot andliterally write in design a
(24:22):
four-hour PowerPointpresentation and lesson plan for
Copilot and it will actuallytry and write itself a workshop.
Now, it isn't what you end upwith.
It's a great starting point andthat's the fact.
That's what Copilot and AI isgreat about.
It helps you to get startedrather than having a blank piece
of paper.
It pulls lots of informationtogether and gives you a little
(24:43):
starting point.
It also helps us in outlook tomanage our communications and it
can help coach us on how towrite emails.
It can actually draft emailsfor us.
Um, you know, sometimes it cantake a while to kind of just get
the tone right of an email.
So Copilot, built into Outlook,will do that for you.
I can write in, you know, pleasewrite a thank you email to all
(25:06):
the listeners today forlistening, and here's my contact
details and here's a few hintsand just type that into Copilot
and it will produce a niceformatted three, four paragraph
email for me, which I can tweakas I need to, but it basically
says what I want it to say andit's done all the hard work for
me.
So I would view this as anassistant rather than it's
(25:30):
replacing me.
There's still room for thathuman touch.
It doesn't have as great asense of humor as I do Okay,
they haven't programmed thatjust yet, and when I say great
sense of humor, I think we allknow it's not a great sense of
humor.
That's what's so funny about it, just to be nice to people.
So it is an assistant.
(25:50):
It's growing and it's changingalmost on a weekly basis and we
are starting to deliverworkshops in Copilot now, just
to help people understand whatit is and that it's there to
assist, actually make our liveseasier and quicker.
So, yeah, I think it's a goodthing the way it's kind of
(26:13):
rolled out within Microsoft andhow it sits in each program.
So if you're an Excel user andyou want to know how to do
something or summarize my table,it will do it for you, but it
also kind of shows you how itdid it as well.
I think AI is a great additionto the productivity suite, huge
time saver, and if you think ofit that way, rather than oh,
(26:35):
it's kind of taking a job orthings like that, and if you
think of it that way, ratherthan oh, it's going to take my
job or things like that, I thinkthat's a good way to approach
it, that it's an assistant.
Drew (26:43):
Getting it overwhelm you in terms of should I be doing AI
all the time, in terms of mynew behavior, change thinking
and, I guess, in terms of whatI'm hearing is the course that
you're offering in that spacewill talk and address those
issues as well.
Robby (27:01):
Absolutely, and one of the things I say in the workshop
is how would you like to haveyour lunchtime back or have a
lunch?
You know you can still do anAltesco for lunch.
If anybody's ever done anAltesco, they know my Altesco,
which is either at your desk,not outside al fresco, so you
know if you want your lunchbreak back and some time just to
(27:24):
step away, copilot is that toolthat's going to help you with
that.
Just learning the technologythat we have already without AI,
the shortcuts, the bestpractice ways to use that look
and use tasks and how weleverage them across the
platform of 365, that's going tosave you time as well.
(27:44):
So getting home on time, beingmore present when you get home
and not having to take perhapsso much work home with you to
work on at nighttime those arethe benefits.
Those are the kind ofbehavioral things that we like
to see change based on thetechnology and leveraging the
most out of it yeah, fantastic.
Drew (28:04):
And for those who don't have access to the full co-pilot
series listening and curiosity,saying that's great, but we
don't have that at the moment isit still worth the time to come
to learn about the AI365?
Robby (28:22):
Yeah for sure If you're considering rolling it out, if
that's something you can decidewithin your location.
There's ChatGPT, there's Gemini, which is the Google version of
AI.
You can use these for free,just for your own purposes.
It doesn't have to even be forwork related.
If you're planning on going onholiday, you could get New Pilot
(28:45):
or AI whichever app you've got.
Show me three places in Europethat are popular right now for
holidays and it will actually gooff and do that for you.
Or what kind of things can I doin Spain?
My daughter wants to go toSpain next year and I have
enough air miles on Virginaccount to make it a bit cheaper
(29:07):
.
So we're kind of Googling somethings you know, as you normally
do.
But CoPilot AI, chatgpt cankind of do that, searching for
you and present you with a nicelittle list of responses.
So I think it's definitelyworth getting on board sooner
rather than later, because,getting in at kind of the entry
level as things get more andmore integrated and perhaps
(29:31):
complex, you're kind of alreadyon that train and you've got a
sense of what they can do.
So definitely worth a look.
Drew (29:38):
Yeah, yeah, and I'm hearing that you I'm taking you
are a heavy user of the AIplatforms at the moment.
Robby (29:48):
Oh yeah, absolutely so.
I'm running the team, thetraining team, here in Australia
.
I'm also running workshopsacross Queensland and Northern
Territory.
I'm travelling a lot, soanything that will help get my
emails out quicker, respond tochat messages and those
immediate requests from my teamquicker, using templates to be
(30:10):
able to quickly processresponses to clients and their
questions, that's just great,that just helps me in one piece
and relax and, yeah, anythingthat makes our lives easier.
I think it's definitely worthinvestigating and seeing where
it can go.
Drew (30:30):
Yeah, terrific, and for our listeners predominantly in
New South Wales education, wehave a tool called EduChat and
that is powered by the Microsoftcompany, and that is a tool
that's for New South Waleseducational leaders, as well as
teachers and educators acrossNew South Wales.
(30:54):
Speaking of which, I guess,robbie, are you able to share a
story about a school oreducational organisation that
transformed its operations afterimplementing the priority
management training strategies?
Robby (31:12):
Oh, there's lots, I'm trying to pick one.
We had one school where weactually went on site with the
executive and administrationteam and basically took them
through our Working Smart withOutlook course.
Again, not just about Outlook,but how to manage priorities,
manage their time, manage theirtasks and also kind of getting a
(31:36):
balance between their workloadsand their personal well-being
as well.
So again, the behavioral sidestrong as the technical side
there.
So, talking about increasingproductivity across the team,
finding efficiencies and thoseprotocols, again having the
group agree on how we willcommunicate, how we will use
(32:00):
this tool going forward.
This is when we use Outlook,this is when we use WhatsApp or
whatever it might be.
That really kind of made animpact for them because they did
it as a whole team.
And it's like with any trainingIf you come to a workshop and
it's just you, that's great,that's good for you, you've
(32:21):
updated your skills and yourpersonal development.
But often we go back to ourenvironments changed and we're
going back to an unchangedenvironment and we're trying to
buy those new kind of skills andthoughts and approaches to an
unchanged environment.
So when a whole group can do it, when a group, a core team, can
do it together it has a reallybig, really big impact.
(32:43):
So I'd say, with thatparticular school, I think they
came away feeling empowered withthe skills that they learned,
knowing they were, in some areas, doing really well, they were
doing the best thing and therewasn't anything else available
to do what they wanted to do.
So, yeah, I think, leaving themwith that positive experience,
(33:08):
choices and options that theycould make now going forward,
that had a big impact.
So, yeah, and those are commonstories that we have from all
different clients, just peoplesaying I wish someone had told
me this 10 years ago.
Like why didn't someone tell methat I could do this 10 years
(33:29):
ago?
Or that Outlook was supposed todo that, you know?
So I always love those kind offeedbacks.
Drew (33:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
And also what I've also seenand experienced is the fact that
there's the refresher coursesas well, and nothing wrong with
that as well in terms of notpicking that up straight away.
It's the refresher courses, soto speak, that needed to
understand or just refine orclarify, which is all part of
(33:58):
the learning experience.
So there's refresher courses,lifetime access to the refresher
courses for participants whoenroll into priority management,
which is a really specialfeature of priority management.
Robby (34:11):
Yeah, and it's with that Outlook Working Spot, with
Outlook program, because it issuch a core program and we share
so much in the workshop itselfthat I always tell my I had one
last week.
I was with a council up here inQueensland last week and I said
whatever you remember tomorrowwhen you wake up was obviously
something you needed to hear.
It resonated and it wassomething you're going to run
(34:32):
with.
And the other 70% of thingsthat I took you through and
explained and pitched to youthat's going to be in the
follow-up.
It's the coaching session thateverybody gets, that one-on-one
opportunity a few weeks down theroad to go.
So I've implemented this in myworld.
I've got that under control.
(34:55):
What's next?
And it's that whole thing ofwhat's next we're lifelong
learners, as everyone would knowlistening to this podcast.
It's that continual developmentthat really makes a difference
and keeps you cutting edgeabsolutely underpinned by the
(35:15):
behavior changes.
Drew (35:16):
And also, what is so unique on top of that is, as you
just mentioned, is thefollow-up coaching mechanism,
which is really powerful to seeif that behavior change has
occurred or not and what areasthat could actually take place
in.
Robby (35:35):
So yeah, and we always say we're checking in with you,
not checking up on you.
We are not being judged in anyway or measured.
It's really just theopportunity to go okay.
So how far did you get when yougot back into those busy
environments, those habits,those interruptions?
How can we kind of help youfurther?
Yeah, and just revisiting thoseprinciples that we talked
(35:59):
through in the workshop.
Drew (36:00):
Yeah Now, Robbie, you are known to have a bit of a comedic
approach to your training.
I'm reading your bio.
Your sense of humour, it states, is often highlighted as part
of your training style.
Robbie, how do you use yourhumor to create engaging and
effective and an effectivelearning environment?
Robby (36:23):
well, thanks for that.
I like to think I'm funny.
Um, it is subjective.
Uh, you know, I have a drysense of humor, which I I got
from my, my father.
I'm very good at the one-liners.
I don't do a stand-up routine oranything and jokes, but, and
whilst it seems like I'm one ofthose trainers that's looking
(36:43):
for attention by cracking a joke, there's actually purpose to
why I'm trying to be funny and Ido the bad dad jokes and I'm
trying to kind of bring a bit oflevity to the training, because
I've been to a lot of trainingsessions over my life and
they've just been dry, withoutthe humor, and I think we can
(37:05):
relate to to some of thosetraining sessions and some of
them are, um, you know, we'reconscripted.
Almost you have to go throughthis.
It's it's something that maybeyou don't volunteer for, but for
me and this is what I encouragethe rest of my team we all have
our own styles and that's whatmakes us great as a training
(37:26):
team that we're all individuals,just like all our clients are.
And for me, there's a fewthings that are happening there
in the background when I'mtrying to be funny, which is
actually funny, when I'm tryingto be funny and it doesn't
actually happen.
That's when I get the mostlaughs.
Drew (37:43):
It's worse when the jokes come out and you have to explain
it.
Robby (37:51):
You know it just breaks the ice.
So, number one it breaks theice.
Okay, anecdotes, just a littleone line.
It has to bring people back outof themselves.
A little bit always helps.
It helps content as well.
If you can put a story againstsomething or a silly kind of
(38:15):
funny comment or anecdote tosomething, you're more likely to
remember it as well.
It encourages participation andI love it when people try and
get in there with their jokes.
I can kind of sit back and goon with it, which is pretty
great.
It reduces stress as well, notjust for the group but for me.
You know I am an introvert.
(38:36):
I'm a paid extrovert, if youlike.
I've learned those behaviors toexist in the world and I think
that's my way of managing the.
Hey, I've just met 15 brand newpeople that are looking at me
how are we going to get on?
(38:57):
How do I build that rapport?
And I can be comfortable andthey can be comfortable as well.
So I think it's more for me aswell, for them to just bring
that little bit of humour andthat levity, building rapport
and keeping their attention.
One of the biggest challenges wehave with online learning and
(39:17):
virtual training is the abilityfor people to turn their cameras
off.
And when you're in a roompeople can't do that unless they
sit there and they put theirhands in front of their eyes,
but then they look kind of silly.
It's very hard to keep peopleengaged in the virtual training
environment than actually in theroom.
So we're throwing everythingwe've got.
(39:39):
We're giving points to peoplefor keeping their camera on and
those points don't mean anythingat all and they wonder who's
won at the end of the course.
And nobody's won.
It was just a trick to try andkeep your camera on.
And we're just trying to keeppeople engaged and I've always
felt that.
You know, you can go back andlook at the words in the guides
(39:59):
and the handouts that we provide.
But if you have a memorableexperience, you remember that
training team member frompriority that made you feel
happy or positive to be in theroom and to be learning those
things.
That's what connects you tothat information and you can
always look it up.
(40:20):
But if you have a terribleexperience or that session was
very dry and they weren't, youknow and it doesn't have to be
funny there's lots of differentways to engage people it's kind
of lost, the information is lostand people aren't going to want
to go back to the information.
So I think leaving people witha positive experience in their
training session is is a numberone thing for me and my team, as
(40:43):
well as knowing our stuff andactually trying to convey that
and bring that message across.
So there's method in my sillyjokes, I guess, is what I'm
saying there.
Drew (40:52):
So and they keep laughing, keep doing the jokes, you're
going to have an enjoyableexperience for those people
listening, which is so importantto have humour and, as you said
, storytelling really helpspeople to connect.
People remember stories.
They don't remember manuals, soto speak.
They remember the humour, theyremember how they felt about the
(41:14):
learning and when you're happyand learning, obviously the
flow-on effect is the retainmentof the information and you're
relaxed.
So, in terms of feedback, if wecan go to that, robbie, what's
one piece of feedback fromclients or participants that
really has stayed with you andshaped how you've approached
your work?
Robby (41:36):
I think I might have mentioned this before, but when
we have people genuinely tell usand take the time to write and
express in our feedback surveysthat we've changed their life,
now it sounds like hyperbole,you know.
It's kind of really, but I feellike we do.
We do make a big difference inpeople's lives because we spend
(41:57):
so much time work that if we canshow someone how to to survive
their day a little bit better,to get that lunch break, just
those little things to maketheir life easier, those are the
kind of feedbacks that I get.
I mean, it's lovely to hearthat.
The joke was funny.
Right, that's part of what wedo, that's that's getting you to
(42:17):
stay in the room.
But when we actually see thatthey've marked that they're
going to have a significantchange in behavior and that's
one of the questions in thesurvey and how will it impact or
or improve the organization orthe team those are the start as
well.
So I think when someone takesthe time and literally says
(42:39):
you've changed my life, don'ttake that lightly.
Um, we really appreciate them.
Just want to comment to it andit reinforces why we do what we
do.
We're not kind of trainers,we're not, you know shift dip
training, you know everybodygoes through it.
It does make a difference andand again, if you're open to it
(43:00):
then that also helps as well.
So I guess those kind offeedbacks where it's been
life-changing, yeah verypowerful words, life-changing,
so people living in it.
Drew (43:13):
It truly is, and I've heard those comments myself from
colleagues who have gonethrough the priority management
experience.
And if you're listening and youhaven't done that, hearing
those words of life-changing,the question is, why aren't you
doing priority management ifyou're hearing things like that
in your world?
If we move to the future visionnow, robbie, looking ahead, how
(43:40):
would you see workplacetraining to be evolving to meet
the needs of leaders ineducation and beyond?
Robby (43:48):
Yeah, that was a really good question.
I'm going to really kind of sitdown and think about, you know,
with the shift in a lot ofvirtual training, a lot of Teams
, zoom training obviously a bigevent that happened a few years
ago that kind of reallypropelled the online work from
home hybrid situation.
I think a lot of us are timepoor, and particularly the
(44:12):
leaders that you're talkingabout within the association,
and I see a lot of optionscoming up.
So micro learning is somethingreally taking off.
Even in the qualifications areaand the vet qualifications,
instead of doing great big certfours or diplomas and things,
(44:33):
there are a lot more choicesabout key kind of almost keyhole
training in a keyhole surgeryon your knee or something like
that, just getting the exactkind of information, the skill
that you're looking for.
So I think we'll see a lot moremicro learning.
That's something that we'relooking at as well, so that you
can balance that with the timethat you've got available, and
(44:54):
it's very hard for a principalto just take the whole support
staff out for the day, um, orsome, you know, some
classroom-based uh teachers.
So, yeah, let's go off and dotraining for a day.
It's just not possible a lot ofthe time.
So I think, blended learning um, we've got immersive
technologies, you know, I thinkvrs I mean we're not there yet,
but there's a lot of vraugmented reality type of
(45:17):
training and that works indifferent types of industry as
well.
Collaborative learning Againgoing back to if you can get
together as a group andexperience that learning
together, I just feel like itwill go further than just that
one person coming back to anunchanged environment where
(45:38):
they've been changed in thetraining session.
And I think you know continuousfeedback assessment.
That's key as well, that thetime that you're putting aside
for development is actuallyhaving the results you want and
it's not just a tick box kind ofexercise.
You know it's.
Yeah, I'd say those are thekind of things that are coming
(45:58):
up future make life easier, um,you know, for your listeners and
and have that targeted trainingand at priority.
We always customize ourtraining and we're very flexible
like that.
We're always keen to talk andmake it work for our clients.
Drew (46:15):
I really hear hear some exciting things potentially on
the horizon withmicro-credentialing the VR space
, which is very popular in agaming environment, but in terms
of bringing that into theworkforce, is that something
priority is considering at thispoint in time?
Robby (46:37):
We can see it.
Some in the industry ishappening and again for
different.
You know simulators and youknow.
Drew (46:44):
So, in terms of the VR space, is that something that?
And you also mentionedmicro-credentialing is that
something that prioritymanagement is considering at
this point in time?
Robby (46:56):
Yeah, so so we're actively looking at the
micro-credentials, particularlyin our project management space.
That is something that we'vebeen working on for a little
while and that's somethingthat's happening in the training
industry.
So, rather than doing thoselong kind of Cert IVs diplomas,
you can actually pick a mix ofcomponents that you actually
(47:17):
want to pick up, and it's thattargeted training.
As we talked about, um, interms of the vr stuff, I'd love
to uh to have that set up.
That might be a bit furtherdown the road.
That's really great for kind oftrades and simulators and those
kind of roles.
But when we're kind oftechnical and we're looking at
software, um, who knows, I wouldlove to have spare time to get
(47:40):
into the vr world and and uh andhave wonderful online workshops
where we can kind of walkaround and and chat with each
other at break times in thevirtual space.
But maybe further down thetrack for that one.
But micro credentials, microtraining, uh, blended learning,
that's all on the on the radarfor sure and staying ahead and
(48:03):
being current is is the keymessage, as I heard.
Drew (48:07):
In terms of the practical takeaways, if you could
recommend one tool, habit ormindset, mindset shift for
principles to immediatelyimprove their data-to-day
operations, what would it be?
Robby (48:21):
If I had to pick one, I'd probably say triage.
Triage your communications,your interruptions, the tasks on
your list.
It's trying to make the bestchoices and having the tools,
the technology to support you,being able to triage quickly, so
(48:41):
cutting through the noise,getting to the important emails,
the important phone callmessages.
I think triage is a key thing.
So those four Ds again kind ofcomes back to that principle or
that behavior.
Whatever the tool is, where isthis taking you right now in
your very precious time as aleader?
(49:02):
And everyone knocking on yourdoor, ringing your phone, using
that 4D process, the Eisenhowermatrix.
Where is this person taking you?
Is it quadrant one, which is,you know, very urgent, very
important?
It's those things you just haveto do, and are they sometimes
(49:22):
seeing us to?
Quadrant four, which is thekind of procrastination side,
the white noise, the meetingsthat perhaps shouldn't have been
a meeting and all those kind ofthings as well.
So I think probably triage wouldbe kind of a key word to kind
of go with.
I want to look at this emailagain later in the day.
(49:43):
I don't want to have to dealwith this thing again later in
the day.
Let's try and make some goodchoices at the time.
I'd say triage.
I imagine it does feel a lotlike that.
You've got people coming intothe tent.
You've got to decide what to dowith them and where to put them
.
It's a triage.
Drew (50:01):
Absolutely, but it's teaching that behaviour change
which is so crucial, with whatpriority management does.
Last question, robbie Forschool leaders implementing new
strategies, what is the best wayto measure success and the
impact of the changes on theirteams and students?
Robby (50:22):
Well, there's a couple of key things.
If I just had to summarise itwithout going through a huge
list, I would say to have cleargoals and KPIs to be able to
measure the success.
Also, being able to havequalitative and quantitative
data collection and thosemechanisms to collect that
(50:42):
information too.
What is the stats and figuresof how this is helped?
If we're rolling teams out, orwe're rolling a particular
product out or training solutionacross the staff of the school,
what are we looking to get outof it?
We want people to be moreproductive, process their emails
(51:04):
, improve productivity withintheir team.
There's the qualitative side ofthat, like how is that going?
How are we feeling about it?
What are the anecdotal storiesthat, yes, I'm actually feeling
more under control and thatperson's responding to me more
which is great because I wasalways waiting and all those
different stories and also thatquantitative data as well.
(51:28):
So I think having clearobjectives and being able to
track it well is probably key tobe able to do that.
Drew (51:36):
Yeah, Is there a tool, technology tool, to be able to
do that?
Robbie.
Robby (51:43):
Well we've got.
Well.
There's a lot of differenttools around.
I would say that I think youknow, in terms of planning,
you've got a tool called Planner, which is great.
That's in Microsoft Teams,that's free.
That's kind of the latest thingthat we've been using to kind
of track initiatives and notfull-blown projects as such, but
(52:06):
be able to kind of track theprogress of you know kind of.
We can record information there.
We can add spreadsheets intothe tasks, the different phases
of what we're trying toimplement.
So it is a very simple tool,microsoft Planner, and it's kind
of we talk about it's the waywe phrase it is.
(52:29):
It's planning out loud, Okay.
So everyone within a team cansee this planner board.
You can have buckets or columnsof tasks and they can be the
different phases and we can listtogether as a group or a team
what tasks need to be done andwe can assign those tasks to
each other as well.
So planner is one of thosegreat tools.
(52:50):
And then you've got things likeExcel and you know feedback
forms.
It's there's gonna a a toolkitfor sure that you need to put
together for that.
So planner is probably the mostpopular thing at the moment to
track activities and tasks in agroup environment.
Drew (53:08):
Yeah, terrific, always good to speak to you, robbie,
and thank you for the work thatyou are leading and supporting
educational leaders throughpriority management.
Again, thank you for your timeand thank you for those people
listening to our podcast today.
Robby (53:25):
Thanks Drew, thanks everyone.
Drew (53:28):
Thanks again for joining us for this insightful episode
of the New South Wales PPAProfessional Learning,
educational Leadership Podcast,featuring Robbie Stewart,
executive Coach, corporateTrainer, facilitator and
longtime partner of PriorityManagement Australia.
Robbie's deep knowledge as asystem trainer and executive
(53:49):
coach, combined with hishands-on experience in New South
Wales education, has helpedcountless schools and leaders
streamline their workflows andreclaim their time.
If today's conversation sparkedideas of practical value, we
encourage you to explore thefull suite of Working Smart
programs available throughpriority management through the
(54:12):
NSW PPA.
You can learn more by visitingwwwnswppaorgau.
Forward slash working dash,smart dash series.
Don't forget to subscribe tothe New South Wales PPA
Professional Learnings Podcastfor more thought-provoking
discussions with experts inleadership, learning and
(54:34):
professional growth.
Until next time, continue tolead with courage, purpose and
care.
Take care.
Welcome to season three of Professional Learnings, the New
South Wales PPA EducationalLeadership Podcast.
I'm Drew Janicki, back as yourhost for a brand new season.
It's great for you to be withus as we continue this journey
of learning, leading and drawinginspiration from the incredible
insights of our amazing guests.
(00:25):
Let's dive into our latestepisode when we have people
genuinely tell us and take thetime to write and express in our
feedback surveys that we'vechanged their life.
Now it sounds like hyperbole,you know, it's kind of really,
but I feel like we do.
We, we do make a big differencein people's lives because we
(00:48):
spend so much time work that ifwe can show someone how to to
survive their day a little bitbetter, those are the kind of
feedbacks that I get.
I mean, it's lovely to hearthat.
The joke was funny.
Right, that's part of what wedo, that's that's getting you to
stay in the room.
But when we actually see thatthey've marked that they're
going to have a significantchange in behavior and that's
(01:10):
one of the questions in thesurvey and how will it impact or
improve the organization or theteam?
that was robbie stewart, who isthe executive coach and
corporate training facilitatorfor Priority Management
Australia.
In our podcast today, we breakdown what Robbie's role is.
(01:32):
As well as discussing theimpact and importance of time
management principles, robbieunpacks the four Ds for us and
he also discusses the impact offuture professional learning,
particularly with features suchas artificial intelligence.
Fascinating discussion, let'shear from Robbie Stewart from
(01:57):
Priority Management Australia.
Robby (01:59):
My name is Robbie Stewart and I'm the National Learning
and Development Manager atPriority Management Australia,
and I'm the National Learningand Development Manager at
Priority Management Australia.
Drew (02:10):
Well, Robby, let's start.
Robby welcome to the New SouthWales PPA Professional Learnings
Podcast.
It's an honour to have someonewith such vast experience in
systems training, executivecoaching joining us today.
Robbie, could you start bysharing a little bit about your
journey in your workplace oftransformation and training?
Robby (02:29):
Yeah, great Thanks Drew.
Happy to be here and sayinghello to all your listeners as
well.
I guess you want my originstory.
Is that what we're after?
Drew (02:38):
Yeah, let's find out about the person who delivers this
fantastic content from prioritymanagement.
Robby (02:46):
Yeah, I guess I can go right back to probably my
secondary schooling in the UKwhere we did basically a career
aptitude test to see where wewere going to go in life, what
kind of roles would be good forus, what kind of career paths we
might want to try and pursue,and my scores came back really
(03:07):
high with the helper kind ofcarer side.
I didn't know what that wouldlook like, so I got things like
medical field, church pastor, Igot social worker, all those
kind of things.
But I wasn't really into thosethings.
So I thought, oh, oh, good toknow that you know a caring side
(03:27):
to me and I guess I was alwaysa bit of a nerd as well.
So one of the big things Iguess I've, I should say it's a
blessing.
But I kind of grew up in thegolden age of personal computers
.
My first computer was actuallya Amstrad CPC464 with a cassette
deck for all the great games inthe late 80s there, or kind of
(03:51):
not late 80s, more into the 90s.
So I guess from being kind oftechnically minded and going
through all those transitions ofall the different personal
computing changes, we've hadsome kind of fundamental changes
in how we work right throughtoday.
It kind of makes sense.
I'm kind of here, uh, doingwhat I do because, as a core
(04:13):
value, I love helping people andI, like you know, I like doing
things that, in terms ofspending a lot of work I'm.
So I think that's kind of whereit's all come from, that
wanting to help people and thenjust kind of growing up
developing those skills on thetechnical side has kind of
(04:33):
landed me where I am today.
Drew (04:37):
So I hear you're a giving person, kind person and it's
good to hear that framework.
You could have gone down thatpastoral care avenue, the and I
also heard the amstrad, uh, thatfantastic computer that came
out in the late 80s orpotentially 90s as well.
(04:57):
And then were you a selflearner, discoverer through
computers and became verypassionate and in learning about
computers and programs as such,to then lead into the work that
you're leading at the momentyeah, yeah, pretty much.
Robby (05:15):
I was always interested in kind of what made it work and
you know what it could do forme and obviously at that time
you know with my it could do forme and obviously at that time,
you know, with my peers,everyone was getting computers
and gaming consoles and thingslike that and I went.
You know it really was thegolden age.
I've seen it all, from the verybeginnings to the things that
my 19-year-old son plays.
I can't compute, my braindoesn't compute that fast
(05:39):
anymore.
I just can't use those newconsoles.
But yeah, I guess it's alwaysbeen that technical side for me.
I like to kind of delve in andfigure out how to get the best
out of something and just thingslike when you get a new device,
not just using it out of thebox like what is in there, what
are the options, what are thesettings, what can we play with
(06:01):
and make it work.
For us, I guess, is a big partof what we do at Priority as
well.
So it's, yeah, that's probablykind of the two core areas,
being kind of technically minded, being a bit of a nerd and
caring enough to want to showother people how to get the most
out of it.
Drew (06:18):
I can hear.
You're the person that peoplewanted to.
Were you the person that peoplewent to with computing issues?
Robby (06:29):
Oh yeah, even if I wasn't in IT, you know the printer's
broken I was in the paymentsteam in a bank in the UK and
they'd come to me and I'd fixthe printer and those kind of
things and just help me with thespreadsheet.
And there were lots of other,you know ladies and gentlemen in
that business that were very,very good, but I aspire to be as
good as some of those as well.
(06:51):
So that, yeah, that kind ofhelped as well.
So again, just finding anopportunity to help and add a
bit of value and I guess that'swhat I've always done wherever
I've worked got that little bitabove and beyond what we try and
do at Priority as well.
Drew (07:06):
Yeah, so then we move into Priority Management.
So what did that look like foryou?
Robby (07:17):
Yeah, again, I seem to have been able to kind of find
my way organically into thesepositions and these roles and
again, if it feels right, thenthat's kind of where I've stayed
in a particular job if theorganization kind of matches my
goals and values and andsatisfies that part of me that
wants to help, and there'snothing wrong with a little bit
(07:41):
of validation along along withit.
As you know, some nice bits offeedback make us feel better,
which, as a trainer, you're onlyas good as your last workshop.
So that's always been somethingthat drives me to make sure
everyone has a great experience,and that's what I instill in
the team as well acrossAustralia when we run our work.
It's just a learning experiencetoo.
(08:05):
So, yeah, I think being withthem for 15 years kind of tells
you and the listeners that thisis a company that does care, and
if it didn't I wouldn't havespent so long in it.
You know I'm quite I'm verymuch about being in the right
place and having kind of thegoals and values aligned.
Drew (08:30):
It's so important to have that alignment in terms of your
core values as well as the corevalues of priority management.
For those uninformed, Robbie,what is priority management and
what does it do to help?
Support and support just landeducational leaders, who are our
predominant listener to thispodcast.
(08:51):
What does priority managementdo?
Robby (08:54):
Yeah, so priority management is a productivity
specialist training company.
Okay, we teach all theMicrosoft products, the
productivity tools, but with alens of working smarter.
So that's what a lot of ourprograms are called.
It's very easy to get stuck ina rut.
We get shown how to dosomething someday in an Excel
(09:14):
spreadsheet, or here's youremails, here's your login off
you go and we tend to kind oflive our lives in kind of
default mode and that'ssomething that I always talk
about in our training.
A lot of those options andsettings are still from the 90s
and we get to kind of sharethose with the group and update
them a little bit.
So globally we've been aroundfor about 40 years.
(09:36):
We are a global network inAustralia 30 years plus.
We've been doing what we do forthat long and we've got a long
experience and workingrelationship with New South
Wales Education and lots ofother clients as well, and I
think the fact that we keepcoming back to those clients and
(09:58):
they keep coming back to usthey're our partners.
It's not just kind of drain andburn.
We are in for the long haul.
We're about helping teams,organizations, departments
achieve their objectives andmaking sure they're aligned and
providing that kind of trainingthat supports not just technical
(10:19):
skills but behavioral changeand just making people's day
better.
That's what we're about.
And just making people's daybetter that's that's what we're
about, and just improvingpeople's quality of life
software platforms, that,whether we like them or not.
Drew (10:32):
And then the curiosity factor of of thinking this is a
tool that I could use, but interms of the difference with
what priority management does is, you've obviously done the deep
learning about the tool, butalso how to make you more
productive.
Is that the key message here?
Robby (10:54):
Yeah, yeah, but anyway it's the best practice.
It's not the what, it's the why, like, you can watch a YouTube
clip and see someone showing youhow to click a button in 365,
outlook Teams or Planner orwhatever apps are the latest
buzzword.
But to have that kind of testedand tried process, a behavioral
(11:18):
aspect to it along with thetechnical side, and it comes
down to things like making goodchoices about your task
selections how we communicatethose kind of behavioral signs
as well.
Drew (11:33):
Yeah, so it's really around how I heard the word
behavior changes, which we'llwe'll explore in our
conversation today.
For our school leaders, who areour educational leaders,
listening time keeps comingthrough in surveys, in different
types of surveys, that beingone of the scariest resources.
(11:57):
What are some of the practicaltime management strategies that
you recommend for principals tostreamline their operations?
Robby (12:06):
That's a big question.
Yeah, there's not one magicsolution for that.
It's about a balance across alot of different things.
I would probably say triagingis probably it's a battle
sometimes managing our time, ourcommitments, our tasks,
interruptions that could all bepart of the job.
(12:28):
People, you know, wanting apiece of you through the whole
day.
So I think triaging is animportant skill for that.
I think the four D's issomething that we teach.
If you haven't heard about thefour D's, it's kind of a
decision-making process.
So when a request comes in oran email hits your inbox or a
(12:50):
chat message hits Teams or youget another text message after
the other one, you just readthose messages, those requests,
those interruptions.
What are we going to do withthem?
And we talk about that.
There's four actions we canapply to a task or a request and
we could do it Now.
I know your listeners probablyhave lots of things that need to
(13:11):
be done right now that areimmediate, urgent and important.
So we talk about the EisenhowerMatrix or Eisenhower Principle.
Some of you listeners may haveheard of that.
So if it's do it, it's processit, it's action it, it's highly
important, highly urgent.
Then we have data activate,which is delay.
(13:36):
It's something that you need todo, but you're gonna do it
later.
So how do you do that?
And there's lots of tools thereand outlook that will help you
process and schedule things forlater, and there's some best
practice ways to do that as well.
So delegating is another one.
If you're lucky enough, I wastalking to a principal at a
(13:59):
country school, a very smallschool a couple of weeks ago.
They were the principal, theywere amazing and they ran a few
committees as well.
They were the principal, theywere class-based and they ran a
few committees as well.
I don't know how he does it,but he does it somehow Okay.
So I know there's probably a lotof people out there that have a
lot of habits they have to kindof switch between as well.
So it's very easy for me to saydo it, delegate it, do it later
(14:23):
or defend yourself and deletesome things.
There's a lot of white noisethat comes through our emails,
our communications and all theseapps that we have to use that
just try to get balance and justget the clear message of what
needs to be done.
So there's lots of thingsaround it.
I would say the 4D's is a greatplace to start, and also just
(14:47):
time blocking, just trying tocarve time out in your calendar
for that strategic stuff, thatplanning as well, um, and I
could talk for a few hours ifyou, if you have the time, but
that that's probably where I'dstart.
Have a really straightforwarddecision-making process to help
you and just cut through thenoise.
Drew (15:12):
Yeah, you have to come in with that focus when you are
looking at potentially in thisspace, in the emails, but also
just thinking of howcommunication has changed so
much, particularly in the lastlet's just say, in the last five
years.
You can come, messaging cancome through various platforms.
(15:33):
It can come through, as yousaid, through the email platform
, it can come through a textmessage, it can come through a
notification on Teams, it cancome through Messenger, it could
come through WhatsApp, andthat's just an example of
different types and there's manymore.
I'm sure that communication isimportant, but it's managing
(15:58):
your.
As we come back to whatpriority management does is
helping to manage behaviourchanges.
Robby (16:06):
Yeah, and it's about making good choices.
I mentioned it before.
But having like acommunications charter or an
agreement on how we communicateas a team yes, we have all these
different avenues and methodsto communicate.
You know, when is it a WhatsApp, when is it emails, when is it
(16:26):
in Teams channels.
I think you can get very easilyoverwhelmed with where to go
and find information.
But as a team, if we're all onthe same kind of hymn sheet and
the same kind of agreement onprotocols and guidelines, I
think learning the technology iskey, upskilling, knowing what
(16:48):
it can do, so you can make goodchoices about which way to go.
But also having agreement goingforward, like protocols, is a
way to kind of keep everybody onthe same page, and that's what
we find works quite well amongstthe things like Teams and
Outlook and all these differentcommunication tools that we've
got.
So having a bit of a plan, abit of a protocol, is a great
(17:11):
start.
Drew (17:12):
Yeah, have you seen any best practices that leaders have
been able to do in theeducation space, particularly
with Outlook or in Teams?
Robby (17:24):
Yeah, I think it's different.
I think you know larger schoolsversus smaller schools.
It's much more informal.
In those smaller environmentsit's almost more face-to-face,
because you're right there.
With people.
In the larger schools, you knowyou've got more channels, more
people to update, more people tocommunicate with.
So I think it's just aboutpicking the right tool and using
(17:46):
it the right way.
So there's not one kind ofcookie-cutter fix for it.
It's about sitting down andhaving that open conversation
around okay, these are our tools, this is our toolkit.
What are we going to use?
What's our best practice goingto be?
And I think it's different foreach team, each group.
Drew (18:07):
Yeah, and that's what I hear you go through priority
management, go through in thecourse of establishing those
protocols in using the platformsuch as Outlook or Teams, and
how that is actually utilised asa communication tool, and,
further to that, the next stepsof as you delve into the
(18:31):
Microsoft products, includingOneNote and Excel.
That is essentially the journeyof priority management in those
key Microsoft products.
Robby (18:43):
Yeah, so we have the work and smart journey which is your
Outlook, which some peoplemight think.
Why are they talking aboutOutlook?
It's 27 years old, 28 years old.
Why are we still talking aboutit?
Don't we all know how to use itby now and thanks to versions,
which is why I have a career andthings changing all the time.
(19:05):
We don't always get told whatthose new changes are, or we've
been using Outlook for so long,we're just kind of used to using
it a certain way, and I loveteaching our work in small-scale
workshop because I get to showevery workshop that I've ever
delivered in 15 years.
I've never had the whole groupput their hands up and say yes,
(19:26):
we knew that thing.
You just showed us that we'vebeen able to do since 1997.
That actually nobody actuallydoes.
I won't give it away today.
We'll do the workshop to findout that crazy thing that nobody
told you about.
But we don't always.
Things aren't always intuitive,they're not always right there
in front of us and sometimes weneed a bit of help to make these
(19:49):
tools work for us.
Drew (19:50):
So yeah, yeah, it's a tool to help us and also the
learning and the principles ofbehaviour management around the
tools to be the most effectiveas a result, the tools to be the
most effective as a result.
So, in terms of moving forward,there's obviously those
(20:12):
fantastic tips that you'vementioned around the four Ds.
Let's move to the theme ofadapting to change.
You've helped organizationsnavigate significant changes
like moving entire teams toremote work.
What lessons can school leadersdraw from these experiences to
adapt to their operations inparticularly these times of
uncertainty?
Robby (20:35):
I guess I've probably broken this down into kind of
five key areas that willprobably kind of show up again
in our other questions as we gothrough.
But I think key is preparationand flexibility to be prepared
that change will happen.
That it's a good thing.
Sometimes, mostly when we havethose changes, it's an
(20:57):
opportunity to kind of challengewhat we have been doing and see
if there is a better way.
I think our time managementstrategies applied across the
whole group is important as well.
That's your four Ds being ableto prioritize tasks.
We're talking about things likedelegation as well and having
(21:19):
that kind of building resiliencefor change as well.
It's a bit of a challenge.
We train clients from alldifferent types of industries,
all different generations ofworker, and you know we've got
lots of different names nowAlpha and I'm a Gen X.
So I'm the, I'm the uh, I jokeabout the generation that had to
(21:41):
move across all the differentproducts from cassette tapes,
you know, records and a minidisc.
I think I was the only one thatwent for mini disc in a big way
and that didn't kind of stickaround for very long.
Um, so we've kind of beenthrough that and we're kind of
resilient in terms of having tochange a lot of things.
So you know, working with youngpeople to the workforce, those
(22:04):
are kind of towards the end andthey're looking forward to their
retirement, trying to make thechange as easy as possible for
them.
So having building thatresilience through communication
them.
So building that resiliencethrough communication,
collaborative approaches andalso just talking about the
benefit and showing the benefitof the technology.
(22:24):
We're not just using this newthing because it's new, it's
going to save you time andthings like co-pilot and AI.
It would be remiss of me to notmention those two letters in
this call.
It would be remiss of me to notmention those two letters in
this call.
You know, that's a whole newthing.
It's kind of scary for a lot ofpeople.
It was scary for me to oh, I'vegot to learn this.
Now I've got to tell everybodyelse about it and show them the
(22:50):
best practices and really getinto that and talk to them about
that stuff.
But again, I'd love to be ableto just train the things we
always train because we know itworks with that.
That's the resilience part.
That, okay, bootstraps up.
We've got to learn a newprogram.
We've got to find out and diveinto it for our clients and show
them where it can really help.
(23:10):
So that's a whole other areathat's blowing up right now, as
we know.
Um, yeah.
Drew (23:17):
So I think, collaboration, leveraging technology, that
preparation, just being open tochange, um, yeah, there's a few
things, few things in there, soI would say those are probably
the key ones yeah, navigatingthrough that, and then that
seems like, yes, an ai hasreally taken across the globe
(23:40):
with many things and, in termsof you mentioned your learning
through that process, I guessit's another thing.
What's the wording is whyshould we be learning about AI,
robbie and Copilot?
What's the benefits to doingthat?
Robby (24:01):
Well, it really is a time saver.
It's a search assistant, it's apersonal assistant, for example
I'll give you some examples.
Not that I ever do this.
I write my lesson plans fromscratch.
I promise everybody that'slistening.
But you can go into Copilot andliterally write in design a
(24:22):
four-hour PowerPointpresentation and lesson plan for
Copilot and it will actuallytry and write itself a workshop.
Now, it isn't what you end upwith.
It's a great starting point andthat's the fact.
That's what Copilot and AI isgreat about.
It helps you to get startedrather than having a blank piece
of paper.
It pulls lots of informationtogether and gives you a little
(24:43):
starting point.
It also helps us in outlook tomanage our communications and it
can help coach us on how towrite emails.
It can actually draft emailsfor us.
Um, you know, sometimes it cantake a while to kind of just get
the tone right of an email.
So Copilot, built into Outlook,will do that for you.
I can write in, you know, pleasewrite a thank you email to all
(25:06):
the listeners today forlistening, and here's my contact
details and here's a few hintsand just type that into Copilot
and it will produce a niceformatted three, four paragraph
email for me, which I can tweakas I need to, but it basically
says what I want it to say andit's done all the hard work for
me.
So I would view this as anassistant rather than it's
(25:30):
replacing me.
There's still room for thathuman touch.
It doesn't have as great asense of humor as I do Okay,
they haven't programmed thatjust yet, and when I say great
sense of humor, I think we allknow it's not a great sense of
humor.
That's what's so funny about it, just to be nice to people.
So it is an assistant.
(25:50):
It's growing and it's changingalmost on a weekly basis and we
are starting to deliverworkshops in Copilot now, just
to help people understand whatit is and that it's there to
assist, actually make our liveseasier and quicker.
So, yeah, I think it's a goodthing the way it's kind of
(26:13):
rolled out within Microsoft andhow it sits in each program.
So if you're an Excel user andyou want to know how to do
something or summarize my table,it will do it for you, but it
also kind of shows you how itdid it as well.
I think AI is a great additionto the productivity suite, huge
time saver, and if you think ofit that way, rather than oh,
(26:35):
it's kind of taking a job orthings like that, and if you
think of it that way, ratherthan oh, it's going to take my
job or things like that, I thinkthat's a good way to approach
it, that it's an assistant.
Drew (26:43):
Getting it overwhelm you in terms of should I be doing AI
all the time, in terms of mynew behavior, change thinking
and, I guess, in terms of whatI'm hearing is the course that
you're offering in that spacewill talk and address those
issues as well.
Robby (27:01):
Absolutely, and one of the things I say in the workshop
is how would you like to haveyour lunchtime back or have a
lunch?
You know you can still do anAltesco for lunch.
If anybody's ever done anAltesco, they know my Altesco,
which is either at your desk,not outside al fresco, so you
know if you want your lunchbreak back and some time just to
(27:24):
step away, copilot is that toolthat's going to help you with
that.
Just learning the technologythat we have already without AI,
the shortcuts, the bestpractice ways to use that look
and use tasks and how weleverage them across the
platform of 365, that's going tosave you time as well.
(27:44):
So getting home on time, beingmore present when you get home
and not having to take perhapsso much work home with you to
work on at nighttime those arethe benefits.
Those are the kind ofbehavioral things that we like
to see change based on thetechnology and leveraging the
most out of it yeah, fantastic.
Drew (28:04):
And for those who don't have access to the full co-pilot
series listening and curiosity,saying that's great, but we
don't have that at the moment isit still worth the time to come
to learn about the AI365?
Robby (28:22):
Yeah for sure If you're considering rolling it out, if
that's something you can decidewithin your location.
There's ChatGPT, there's Gemini, which is the Google version of
AI.
You can use these for free,just for your own purposes.
It doesn't have to even be forwork related.
If you're planning on going onholiday, you could get New Pilot
(28:45):
or AI whichever app you've got.
Show me three places in Europethat are popular right now for
holidays and it will actually gooff and do that for you.
Or what kind of things can I doin Spain?
My daughter wants to go toSpain next year and I have
enough air miles on Virginaccount to make it a bit cheaper
(29:07):
.
So we're kind of Googling somethings you know, as you normally
do.
But CoPilot AI, chatgpt cankind of do that, searching for
you and present you with a nicelittle list of responses.
So I think it's definitelyworth getting on board sooner
rather than later, because,getting in at kind of the entry
level as things get more andmore integrated and perhaps
(29:31):
complex, you're kind of alreadyon that train and you've got a
sense of what they can do.
So definitely worth a look.
Drew (29:38):
Yeah, yeah, and I'm hearing that you I'm taking you
are a heavy user of the AIplatforms at the moment.
Robby (29:48):
Oh yeah, absolutely so.
I'm running the team, thetraining team, here in Australia
.
I'm also running workshopsacross Queensland and Northern
Territory.
I'm travelling a lot, soanything that will help get my
emails out quicker, respond tochat messages and those
immediate requests from my teamquicker, using templates to be
(30:10):
able to quickly processresponses to clients and their
questions, that's just great,that just helps me in one piece
and relax and, yeah, anythingthat makes our lives easier.
I think it's definitely worthinvestigating and seeing where
it can go.
Drew (30:30):
Yeah, terrific, and for our listeners predominantly in
New South Wales education, wehave a tool called EduChat and
that is powered by the Microsoftcompany, and that is a tool
that's for New South Waleseducational leaders, as well as
teachers and educators acrossNew South Wales.
(30:54):
Speaking of which, I guess,robbie, are you able to share a
story about a school oreducational organisation that
transformed its operations afterimplementing the priority
management training strategies?
Robby (31:12):
Oh, there's lots, I'm trying to pick one.
We had one school where weactually went on site with the
executive and administrationteam and basically took them
through our Working Smart withOutlook course.
Again, not just about Outlook,but how to manage priorities,
manage their time, manage theirtasks and also kind of getting a
(31:36):
balance between their workloadsand their personal well-being
as well.
So again, the behavioral sidestrong as the technical side
there.
So, talking about increasingproductivity across the team,
finding efficiencies and thoseprotocols, again having the
group agree on how we willcommunicate, how we will use
(32:00):
this tool going forward.
This is when we use Outlook,this is when we use WhatsApp or
whatever it might be.
That really kind of made animpact for them because they did
it as a whole team.
And it's like with any trainingIf you come to a workshop and
it's just you, that's great,that's good for you, you've
(32:21):
updated your skills and yourpersonal development.
But often we go back to ourenvironments changed and we're
going back to an unchangedenvironment and we're trying to
buy those new kind of skills andthoughts and approaches to an
unchanged environment.
So when a whole group can do it, when a group, a core team, can
do it together it has a reallybig, really big impact.
(32:43):
So I'd say, with thatparticular school, I think they
came away feeling empowered withthe skills that they learned,
knowing they were, in some areas, doing really well, they were
doing the best thing and therewasn't anything else available
to do what they wanted to do.
So, yeah, I think, leaving themwith that positive experience,
(33:08):
choices and options that theycould make now going forward,
that had a big impact.
So, yeah, and those are commonstories that we have from all
different clients, just peoplesaying I wish someone had told
me this 10 years ago.
Like why didn't someone tell methat I could do this 10 years
(33:29):
ago?
Or that Outlook was supposed todo that, you know?
So I always love those kind offeedbacks.
Drew (33:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
And also what I've also seenand experienced is the fact that
there's the refresher coursesas well, and nothing wrong with
that as well in terms of notpicking that up straight away.
It's the refresher courses, soto speak, that needed to
understand or just refine orclarify, which is all part of
(33:58):
the learning experience.
So there's refresher courses,lifetime access to the refresher
courses for participants whoenroll into priority management,
which is a really specialfeature of priority management.
Robby (34:11):
Yeah, and it's with that Outlook Working Spot, with
Outlook program, because it issuch a core program and we share
so much in the workshop itselfthat I always tell my I had one
last week.
I was with a council up here inQueensland last week and I said
whatever you remember tomorrowwhen you wake up was obviously
something you needed to hear.
It resonated and it wassomething you're going to run
(34:32):
with.
And the other 70% of thingsthat I took you through and
explained and pitched to youthat's going to be in the
follow-up.
It's the coaching session thateverybody gets, that one-on-one
opportunity a few weeks down theroad to go.
So I've implemented this in myworld.
I've got that under control.
(34:55):
What's next?
And it's that whole thing ofwhat's next we're lifelong
learners, as everyone would knowlistening to this podcast.
It's that continual developmentthat really makes a difference
and keeps you cutting edgeabsolutely underpinned by the
(35:15):
behavior changes.
Drew (35:16):
And also, what is so unique on top of that is, as you
just mentioned, is thefollow-up coaching mechanism,
which is really powerful to seeif that behavior change has
occurred or not and what areasthat could actually take place
in.
Robby (35:35):
So yeah, and we always say we're checking in with you,
not checking up on you.
We are not being judged in anyway or measured.
It's really just theopportunity to go okay.
So how far did you get when yougot back into those busy
environments, those habits,those interruptions?
How can we kind of help youfurther?
Yeah, and just revisiting thoseprinciples that we talked
(35:59):
through in the workshop.
Drew (36:00):
Yeah Now, Robbie, you are known to have a bit of a comedic
approach to your training.
I'm reading your bio.
Your sense of humour, it states, is often highlighted as part
of your training style.
Robbie, how do you use yourhumor to create engaging and
effective and an effectivelearning environment?
Robby (36:23):
well, thanks for that.
I like to think I'm funny.
Um, it is subjective.
Uh, you know, I have a drysense of humor, which I I got
from my, my father.
I'm very good at the one-liners.
I don't do a stand-up routine oranything and jokes, but, and
whilst it seems like I'm one ofthose trainers that's looking
(36:43):
for attention by cracking a joke, there's actually purpose to
why I'm trying to be funny and Ido the bad dad jokes and I'm
trying to kind of bring a bit oflevity to the training, because
I've been to a lot of trainingsessions over my life and
they've just been dry, withoutthe humor, and I think we can
(37:05):
relate to to some of thosetraining sessions and some of
them are, um, you know, we'reconscripted.
Almost you have to go throughthis.
It's it's something that maybeyou don't volunteer for, but for
me and this is what I encouragethe rest of my team we all have
our own styles and that's whatmakes us great as a training
(37:26):
team that we're all individuals,just like all our clients are.
And for me, there's a fewthings that are happening there
in the background when I'mtrying to be funny, which is
actually funny, when I'm tryingto be funny and it doesn't
actually happen.
That's when I get the mostlaughs.
Drew (37:43):
It's worse when the jokes come out and you have to explain
it.
Robby (37:51):
You know it just breaks the ice.
So, number one it breaks theice.
Okay, anecdotes, just a littleone line.
It has to bring people back outof themselves.
A little bit always helps.
It helps content as well.
If you can put a story againstsomething or a silly kind of
(38:15):
funny comment or anecdote tosomething, you're more likely to
remember it as well.
It encourages participation andI love it when people try and
get in there with their jokes.
I can kind of sit back and goon with it, which is pretty
great.
It reduces stress as well, notjust for the group but for me.
You know I am an introvert.
(38:36):
I'm a paid extrovert, if youlike.
I've learned those behaviors toexist in the world and I think
that's my way of managing the.
Hey, I've just met 15 brand newpeople that are looking at me
how are we going to get on?
(38:57):
How do I build that rapport?
And I can be comfortable andthey can be comfortable as well.
So I think it's more for me aswell, for them to just bring
that little bit of humour andthat levity, building rapport
and keeping their attention.
One of the biggest challenges wehave with online learning and
(39:17):
virtual training is the abilityfor people to turn their cameras
off.
And when you're in a roompeople can't do that unless they
sit there and they put theirhands in front of their eyes,
but then they look kind of silly.
It's very hard to keep peopleengaged in the virtual training
environment than actually in theroom.
So we're throwing everythingwe've got.
(39:39):
We're giving points to peoplefor keeping their camera on and
those points don't mean anythingat all and they wonder who's
won at the end of the course.
And nobody's won.
It was just a trick to try andkeep your camera on.
And we're just trying to keeppeople engaged and I've always
felt that.
You know, you can go back andlook at the words in the guides
(39:59):
and the handouts that we provide.
But if you have a memorableexperience, you remember that
training team member frompriority that made you feel
happy or positive to be in theroom and to be learning those
things.
That's what connects you tothat information and you can
always look it up.
(40:20):
But if you have a terribleexperience or that session was
very dry and they weren't, youknow and it doesn't have to be
funny there's lots of differentways to engage people it's kind
of lost, the information is lostand people aren't going to want
to go back to the information.
So I think leaving people witha positive experience in their
training session is is a numberone thing for me and my team, as
(40:43):
well as knowing our stuff andactually trying to convey that
and bring that message across.
So there's method in my sillyjokes, I guess, is what I'm
saying there.
Drew (40:52):
So and they keep laughing, keep doing the jokes, you're
going to have an enjoyableexperience for those people
listening, which is so importantto have humour and, as you said
, storytelling really helpspeople to connect.
People remember stories.
They don't remember manuals, soto speak.
They remember the humour, theyremember how they felt about the
(41:14):
learning and when you're happyand learning, obviously the
flow-on effect is the retainmentof the information and you're
relaxed.
So, in terms of feedback, if wecan go to that, robbie, what's
one piece of feedback fromclients or participants that
really has stayed with you andshaped how you've approached
your work?
Robby (41:36):
I think I might have mentioned this before, but when
we have people genuinely tell usand take the time to write and
express in our feedback surveysthat we've changed their life,
now it sounds like hyperbole,you know.
It's kind of really, but I feellike we do.
We do make a big difference inpeople's lives because we spend
(41:57):
so much time work that if we canshow someone how to to survive
their day a little bit better,to get that lunch break, just
those little things to maketheir life easier, those are the
kind of feedbacks that I get.
I mean, it's lovely to hearthat.
The joke was funny.
Right, that's part of what wedo, that's that's getting you to
(42:17):
stay in the room.
But when we actually see thatthey've marked that they're
going to have a significantchange in behavior and that's
one of the questions in thesurvey and how will it impact or
or improve the organization orthe team those are the start as
well.
So I think when someone takesthe time and literally says
(42:39):
you've changed my life, don'ttake that lightly.
Um, we really appreciate them.
Just want to comment to it andit reinforces why we do what we
do.
We're not kind of trainers,we're not, you know shift dip
training, you know everybodygoes through it.
It does make a difference andand again, if you're open to it
(43:00):
then that also helps as well.
So I guess those kind offeedbacks where it's been
life-changing, yeah verypowerful words, life-changing,
so people living in it.
Drew (43:13):
It truly is, and I've heard those comments myself from
colleagues who have gonethrough the priority management
experience.
And if you're listening and youhaven't done that, hearing
those words of life-changing,the question is, why aren't you
doing priority management ifyou're hearing things like that
in your world?
If we move to the future visionnow, robbie, looking ahead, how
(43:40):
would you see workplacetraining to be evolving to meet
the needs of leaders ineducation and beyond?
Robby (43:48):
Yeah, that was a really good question.
I'm going to really kind of sitdown and think about, you know,
with the shift in a lot ofvirtual training, a lot of Teams
, zoom training obviously a bigevent that happened a few years
ago that kind of reallypropelled the online work from
home hybrid situation.
I think a lot of us are timepoor, and particularly the
(44:12):
leaders that you're talkingabout within the association,
and I see a lot of optionscoming up.
So micro learning is somethingreally taking off.
Even in the qualifications areaand the vet qualifications,
instead of doing great big certfours or diplomas and things,
(44:33):
there are a lot more choicesabout key kind of almost keyhole
training in a keyhole surgeryon your knee or something like
that, just getting the exactkind of information, the skill
that you're looking for.
So I think we'll see a lot moremicro learning.
That's something that we'relooking at as well, so that you
can balance that with the timethat you've got available, and
(44:54):
it's very hard for a principalto just take the whole support
staff out for the day, um, orsome, you know, some
classroom-based uh teachers.
So, yeah, let's go off and dotraining for a day.
It's just not possible a lot ofthe time.
So I think, blended learning um, we've got immersive
technologies, you know, I thinkvrs I mean we're not there yet,
but there's a lot of vraugmented reality type of
(45:17):
training and that works indifferent types of industry as
well.
Collaborative learning Againgoing back to if you can get
together as a group andexperience that learning
together, I just feel like itwill go further than just that
one person coming back to anunchanged environment where
(45:38):
they've been changed in thetraining session.
And I think you know continuousfeedback assessment.
That's key as well, that thetime that you're putting aside
for development is actuallyhaving the results you want and
it's not just a tick box kind ofexercise.
You know it's.
Yeah, I'd say those are thekind of things that are coming
(45:58):
up future make life easier, um,you know, for your listeners and
and have that targeted trainingand at priority.
We always customize ourtraining and we're very flexible
like that.
We're always keen to talk andmake it work for our clients.
Drew (46:15):
I really hear hear some exciting things potentially on
the horizon withmicro-credentialing the VR space
, which is very popular in agaming environment, but in terms
of bringing that into theworkforce, is that something
priority is considering at thispoint in time?
Robby (46:37):
We can see it.
Some in the industry ishappening and again for
different.
You know simulators and youknow.
Drew (46:44):
So, in terms of the VR space, is that something that?
And you also mentionedmicro-credentialing is that
something that prioritymanagement is considering at
this point in time?
Robby (46:56):
Yeah, so so we're actively looking at the
micro-credentials, particularlyin our project management space.
That is something that we'vebeen working on for a little
while and that's somethingthat's happening in the training
industry.
So, rather than doing thoselong kind of Cert IVs diplomas,
you can actually pick a mix ofcomponents that you actually
(47:17):
want to pick up, and it's thattargeted training.
As we talked about, um, interms of the vr stuff, I'd love
to uh to have that set up.
That might be a bit furtherdown the road.
That's really great for kind oftrades and simulators and those
kind of roles.
But when we're kind oftechnical and we're looking at
software, um, who knows, I wouldlove to have spare time to get
(47:40):
into the vr world and and uh andhave wonderful online workshops
where we can kind of walkaround and and chat with each
other at break times in thevirtual space.
But maybe further down thetrack for that one.
But micro credentials, microtraining, uh, blended learning,
that's all on the on the radarfor sure and staying ahead and
(48:03):
being current is is the keymessage, as I heard.
Drew (48:07):
In terms of the practical takeaways, if you could
recommend one tool, habit ormindset, mindset shift for
principles to immediatelyimprove their data-to-day
operations, what would it be?
Robby (48:21):
If I had to pick one, I'd probably say triage.
Triage your communications,your interruptions, the tasks on
your list.
It's trying to make the bestchoices and having the tools,
the technology to support you,being able to triage quickly, so
(48:41):
cutting through the noise,getting to the important emails,
the important phone callmessages.
I think triage is a key thing.
So those four Ds again kind ofcomes back to that principle or
that behavior.
Whatever the tool is, where isthis taking you right now in
your very precious time as aleader?
(49:02):
And everyone knocking on yourdoor, ringing your phone, using
that 4D process, the Eisenhowermatrix.
Where is this person taking you?
Is it quadrant one, which is,you know, very urgent, very
important?
It's those things you just haveto do, and are they sometimes
(49:22):
seeing us to?
Quadrant four, which is thekind of procrastination side,
the white noise, the meetingsthat perhaps shouldn't have been
a meeting and all those kind ofthings as well.
So I think probably triage wouldbe kind of a key word to kind
of go with.
I want to look at this emailagain later in the day.
(49:43):
I don't want to have to dealwith this thing again later in
the day.
Let's try and make some goodchoices at the time.
I'd say triage.
I imagine it does feel a lotlike that.
You've got people coming intothe tent.
You've got to decide what to dowith them and where to put them
.
It's a triage.
Drew (50:01):
Absolutely, but it's teaching that behaviour change
which is so crucial, with whatpriority management does.
Last question, robbie Forschool leaders implementing new
strategies, what is the best wayto measure success and the
impact of the changes on theirteams and students?
Robby (50:22):
Well, there's a couple of key things.
If I just had to summarise itwithout going through a huge
list, I would say to have cleargoals and KPIs to be able to
measure the success.
Also, being able to havequalitative and quantitative
data collection and thosemechanisms to collect that
(50:42):
information too.
What is the stats and figuresof how this is helped?
If we're rolling teams out, orwe're rolling a particular
product out or training solutionacross the staff of the school,
what are we looking to get outof it?
We want people to be moreproductive, process their emails
(51:04):
, improve productivity withintheir team.
There's the qualitative side ofthat, like how is that going?
How are we feeling about it?
What are the anecdotal storiesthat, yes, I'm actually feeling
more under control and thatperson's responding to me more
which is great because I wasalways waiting and all those
different stories and also thatquantitative data as well.
(51:28):
So I think having clearobjectives and being able to
track it well is probably key tobe able to do that.
Drew (51:36):
Yeah, Is there a tool, technology tool, to be able to
do that?
Robbie.
Robby (51:43):
Well we've got.
Well.
There's a lot of differenttools around.
I would say that I think youknow, in terms of planning,
you've got a tool called Planner, which is great.
That's in Microsoft Teams,that's free.
That's kind of the latest thingthat we've been using to kind
of track initiatives and notfull-blown projects as such, but
(52:06):
be able to kind of track theprogress of you know kind of.
We can record information there.
We can add spreadsheets intothe tasks, the different phases
of what we're trying toimplement.
So it is a very simple tool,microsoft Planner, and it's kind
of we talk about it's the waywe phrase it is.
(52:29):
It's planning out loud, Okay.
So everyone within a team cansee this planner board.
You can have buckets or columnsof tasks and they can be the
different phases and we can listtogether as a group or a team
what tasks need to be done andwe can assign those tasks to
each other as well.
So planner is one of thosegreat tools.
(52:50):
And then you've got things likeExcel and you know feedback
forms.
It's there's gonna a a toolkitfor sure that you need to put
together for that.
So planner is probably the mostpopular thing at the moment to
track activities and tasks in agroup environment.
Drew (53:08):
Yeah, terrific, always good to speak to you, robbie,
and thank you for the work thatyou are leading and supporting
educational leaders throughpriority management.
Again, thank you for your timeand thank you for those people
listening to our podcast today.
Robby (53:25):
Thanks Drew, thanks everyone.
Drew (53:28):
Thanks again for joining us for this insightful episode
of the New South Wales PPAProfessional Learning,
educational Leadership Podcast,featuring Robbie Stewart,
executive Coach, corporateTrainer, facilitator and
longtime partner of PriorityManagement Australia.
Robbie's deep knowledge as asystem trainer and executive
(53:49):
coach, combined with hishands-on experience in New South
Wales education, has helpedcountless schools and leaders
streamline their workflows andreclaim their time.
If today's conversation sparkedideas of practical value, we
encourage you to explore thefull suite of Working Smart
programs available throughpriority management through the
(54:12):
NSW PPA.
You can learn more by visitingwwwnswppaorgau.
Forward slash working dash,smart dash series.
Don't forget to subscribe tothe New South Wales PPA
Professional Learnings Podcastfor more thought-provoking
discussions with experts inleadership, learning and
(54:34):
professional growth.
Until next time, continue tolead with courage, purpose and
care.
Take care.
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