A charming workplace parable to inspire your staff to achieve success through greater personal accountability. Every team, every organization, every group has problems. Every individual has problems, too. Often we search for the right person or persons to solve those problems. The question is: Where and how do we find them? Who are "they" anyway? In Who Are "They" Anyway? BJ Gallagher and Steve Ventura lead readers on a personal quest-a journey-in search of someone who can fix what's wrong, deal with difficult people, and take charge of fixing individual and organizational problems. Who is that special person? The results may surprise readers, as they learn: * Who those "theys" are who seem responsible for every organization's bureaucratic hassles. * How to stop looking for someone to blame or someone to come to the rescue. * How to experience the job satisfaction and personal pleasure that comes from taking ownership and solving problems. Both practical and inspirational, Who Are "They" Anyway? is written to appeal to both the heads and hearts of employees at all levels-from folks on the front line, to supervisors and middle managers, all the way to top executives. It includes tips, strategies, quizzes, and how-tos to help readers apply the story in their own work lives. It is a message of encouragement and empowerment, and the personal and organizational payoff can be enormous.

Who Are ""They"" Anyway?

Business & Money

Ventura, Steve

Gallagher, BJ

Management & Leadership

Kaplan Publishing

What if you had a collaborative process of looking at student data that could pinpoint student gaps in learning and suggest effective strategies to close those gaps? What if you knew not only what you should start doing to enhance student learning, but also what you should stop doing because it hasn't given you the hoped-for results? 
Enter Achievement Teams. This is not another program that's here today and gone tomorrow; it's a timeless approach that any school or district can replicate that focuses on the most significant variable in student achievement: teaching. In Achievement Teams, Steve Ventura and Michelle Ventura offer a framework based on John Hattie's Visible Learning research that makes teacher collaboration more efficient, rigorous, satisfying, and effective. Think of it as a systematic treasure hunt for best practices using real data on your students. 
The authors walk you through the Achievement Teams four-step meeting protocol: 
* In Step 1, teams focus on the evidence from a pre-assessment to provide specific feedback to students and teachers about concepts and skills that students did and did not learn. 
* In Step 2, teams use that evidence to establish SMART goals for both teachers and students. 
* In Step 3, teams summarize the collected data and make inferences around students' mastery levels. 
* In Step 4, teachers select high-impact strategies directly targeted to student needs. A post-assessment reveals what did and didn't work. 
The authors provide a plethora of resources along the way, including reflection activities to extend your thinking and a variety of helpful downloadable templates designed to facilitate the work. If you're a teacher or leader who is interested in maximizing student achievement, this book is for you.

Achievement Teams: How a Better Approach to PLCs Can Improve Student Outcomes and Teacher Efficacy

Education & Teaching

Ventura, Michelle

Schools & Teaching

ASCD

Highly Effective PLCs and Teacher Teams (Quick Reference Guide for Leaders)

It seems like everywhere we turn, we're confronted by shaking heads, thumbs down, brick walls, brush-offs, and closed doors. NOs surround us—in our workplaces, in our communities and places of worship, in government, in social settings, in schools, and even within our families. Whether you're applying for a job, making a request, looking for a house, dating to find the right mate, seeking some type of approval, selling a product or an idea (or yourself), or trying to organize others into getting something accomplished, you're going to encounter rebuffs and resistance. What can you do to overcome so much negativity? This wise, insightful parable follows our hero who ventures into the Land of NO in search of YES. He watches well-intentioned characters flounder and fail—while noticing other characters using different approaches and achieving success. Our observant hero learns from others’ experiences, as well as his own. Through his journey, you will discover how you, too, can persist in the face of frequent NOs — both the NOs uttered by people around you and, perhaps more importantly, the insidious NOs whispered by your own inner voices. The second half of the book takes you from parable to practice—with proven tips, tools, and strategies to help you persevere, develop tenacity, persist in the face of rejection, and overcome the inertia of the status quo. Taken together, the two parts of this book provide a how-to manual that's both practical and entertaining. It will help you find the YESes you seek—faster, more effectively, and with a lot less discouragement and despair in the process.

Yes Lives in the Land of No: A Tale of Triumph over Negativity

Humor & Entertainment

Berrett-Koehler Publishers

This unique and powerful handbook will help you identify and abandon counterproductive beliefs, mindsets, and people practices that negatively impact your culture and your results. Its "straight talk" approach is ideal for leaders at all levels. 
This is fifty-six pages of pure leadership development – delivered in a way your people will appreciate, remember, and use to make a positive difference.

Forget For Success: Walking Away From Outdated, Counterproductive Beliefs

Harvey, Eric

Walk The Talk Company, The

Every employee's straight-talk guide to personal responsibility and job success. Perfect for employees at every business level, from seasoned co-workers to new staff editions.

Start Right...Stay Right: Every Employee's Straight-Talk Guide to Job Success

Business Culture

WalkTheTalk.com

Help your people become PROBLEM SOLVERS! Conflict between team members is inevitable. Sooner or later, somebody will get in a beef with someone else and there s a good chance they won t have a clue what to do about it. As a result, they ll likely either: explode in a fit of anger making things even worse let the problem fester and eventually impact others, or go running to the boss creating even more work (and headaches) for him or her. Sound familiar? Well, it doesn t have to be that way and this handbook will help you change it! What To Do When CONFLICT HAPPENS encourages employees to take ownership of their own problems. It provides team members with the skills and techniques necessary to resolve interpersonal issues they face at work. And, it includes proven leadership strategies for enhancing workplace cooperation and problem solving. Don t wait. The cost of poorly handled conflict is too high. Give everyone in your organization a copy ... TODAY!

What to Do When Conflict Happens

Having a leadership position and being a leader are not one in the same. Your position is something you were appointed to...something you became eligible for by being a good performer in the past. 
 Being a true leader, however, is much different. LEADER is a descriptor...a label that you EARN through specific behaviors. It's based on what you do today, and what you will do tomorrow--not what's printed on your name tag. Simply put, in order to be a leader, you must do the things that leaders do. This book will show you how!

Lead Right: Every Leader's Straight Talk Guide to Job Success

When you accepted employment with your organization, you took on a significant responsibility: taking care of the people who keep your business IN business – YOUR CUSTOMERS. No job is any more important than that ... no function is more closely linked to your organization's mission and its overall success.Whether you're a seasoned professional with years of customer service experience or someone just starting in that field, no matter if this is your ideal job or just one stop on a larger career journey, you need to be successful. You need to ...Serve Right. This book will show you how!

Serve Right: Everyone's Straight Talk Guide to Customer Service Success

Job Hunting & Careers

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ventura, Steve. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Ventura, Steve