Professional Learnings NSWPPA Educational Leadership

Working Smarter: How Technology and Behaviour Change Can Transform Your Leadership

• NSW PPA Professional Learning

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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.

Links and References: https://www.nswppa.org.au/working-smart-series

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Drew:

Welcome to season three of Professional Learnings, the New South Wales PPA Educational Leadership Podcast. I'm Drew Janicki, back as your host for a brand new season. It's great for you to be with us as we continue this journey of learning, leading and drawing inspiration from the incredible insights of our amazing guests.

Drew:

Let's dive into our latest episode when we have people genuinely tell us and take the time to write and express in our feedback surveys that we've changed 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 difference in people's lives because we spend so much time work that if we can show someone how to to survive their day a little bit better, those are the kind of feedbacks that I get. I mean, it's lovely to hear that. The joke was funny. Right, that's part of what we do, that's that's getting you to stay in the room. But when we actually see that they've marked that they're going to have a significant change in behavior and that's one of the questions in the survey and how will it impact or improve the organization or the team?

Drew:

that was robbie stewart, who is the executive coach and corporate training facilitator for Priority Management Australia. In our podcast today, we break down what Robbie's role is. As well as discussing the impact and importance of time management principles, robbie unpacks the four Ds for us and he also discusses the impact of future professional learning, particularly with features such as artificial intelligence. Fascinating discussion, let's hear from Robbie Stewart from Priority Management Australia.

Robby:

My name is Robbie Stewart and I'm the National Learning and Development Manager at Priority Management Australia, and I'm the National Learning and Development Manager at Priority Management Australia.

Drew:

Well, Robby, let's start. Robby welcome to the New South Wales PPA Professional Learnings Podcast. It's an honour to have someone with such vast experience in systems training, executive coaching joining us today. Robbie, could you start by sharing a little bit about your journey in your workplace of transformation and training?

Robby:

Yeah, great Thanks Drew. Happy to be here and saying hello to all your listeners as well. I guess you want my origin story. Is that what we're after?

Drew:

Yeah, let's find out about the person who delivers this fantastic content from priority management.

Robby:

Yeah, I guess I can go right back to probably my secondary schooling in the UK where we did basically a career aptitude test to see where we were going to go in life, what kind of roles would be good for us, what kind of career paths we might want to try and pursue, and my scores came back really high with the helper kind of carer side. I didn't know what that would look like, so I got things like medical field, church pastor, I got social worker, all those kind of things. But I wasn't really into those things. So I thought, oh, oh, good to know that you know a caring side to me and I guess I was always a bit of a nerd as well. So one of the big things I guess I've, I should say it's a blessing.

Robby:

But I kind of grew up in the golden age of personal computers. My first computer was actually a Amstrad CPC464 with a cassette deck for all the great games in the late 80s there, or kind of not late 80s, more into the 90s. So I guess from being kind of technically minded and going through all those transitions of all the different personal computing changes, we've had some kind of fundamental changes in how we work right through today. It kind of makes sense. I'm kind of here, uh, doing what I do because, as a core value, I love helping people and I, like you know, I like doing things that, in terms of spending a lot of work I'm. So I think that's kind of where it's all come from, that wanting to help people and then just kind of growing up developing those skills on the technical side has kind of landed me where I am today.

Drew:

So I hear you're a giving person, kind person and it's good to hear that framework. You could have gone down that pastoral care avenue, the and I also heard the amstrad, uh, that fantastic computer that came out in the late 80s or potentially 90s as well. And then were you a self learner, discoverer through computers and became very passionate and in learning about computers and programs as such, to then lead into the work that you're leading at the moment yeah, yeah, pretty much.

Robby:

I was always interested in kind of what made it work and you know what it could do for me and obviously at that time you know with my it could do for me and obviously at that time, you know, with my peers, everyone was getting computers and gaming consoles and things like that and I went. You know it really was the golden age. I've seen it all, from the very beginnings to the things that my 19-year-old son plays. I can't compute, my brain doesn't compute that fast anymore. I just can't use those new consoles.

Robby:

But yeah, I guess it's always been that technical side for me. I like to kind of delve in and figure out how to get the best out of something and just things like when you get a new device, not just using it out of the box like what is in there, what are the options, what are the settings, what can we play with and make it work. For us, I guess, is a big part of what we do at Priority as well. So it's, yeah, that's probably kind of the two core areas, being kind of technically minded, being a bit of a nerd and caring enough to want to show other people how to get the most out of it.

Drew:

I can hear. You're the person that people wanted to. Were you the person that people went to with computing issues?

Robby:

Oh yeah, even if I wasn't in IT, you know the printer's broken I was in the payments team in a bank in the UK and they'd come to me and I'd fix the printer and those kind of things and just help me with the spreadsheet. 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. So that, yeah, that kind of helped as well. So again, just finding an opportunity to help and add a bit of value and I guess that's what I've always done wherever I've worked got that little bit above and beyond what we try and do at Priority as well.

Drew:

Yeah, so then we move into Priority Management. So what did that look like for you?

Robby:

Yeah, again, I seem to have been able to kind of find my way organically into these positions and these roles and again, if it feels right, then that's kind of where I've stayed in a particular job if the organization kind of matches my goals and values and and satisfies that part of me that wants to help, and there's nothing wrong with a little bit of validation along along with it. As you know, some nice bits of feedback make us feel better, which, as a trainer, you're only as good as your last workshop. So that's always been something that drives me to make sure everyone has a great experience, and that's what I instill in the team as well across Australia when we run our work. It's just a learning experience too. So, yeah, I think being with them for 15 years kind of tells you and the listeners that this is a company that does care, and if it didn't I wouldn't have spent so long in it. You know I'm quite I'm very much about being in the right place and having kind of the goals and values aligned.

Drew:

It's so important to have that alignment in terms of your core values as well as the core values of priority management. For those uninformed, Robbie, what is priority management and what does it do to help? Support and support just land educational leaders, who are our predominant listener to this podcast. What does priority management do?

Robby:

Yeah, so priority management is a productivity specialist training company. Okay, we teach all the Microsoft products, the productivity tools, but with a lens of working smarter. So that's what a lot of our programs are called. It's very easy to get stuck in a rut. We get shown how to do something someday in an Excel spreadsheet, or here's your emails, here's your login off you go and we tend to kind of live our lives in kind of default mode and that's something that I always talk about in our training. A lot of those options and settings are still from the 90s and we get to kind of share those with the group and update them a little bit.

Robby:

So globally we've been around for about 40 years. We are a global network in Australia 30 years plus. We've been doing what we do for that long and we've got a long experience and working relationship with New South Wales Education and lots of other clients as well, and I think the fact that we keep coming back to those clients and they keep coming back to us they're our partners. It's not just kind of drain and burn. We are in for the long haul. We're about helping teams, organizations, departments achieve their objectives and making sure they're aligned and providing that kind of training that supports not just technical skills but behavioral change and just making people's day better. That's what we're about. And just making people's day better that's that's what we're about, and just improving people's quality of life software platforms, that, whether we like them or not.

Drew:

And then the curiosity factor of of thinking this is a tool that I could use, but in terms of the difference with what priority management does is, you've obviously done the deep learning about the tool, but also how to make you more productive. Is that the key message here?

Robby:

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 you how to click a button in 365, outlook Teams or Planner or whatever apps are the latest buzzword. But to have that kind of tested and tried process, a behavioral aspect to it along with the technical side, and it comes down to things like making good choices about your task selections how we communicate those kind of behavioral signs as well.

Drew:

Yeah, so it's really around how I heard the word behavior changes, which we'll we'll explore in our conversation today. For our school leaders, who are our educational leaders, listening time keeps coming through in surveys, in different types of surveys, that being one of the scariest resources. What are some of the practical time management strategies that you recommend for principals to streamline their operations?

Robby:

That's a big question.

Robby:

Yeah, there's not one magic solution for that. It's about a balance across a lot of different things. I would probably say triaging is probably it's a battle sometimes managing our time, our commitments, our tasks, interruptions that could all be part of the job. People, you know, wanting a piece of you through the whole day. So I think triaging is an important skill for that. I think the four D's is something that we teach.

Robby:

If you haven't heard about the four D's, it's kind of a decision-making process. So when a request comes in or an email hits your inbox or a chat message hits Teams or you get another text message after the other one, you just read those messages, those requests, those interruptions. What are we going to do with them? And we talk about that. There's four actions we can apply to a task or a request and we could do it Now. I know your listeners probably have lots of things that need to be done right now that are immediate, urgent and important. So we talk about the Eisenhower Matrix or Eisenhower Principle. Some of you listeners may have heard of that. So if it's do it, it's process it, it's action it, it's highly important, highly urgent. Then we have data activate, which is delay. It's something that you need to do, but you're gonna do it later. So how do you do that? And there's lots of tools there and outlook that will help you process and schedule things for later, and there's some best practice ways to do that as well.

Robby:

So delegating is another one. If you're lucky enough, I was talking to a principal at a country school, a very small school a couple of weeks ago. They were the principal, they were amazing and they ran a few committees as well. They were the principal, they were class-based and they ran a few committees as well. I don't know how he does it, but he does it somehow Okay.

Robby:

So I know there's probably a lot of people out there that have a lot of habits they have to kind of switch between as well. So it's very easy for me to say do it, delegate it, do it later or defend yourself and delete some things. There's a lot of white noise that comes through our emails, our communications and all these apps that we have to use that just try to get balance and just get the clear message of what needs to be done. So there's lots of things around it. I would say the 4D's is a great place to start, and also just time blocking, just trying to carve time out in your calendar for that strategic stuff, that planning as well, um, and I could talk for a few hours if you, if you have the time, but that that's probably where I'd start. Have a really straightforward decision-making process to help you and just cut through the noise.

Drew:

Yeah, you have to come in with that focus when you are looking at potentially in this space, in the emails, but also just thinking of how communication has changed so much, particularly in the last let's just say, in the last five years. You can come, messaging can come through various platforms. It can come through, as you said, through the email platform, it can come through a text message, it can come through a notification on Teams, it can come through Messenger, it could come through WhatsApp, and that's just an example of different types and there's many more. I'm sure that communication is important, but it's managing your. As we come back to what priority management does is helping to manage behaviour changes.

Robby:

Yeah, and it's about making good choices. I mentioned it before. But having like a communications charter or an agreement on how we communicate as a team yes, we have all these different avenues and methods to communicate. You know, when is it a WhatsApp, when is it emails, when is it in Teams channels. I think you can get very easily overwhelmed with where to go and find information. But as a team, if we're all on the same kind of hymn sheet and the same kind of agreement on protocols and guidelines, I think learning the technology is key, upskilling, knowing what it can do, so you can make good choices about which way to go. But also having agreement going forward, like protocols, is a way to kind of keep everybody on the same page, and that's what we find works quite well amongst the things like Teams and Outlook and all these different communication tools that we've got. So having a bit of a plan, a bit of a protocol, is a great start.

Drew:

Yeah, have you seen any best practices that leaders have been able to do in the education space, particularly with Outlook or in Teams?

Robby:

Yeah, I think it's different. I think you know larger schools versus smaller schools. It's much more informal. In those smaller environments it's almost more face-to-face, because you're right there. With people. In the larger schools, you know you've got more channels, more people to update, more people to communicate with. So I think it's just about picking the right tool and using it the right way. So there's not one kind of cookie-cutter fix for it. It's about sitting down and having that open conversation around okay, these are our tools, this is our toolkit. What are we going to use? What's our best practice going to be? And I think it's different for each team, each group.

Drew:

Yeah, and that's what I hear you go through priority management, go through in the course of establishing those protocols in using the platform such as Outlook or Teams, and how that is actually utilised as a communication tool, and, further to that, the next steps of as you delve into the Microsoft products, including OneNote and Excel. That is essentially the journey of priority management in those key Microsoft products.

Robby:

Yeah, so we have the work and smart journey which is your Outlook, which some people might think. Why are they talking about Outlook? It's 27 years old, 28 years old. Why are we still talking about it? Don't we all know how to use it by now and thanks to versions, which is why I have a career and things changing all the time.

Robby:

We don't always get told what those 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 love teaching our work in small-scale workshop because I get to show every workshop that I've ever delivered in 15 years. I've never had the whole group put their hands up and say yes, we knew that thing. You just showed us that we've been able to do since 1997. That actually nobody actually does. I won't give it away today. We'll do the workshop to find out 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 we need a bit of help to make these tools work for us.

Drew:

So yeah, yeah, it's a tool to help us and also the learning and the principles of behaviour management around the tools to be the most effective as a result, the tools to be the most effective as a result. So, in terms of moving forward, there's obviously those fantastic tips that you've mentioned around the four Ds. Let's move to the theme of adapting to change. You've helped organizations navigate significant changes like moving entire teams to remote work. What lessons can school leaders draw from these experiences to adapt to their operations in particularly these times of uncertainty?

Robby:

I guess I've probably broken this down into kind of five key areas that will probably kind of show up again in our other questions as we go through. But I think key is preparation and flexibility to be prepared that change will happen. That it's a good thing. Sometimes, mostly when we have those changes, it's an opportunity to kind of challenge what we have been doing and see if there is a better way. I think our time management strategies applied across the whole group is important as well. That's your four Ds being able to prioritize tasks. We're talking about things like delegation as well and having that kind of building resilience for change as well. It's a bit of a challenge.

Robby:

We train clients from all different types of industries, all different generations of worker, and you know we've got lots of different names now Alpha and I'm a Gen X. So I'm the, I'm the uh, I joke about the generation that had to move across all the different products from cassette tapes, you know, records and a mini disc. I think I was the only one that went for mini disc in a big way and that didn't kind of stick around for very long. Um, so we've kind of been through that and we're kind of resilient in terms of having to change a lot of things. So you know, working with young people to the workforce, those are kind of towards the end and they're looking forward to their retirement, trying to make the change as easy as possible for them. So having building that resilience through communication them. So building that resilience through communication, collaborative approaches and also just talking about the benefit and showing the benefit of the technology. We're not just using this new thing because it's new, it's going to save you time and things like co-pilot and AI.

Robby:

It would be remiss of me to not mention those two letters in this call. It would be remiss of me to not mention those two letters in this call. You know, that's a whole new thing. It's kind of scary for a lot of people. It was scary for me to oh, I've got to learn this. Now I've got to tell everybody else about it and show them the best practices and really get into that and talk to them about that stuff. But again, I'd love to be able to just train the things we always train because we know it works with that. That's the resilience part. That, okay, bootstraps up. We've got to learn a new program. We've got to find out and dive into it for our clients and show them where it can really help. So that's a whole other area that's blowing up right now, as we know. Um, yeah.

Drew:

So I think, collaboration, leveraging technology, that preparation, just being open to change, um, yeah, there's a few things, few things in there, so I would say those are probably the key ones yeah, navigating through that, and then that seems like, yes, an ai has really taken across the globe with many things and, in terms of you mentioned your learning through that process, I guess it's another thing. What's the wording is why should we be learning about AI, robbie and Copilot? What's the benefits to doing that?

Robby:

Well, it really is a time saver. It's a search assistant, it's a personal assistant, for example I'll give you some examples. Not that I ever do this. I write my lesson plans from scratch. I promise everybody that's listening.

Robby:

But you can go into Copilot and literally write in design a four-hour PowerPoint presentation and lesson plan for Copilot and it will actually try and write itself a workshop. Now, it isn't what you end up with. It's a great starting point and that's the fact. That's what Copilot and AI is great about. It helps you to get started rather than having a blank piece of paper. It pulls lots of information together and gives you a little starting point. It also helps us in outlook to manage our communications and it can help coach us on how to write emails. It can actually draft emails for us.

Robby:

Um, you know, sometimes it can take a while to kind of just get the tone right of an email.

Robby:

So Copilot, built into Outlook, will do that for you.

Robby:

I can write in, you know, please write a thank you email to all the listeners today for listening, and here's my contact details and here's a few hints and just type that into Copilot and it will produce a nice formatted three, four paragraph email for me, which I can tweak as I need to, but it basically says what I want it to say and it's done all the hard work for me. So I would view this as an assistant rather than it's replacing me. There's still room for that human touch. It doesn't have as great a sense of humor as I do Okay, they haven't programmed that just yet, and when I say great sense of humor, I think we all know 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. It's growing and it's changing almost on a weekly basis and we are starting to deliver workshops in Copilot now, just to help people understand what it is and that it's there to assist, actually make our lives easier and quicker.

Robby:

So, yeah, I think it's a good thing the way it's kind of rolled out within Microsoft and how it sits in each program. So if you're an Excel user and you 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 it did it as well. I think AI is a great addition to the productivity suite, huge time saver, and if you think of it that way, rather than oh, it's kind of taking a job or things like that, and if you think of it that way, rather than oh, it's going to take my job or things like that, I think that's a good way to approach it, that it's an assistant.

Drew:

Getting it overwhelm you in terms of should I be doing AI all the time, in terms of my new behavior, change thinking and, I guess, in terms of what I'm hearing is the course that you're offering in that space will talk and address those issues as well.

Robby:

Absolutely, and one of the things I say in the workshop is how would you like to have your lunchtime back or have a lunch? You know you can still do an Altesco for lunch. If anybody's ever done an Altesco, they know my Altesco, which is either at your desk, not outside al fresco, so you know if you want your lunch break back and some time just to step away, copilot is that tool that's going to help you with that. Just learning the technology that we have already without AI, the shortcuts, the best practice ways to use that look and use tasks and how we leverage them across the platform of 365, that's going to save you time as well. So getting home on time, being more present when you get home and not having to take perhaps so much work home with you to work on at nighttime those are the benefits. Those are the kind of behavioral things that we like to see change based on the technology and leveraging the most out of it yeah, fantastic.

Drew:

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 is it still worth the time to come to learn about the AI365?

Robby:

Yeah for sure If you're considering rolling it out, if that's something you can decide within 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 for work related. If you're planning on going on holiday, you could get New Pilot or AI whichever app you've got.

Robby:

Show me three places in Europe that are popular right now for holidays and it will actually go off and do that for you. Or what kind of things can I do in Spain? My daughter wants to go to Spain next year and I have enough air miles on Virgin account to make it a bit cheaper. So we're kind of Googling some things you know, as you normally do. But CoPilot AI, chatgpt can kind of do that, searching for you and present you with a nice little list of responses. So I think it's definitely worth getting on board sooner rather than later, because, getting in at kind of the entry level as things get more and more integrated and perhaps complex, you're kind of already on that train and you've got a sense of what they can do. So definitely worth a look.

Drew:

Yeah, yeah, and I'm hearing that you I'm taking you are a heavy user of the AI platforms at the moment.

Robby:

Oh yeah, absolutely so. I'm running the team, the training team, here in Australia. I'm also running workshops across Queensland and Northern Territory. I'm travelling a lot, so anything that will help get my emails out quicker, respond to chat messages and those immediate requests from my team quicker, using templates to be able to quickly process responses to clients and their questions, that's just great, that just helps me in one piece and relax and, yeah, anything that makes our lives easier. I think it's definitely worth investigating and seeing where it can go.

Drew:

Yeah, terrific, and for our listeners predominantly in New South Wales education, we have a tool called EduChat and that is powered by the Microsoft company, and that is a tool that's for New South Wales educational leaders, as well as teachers and educators across New South Wales. Speaking of which, I guess, robbie, are you able to share a story about a school or educational organisation that transformed its operations after implementing the priority management training strategies?

Robby:

Oh, there's lots, I'm trying to pick one. We had one school where we actually went on site with the executive and administration team and basically took them through our Working Smart with Outlook course. Again, not just about Outlook, but how to manage priorities, manage their time, manage their tasks and also kind of getting a balance between their workloads and their personal well-being as well. So again, the behavioral side strong as the technical side there. So, talking about increasing productivity across the team, finding efficiencies and those protocols, again having the group agree on how we will communicate, how we will use 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 an impact for them because they did it as a whole team. And it's like with any training If you come to a workshop and it's just you, that's great, that's good for you, you've updated your skills and your personal development.

Robby:

But often we go back to our environments changed and we're going back to an unchanged environment and we're trying to buy those new kind of skills and thoughts 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 really big, really big impact. So I'd say, with that particular school, I think they came away feeling empowered with the skills that they learned, knowing they were, in some areas, doing really well, they were doing the best thing and there wasn't anything else available to do what they wanted to do. So, yeah, I think, leaving them with that positive experience, choices and options that they could make now going forward, that had a big impact. So, yeah, and those are common stories that we have from all different clients, just people saying I wish someone had told me this 10 years ago. Like why didn't someone tell me that I could do this 10 years ago? Or that Outlook was supposed to do that, you know? So I always love those kind of feedbacks.

Drew:

Yeah, absolutely. And also what I've also seen and experienced is the fact that there's the refresher courses as well, and nothing wrong with that as well in terms of not picking that up straight away. It's the refresher courses, so to speak, that needed to understand or just refine or clarify, which is all part of the learning experience. So there's refresher courses, lifetime access to the refresher courses for participants who enroll into priority management, which is a really special feature of priority management.

Robby:

Yeah, and it's with that Outlook Working Spot, with Outlook program, because it is such a core program and we share so much in the workshop itself that I always tell my I had one last week. I was with a council up here in Queensland last week and I said whatever you remember tomorrow when you wake up was obviously something you needed to hear. It resonated and it was something you're going to run with. And the other 70% of things that I took you through and explained and pitched to you that's going to be in the follow-up. It's the coaching session that everybody gets, that one-on-one opportunity a few weeks down the road to go. So I've implemented this in my world. I've got that under control. What's next? And it's that whole thing of what's next we're lifelong learners, as everyone would know listening to this podcast. It's that continual development that really makes a difference and keeps you cutting edge absolutely underpinned by the behavior changes.

Drew:

And also, what is so unique on top of that is, as you just mentioned, is the follow-up coaching mechanism, which is really powerful to see if that behavior change has occurred or not and what areas that could actually take place in.

Robby:

So yeah, and we always say we're checking in with you, not checking up on you. We are not being judged in any way or measured. It's really just the opportunity to go okay. So how far did you get when you got back into those busy environments, those habits, those interruptions? How can we kind of help you further? Yeah, and just revisiting those principles that we talked through in the workshop.

Drew:

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 your humor to create engaging and effective and an effective learning environment?

Robby:

well, thanks for that. I like to think I'm funny. Um, it is subjective. Uh, you know, I have a dry sense of humor, which I I got from my, my father. I'm very good at the one-liners.

Robby:

I don't do a stand-up routine or anything and jokes, but, and whilst it seems like I'm one of those trainers that's looking for attention by cracking a joke, there's actually purpose to why I'm trying to be funny and I do the bad dad jokes and I'm trying to kind of bring a bit of levity to the training, because I've been to a lot of training sessions over my life and they've just been dry, without the humor, and I think we can relate to to some of those training sessions and some of them are, um, you know, we're conscripted.

Robby:

Almost you have to go through this. It's it's something that maybe you don't volunteer for, but for me and this is what I encourage the rest of my team we all have our own styles and that's what makes us great as a training team that we're all individuals, just like all our clients are. And for me, there's a few things that are happening there in the background when I'm trying to be funny, which is actually funny, when I'm trying to be funny and it doesn't actually happen. That's when I get the most laughs.

Drew:

It's worse when the jokes come out and you have to explain it.

Robby:

You know it just breaks the ice. So, number one it breaks the ice. Okay, anecdotes, just a little one line. It has to bring people back out of themselves. A little bit always helps. It helps content as well.

Robby:

If you can put a story against something or a silly kind of funny comment or anecdote to something, you're more likely to remember it as well. It encourages participation and I love it when people try and get in there with their jokes. I can kind of sit back and go on with it, which is pretty great. It reduces stress as well, not just for the group but for me. You know I am an introvert. I'm a paid extrovert, if you like. I've learned those behaviors to exist in the world and I think that's my way of managing the. Hey, I've just met 15 brand new people that are looking at me how are we going to get on? How do I build that rapport? And I can be comfortable and they can be comfortable as well. So I think it's more for me as well, for them to just bring that little bit of humour and that levity, building rapport and keeping their attention.

Robby:

One of the biggest challenges we have with online learning and virtual training is the ability for people to turn their cameras off. And when you're in a room people can't do that unless they sit there and they put their hands in front of their eyes, but then they look kind of silly. It's very hard to keep people engaged in the virtual training environment than actually in the room. So we're throwing everything we've got. We're giving points to people for keeping their camera on and those points don't mean anything at all and they wonder who's won at the end of the course. And nobody's won. It was just a trick to try and keep your camera on.

Robby:

And we're just trying to keep people engaged and I've always felt that. You know, you can go back and look at the words in the guides and the handouts that we provide. But if you have a memorable experience, you remember that training team member from priority that made you feel happy or positive to be in the room and to be learning those things. That's what connects you to that information and you can always look it up. But if you have a terrible experience or that session was very dry and they weren't, you know and it doesn't have to be funny there's lots of different ways to engage people it's kind of lost, the information is lost and people aren't going to want to go back to the information. So I think leaving people with a positive experience in their training session is is a number one thing for me and my team, as well as knowing our stuff and actually trying to convey that and bring that message across. So there's method in my silly jokes, I guess, is what I'm saying there.

Drew:

So and they keep laughing, keep doing the jokes, you're going to have an enjoyable experience for those people listening, which is so important to have humour and, as you said, storytelling really helps people to connect. People remember stories. They don't remember manuals, so to speak. They remember the humour, they remember how they felt about the learning and when you're happy and learning, obviously the flow-on effect is the retainment of the information and you're relaxed. So, in terms of feedback, if we can go to that, robbie, what's one piece of feedback from clients or participants that really has stayed with you and shaped how you've approached your work?

Robby:

I think I might have mentioned this before, but when we have people genuinely tell us and take the time to write and express in our feedback surveys that we've changed their life, now it sounds like hyperbole, you know. It's kind of really, but I feel like we do. We do make a big difference in people's lives because we spend so much time work that if we can show someone how to to survive their day a little bit better, to get that lunch break, just those little things to make their life easier, those are the kind of feedbacks that I get. I mean, it's lovely to hear that. The joke was funny. Right, that's part of what we do, that's that's getting you to stay in the room.

Robby:

But when we actually see that they've marked that they're going to have a significant change in behavior and that's one of the questions in the survey and how will it impact or or improve the organization or the team those are the start as well. So I think when someone takes the time and literally says you've changed my life, don't take that lightly. Um, we really appreciate them. Just want to comment to it and it reinforces why we do what we do. We're not kind of trainers, we're not, you know shift dip training, you know everybody goes through it. It does make a difference and and again, if you're open to it then that also helps as well. So I guess those kind of feedbacks where it's been life-changing, yeah very powerful words, life-changing, so people living in it.

Drew:

It truly is, and I've heard those comments myself from colleagues who have gone through the priority management experience. And if you're listening and you haven't done that, hearing those words of life-changing, the question is, why aren't you doing priority management if you're hearing things like that in your world? If we move to the future vision now, robbie, looking ahead, how would you see workplace training to be evolving to meet the needs of leaders in education and beyond?

Robby:

Yeah, that was a really good question. I'm going to really kind of sit down and think about, you know, with the shift in a lot of virtual training, a lot of Teams, zoom training obviously a big event that happened a few years ago that kind of really propelled the online work from home hybrid situation. I think a lot of us are time poor, and particularly the leaders that you're talking about within the association, and I see a lot of options coming up. So micro learning is something really taking off. Even in the qualifications area and the vet qualifications, instead of doing great big cert fours or diplomas and things, there are a lot more choices about key kind of almost keyhole training in a keyhole surgery on your knee or something like that, just getting the exact kind of information, the skill that you're looking for. So I think we'll see a lot more micro learning. That's something that we're looking at as well, so that you can balance that with the time that you've got available, and it's very hard for a principal to just take the whole support staff out for the day, um, or some, you know, some classroom-based uh teachers. So, yeah, let's go off and do training for a day. It's just not possible a lot of the time. So I think, blended learning um, we've got immersive technologies, you know, I think vrs I mean we're not there yet, but there's a lot of vr augmented reality type of training and that works in different types of industry as well.

Robby:

Collaborative learning Again going back to if you can get together as a group and experience that learning together, I just feel like it will go further than just that one person coming back to an unchanged environment where they've been changed in the training session. And I think you know continuous feedback assessment. That's key as well, that the time that you're putting aside for development is actually having the results you want and it's not just a tick box kind of exercise. You know it's. Yeah, I'd say those are the kind of things that are coming up future make life easier, um, you know, for your listeners and and have that targeted training and at priority. We always customize our training and we're very flexible like that. We're always keen to talk and make it work for our clients.

Drew:

I really hear hear some exciting things potentially on the horizon with micro-credentialing the VR space, which is very popular in a gaming environment, but in terms of bringing that into the workforce, is that something priority is considering at this point in time?

Robby:

We can see it. Some in the industry is happening and again for different. You know simulators and you know.

Drew:

So, in terms of the VR space, is that something that? And you also mentioned micro-credentialing is that something that priority management is considering at this point in time?

Robby:

Yeah, so so we're actively looking at the micro-credentials, particularly in our project management space.

Robby:

That is something that we've been working on for a little while and that's something that's happening in the training industry. So, rather than doing those long kind of Cert IVs diplomas, you can actually pick a mix of components that you actually want to pick up, and it's that targeted training. As we talked about, um, in terms of the vr stuff, I'd love to uh to have that set up. That might be a bit further down the road. That's really great for kind of trades and simulators and those kind of roles. But when we're kind of technical and we're looking at software, um, who knows, I would love to have spare time to get into the vr world and and uh and have wonderful online workshops where we can kind of walk around and and chat with each other at break times in the virtual space. But maybe further down the track for that one. But micro credentials, micro training, uh, blended learning, that's all on the on the radar for sure and staying ahead and being current is is the key message, as I heard.

Drew:

In terms of the practical takeaways, if you could recommend one tool, habit or mindset, mindset shift for principles to immediately improve their data-to-day operations, what would it be?

Robby:

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 best choices and having the tools, the technology to support you, being able to triage quickly, so cutting through the noise, getting to the important emails, the important phone call messages. I think triage is a key thing. So those four Ds again kind of comes back to that principle or that behavior. Whatever the tool is, where is this taking you right now in your very precious time as a leader? And everyone knocking on your door, ringing your phone, using that 4D process, the Eisenhower matrix. Where is this person taking you? Is it quadrant one, which is, you know, very urgent, very important? It's those things you just have to do, and are they sometimes seeing us to? Quadrant four, which is the kind of procrastination side, the white noise, the meetings that perhaps shouldn't have been a meeting and all those kind of things as well.

Robby:

So I think probably triage would be kind of a key word to kind of go with. I want to look at this email again later in the day. I don't want to have to deal with this thing again later in the day. Let's try and make some good choices at the time. I'd say triage. I imagine it does feel a lot like that. You've got people coming into the tent. You've got to decide what to do with them and where to put them. It's a triage.

Drew:

Absolutely, but it's teaching that behaviour change which is so crucial, with what priority management does. Last question, robbie For school leaders implementing new strategies, what is the best way to measure success and the impact of the changes on their teams and students?

Robby:

Well, there's a couple of key things. If I just had to summarise it without going through a huge list, I would say to have clear goals and KPIs to be able to measure the success. Also, being able to have qualitative and quantitative data collection and those mechanisms to collect that information too. What is the stats and figures of how this is helped? If we're rolling teams out, or we're rolling a particular product out or training solution across the staff of the school, what are we looking to get out of it? We want people to be more productive, process their emails, improve productivity within their team. There's the qualitative side of that, like how is that going? How are we feeling about it? What are the anecdotal stories that, yes, I'm actually feeling more under control and that person's responding to me more which is great because I was always waiting and all those different stories and also that quantitative data as well. So I think having clear objectives and being able to track it well is probably key to be able to do that.

Drew:

Yeah, Is there a tool, technology tool, to be able to do that? Robbie.

Robby:

Well we've got. Well. There's a lot of different tools around. I would say that I think you know, 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 thing that we've been using to kind of track initiatives and not full-blown projects as such, but be able to kind of track the progress of you know kind of. We can record information there. We can add spreadsheets into the tasks, the different phases of what we're trying to implement.

Robby:

So it is a very simple tool, microsoft Planner, and it's kind of we talk about it's the way we phrase it is. It's planning out loud, Okay. So everyone within a team can see this planner board. You can have buckets or columns of tasks and they can be the different phases and we can list together as a group or a team what tasks need to be done and we can assign those tasks to each other as well. So planner is one of those great tools. And then you've got things like Excel and you know feedback forms. It's there's gonna a a toolkit for sure that you need to put together for that. So planner is probably the most popular thing at the moment to track activities and tasks in a group environment.

Drew:

Yeah, terrific, always good to speak to you, robbie, and thank you for the work that you are leading and supporting educational leaders through priority management. Again, thank you for your time and thank you for those people listening to our podcast today.

Robby:

Thanks Drew, thanks everyone.

Drew:

Thanks again for joining us for this insightful episode of the New South Wales PPA Professional Learning, educational Leadership Podcast, featuring Robbie Stewart, executive Coach, corporate Trainer, facilitator and longtime partner of Priority Management Australia. Robbie's deep knowledge as a system trainer and executive coach, combined with his hands-on experience in New South Wales education, has helped countless schools and leaders streamline their workflows and reclaim their time. If today's conversation sparked ideas of practical value, we encourage you to explore the full suite of Working Smart programs available through priority management through the NSW PPA. You can learn more by visiting wwwnswppaorgau. Forward slash working dash, smart dash series. Don't forget to subscribe to the New South Wales PPA Professional Learnings Podcast for more thought-provoking discussions with experts in leadership, learning and professional growth. Until next time, continue to lead with courage, purpose and care. Take care.

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