Benefits of Business and
School Collaborations

By Leroy Robinson

A few months back, I attended an education conference where there were breakout sessions on a variety of different topics concerning the continued improvement of educating public school students in urban environments. The one session that was the most intriguing to me was the one concerning school and business partnerships.

There were many educators from throughout the entire country and a business owner at our table posed this question to the group of educators: “Why should I relocate my business to your school district?” The conversation and comments were intense, as each teacher, administrator, and school board member worked diligently at “selling” their school district to this particular business owner.

My initial thoughts were centered on how to best respond to this question. I was thinking of reasons why a business would want to come to our city, our school district, and cater to our school community. It became apparently clear that businesses move into areas where school districts are thriving and doing well. Similar to families with school-age children that have to relocate to a new city, the first question they ask is in regards to the location of the best school system.  There is clearly a direct link between successful schools, successful businesses, and successful communities.

Businesses should be very concerned about the schools in their area. The success of the schools equates to the success of the businesses around them, as the students who attend these schools and their parents are the businesses’ main clients and customers. And in most cases, these same clients are where the largest pool of employees will come from.  But if a school district’s education attainments are low, these same parents, students, clients, and customers can become the business owner’s worst nightmare.

What often becomes of the students who drop out of high school at 15 or 16 years old? Those who are often suspended or expelled? Those who have a very low education attainment level?  In most cases, the students described above become petty criminals who prey on the businesses in their neighborhoods and become the unskilled workers who increase the employee turnover rate and decrease the businesses’ productivity. All of which eventually forces the business owners to close the doors. 

Business owners who want to remain relevant, consistent, and meaningful in a community, should begin thinking seriously about creating business-school partnerships. Simply, this is a mutual agreement to work together on projects and activities that will enhance the quality of education for students while improving skills critical to success in the workplace. This partnership also provides students with the opportunity to see the workplace firsthand and be able to relate their daily studies to experiences outside of the school environment.

Businesses should look at such partnerships from this vantage point: Their future work force more than likely will be the finished product of their involvement in the quality education of the students attending the public schools in their areas.  And for the schools’ benefit, a properly functioning partnership with the local businesses can bring in a wide range of fields and professionals to satisfy the academic needs of classroom teachers and contribute to the broadening of public school students’ social and career perspectives.

Ruthe Batulis, president of the Bloomington Council of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, says, “The most important investment that business can make is in the local school district. The business education partnership is one that can shape the future of a community as well as the region. It drives the economic development of the community, and promotes healthy, stable communities and workforces. Partnerships of this type are crucial to the economic wellbeing of communities.”

The business community can play a vital role in uplifting the morale of both the educational system and the entire community by being involved in the academic and social success of students in their communities. Forming a strong business-school partnership can help ease some of the financial woes that most school districts are facing across the state.  Businesses can help find other creative ways on how to finance some of the educational programs and opportunities that are being siphoned off and carted away due to decreasing school budgets and state funding.

Elected officials should also support the efforts to strengthen the business community’s commitment to education. These partnerships are designed to provide a direct link between the work world and the classroom giving students real-world life experiences. This partnership also strengthens economic development by providing a pool of talented and highly qualified employees. And in the end it increases graduation rates, reduces employee turnover, improves company productivity, decreases crime, and uplifts and improves the entire community. Thus, creating a thriving and successful business and a well-educated and loyal workforce.      

 

 

Leroy Robinson has been an educator for more than
15 years. He may be reached at (317) 502-0272
or educationdoesmatter@hotmail.com.

 

Working to
Reduce Society’s
‘Grand Challenges’

By Jay Akridge

    Gebisa Ejeta was born in 1950 in a small, remote Ethiopian village. There was no school nearby and he seemed destined to be a cattle herder for the local chief. However, his single mother had other dreams, bigger dreams for her only son.

    Ejeta’s mother managed to find a way for him to learn to read and write. He studied on his own and earned a scholarship to a boarding school. From there he went on to an African university.  The university he attended, Alemaya College, was launched as a partnership with Oklahoma State University, one of the United States land-grant universities.  Ejeta graduated with distinction and was asked to join the faculty.

    After a chance meeting with Purdue University professor John Axtell, Ejeta decided to go to Purdue to work on a U.S. government-funded project to improve the nutritional quality of sorghum. He barely escaped his native country before a Marxist dictator came to power in a coup and disposed of many of his colleagues. Ejeta earned his doctorate at Purdue and eventually joined the agronomy faculty.

    Ejeta knew the importance of sorghum, a crop grown by the subsistence farmers in his homeland, for both grain and forage. However, lack of water and a devastating, parasitic weed known as striga or witchweed, perpetually threatened the farmer’s crops. For the last 30 years, Ejeta has been fighting hunger and poverty by improving the viability of this food staple for 500 million people around the world.

    Among his accomplishments are developing drought-tolerant and striga-resistant varieties of sorghum. In order to ensure that farmers would have access to the seeds developed, he also worked to create a seed industry in Africa. In addition, he worked to enhance the nutritional value of sorghum. And, his recent breeding efforts resulted in development of low-lignin sorghum that can be used in livestock feeding and as a potential feedstock for ethanol production.

    Ejeta’s story is compelling from so many angles, but it doesn’t stop there. Last year he was named the World Food Prize recipient, an honor that has been compared to winning a Nobel Prize.

    Ejeta’s experiences punctuate the importance of university research in not only improving the lives of those in this country, but in making great strides in solving global problems as well. It’s estimated that annual sorghum yield losses due to striga in the savannah regions of Africa, amount to more than $7 billion and affect more than 100 million people annually.

    Everyone has a right to good, quality food and with continuing advances in modern agriculture we can feed the world’s growing population. We all benefit when people around the world are better fed, and have the opportunity to have their basic needs met. It’s not only the right thing to do, but those people are less likely to turn to violence or terrorism for survival. And as these nations prosper, they may well become trading partners with the United States.

    American land-grant universities like Purdue have helped make great improvements in our food system in the last century. These developments reflect our mission values and concern for better productivity, food safety and protecting the environment. Purdue has many researchers like Ejeta who are greatly concerned about how their developments impact our world and they devote their work to research that can tackle global challenges.

    Current research at Purdue is determining best farm practices for improving air and water quality, ways to raise animals with less stress, and faster ways to detect food pathogens. Through Purdue Extension we are also educating people about how to make good food choices, control portion sizes and exercise.

    Looking ahead, having enough food, having safe food, having healthy food, having food that was produced in a way that makes efficient use of resources and minimizes environmental impacts are some of our society’s “grand challenges.” Universities such as Purdue will play a role in addressing these challenges. But, there will be significant opportunities for entrepreneurs with creative solutions and a serious need for human talent as the broad industry of agriculture evolves to feed and fuel a growing and hungry world.

    At Purdue Agriculture, we look forward to partnering with the business sector of Indiana to address these issues.  And, we firmly believe that students who want to make a difference in our world and who have a passion for science, technology, engineering, or business have a very bright future in the agricultural industry.

 

Jay Akridge is the Glenn W. Sample
Dean of Agriculture at Purdue University.

Linking Your Employees
to Their ‘Why’ Factor –
Why is That Important?

By Susan Bagyura

     The first thing a great leader should do is to determine what her or his purpose is. This is their “why.” I don’t mean the fancy mission statements that you see hanging on walls that no one understands. I mean the guiding reason the leader has for the business.

     Why are they there? It has to be something beyond profits. I believe the best leaders are the ones who are focused on bringing out the best in their people – transforming lives.

     When someone has that as his purpose, the profits just naturally follow. Then the leader can determine his vision for the business based on their purpose.

     The best leaders are open, truthful and transparent in communicating their purpose and vision. As a result, the employees will know, like and trust them. It is actually quite surprising, but in many companies larger than 200 employees, the people don’t even know the name of the chief executive officer.

     They feel no connection to the leader and certainly no connection to their purpose and vision. This also translates to how valued they feel. When a person does not feel valued for their contribution, they will not be committed to its success.

    This has a very serious impact on the business. A company’s greatest assets are its employees and its customers.

     Let’s take a closer look. If the employees are not happy and don’t feel valued, anyone that they come into contact with will know it. If a customer hears an employee speaking badly about his employer, it has a negative impact.

     Customers like to hear happy employees. There is a subconscious thing that happens then. If employees are happy, then it must follow that the company treats them well. If a company treats its employees well, then it certainly is going to treat its customers well.

     When we know the why for our employees, this will inspire people to be and do more.

     Dealing with what drives other people to action can be complex.

 

 

Here are some starting places:

• What do they

   really want?

• What’s their

   heart’s desire?

• What’s going on in    

   their heart of hearts?

 

There are four areas that you’ll want to understand:

1. Find out their “why” for their career. Do they work at their job because they think they can’t do anything else? Are they in a j-o-b or is this position a step on their ladder of success? Is this their dream job? What keeps them coming to work? Do they get to use their skills and develop new ones?

2. What is their “why” in their marriage or with significant others? What about their kids, loved ones, and friends? You want to find out what is their “why” for their financial growth. Abraham Maslow studied the basic needs of individuals and the first “why” in his hierarchy is meeting the essential needs to maintain life - shelter, food, clothing, transportation, and a way to retain them.

3. What is their “why” for the health of their body?
Are they distracted with personal illnesses or chronic issues that affect your bottom line as well?
Are they in good health?

Do they have a healthy mental outlook?

4. The “why” that concerns people most often is how they are going to pay for the necessities. After that, they want things for themselves or their family. Do they feel like they are being paid what they are worth? Are they frustrated working for someone else?

 

Would they like to be doing something else for more money? Are they satisfied with their financial status?

     Gathering answers to questions requires absolute confidentiality. Build trust by being caring, by sharing personal details, by being patient because it takes time to build relationships, and by being fully present when speaking with that person. It bears repeating; all information must remain confidential and only be used to help the person get what he or she wants.

     When you’ve unlocked the “whys” for your employees, you will unlock some of the areas you haven’t been able to get to and become more efficient. Connect them to their “why.”

     In the process you’ll find out, as I have, that knowing the “whys” will always move people beyond where they think that they can go. Always!

 

Susan Bagyura, a leadership/business coach and author of The Visionary Leader: How to Inspire Success From The Top Down, helps small businesses and entrepreneurs grow their revenues and increase their profits.

Download the first chapter

of her book at
www.thevisionaryleader.com.