In the name of the CUSTOMER

 PCI Company Culture, Special Education Classroom, Special Education Resource  No Responses »
Sep 192011
 

(*Of course,  the word “customer” takes on a whole new meaning when your customer is a child struggling to learn and it makes the difference in them having a better, more fulfilling life.)

Where to begin?  The summer has been a whirlwind for the Sales and Marketing Team at PCI.  The Fall Catalogs are out, the web has new offers and PCI began the year-long celebration of our 20th Anniversary in business.

With so many highlights to write about, I will focus on one for this post – our 2-day leadership seminar with Howard Hyden.  Howard is a fascinating speaker that has worked with hundreds, nay thousands of companies in every imaginable industry from food service to major NASA contractors.  He is also the founder of the Center For Customer Focus – NOT customer service, he says, customer FOCUS -  there is a difference.  Simply put, customer focus is getting input from the customer first about what they want or need.  Sounds so simple that everyone should be doing it, right? Yeah, not so much.  Howard warned everyone that once the seminar was over we would all be hyper-aware of lack of customer focus when we see it and, oh boy, I could write an entire blog about that!  Alas, I digress.

Howard pointed out opportunities, shared experiences and gave all of us some great ideas that we can implement in our departments.  It was a very enriching two days and during that time I realized that the spirit of PCI is incredibly customer-focused.

It was a great feeling to recognize that some of the key principles that Howard spoke about are things that PCI does quite naturally.  For example, when a new product concept is developed, (Bwooop, bwooop, please remember the person writing this is merely a web manager, not an educator / thanks) the Product Development Team takes great pain to see how it will work for a student with any variety of special needs.  Will the student be able to hold the card, will the color contrast be enough, are there too many words on the page?  Years and years of classroom experience and research are all brought together to address the smallest detail.

In a similar way, when the sales team attends a curriculum fair or presentation, a great deal of work goes in to asking what the customer needs before we start packing.  Based on the needs of the student, sometimes the team will customize a group of products into a kit solution specifically for the district or classroom.

No organization can be perfect is every aspect, but I believe PCI has a huge lead over so many companies today, simply because we measure our success by the success of our students.

 Posted by at 9:44 am

I would cheer them on every day

 Teaching Tips  No Responses »
Sep 062011
 

We gather around televisions to watch award shows where celebrities, many recently out of rehab/prison/the Big Brother house, walk down a red carpet to the theater doors. We marvel at the outrageous clothes and statements, accepting them as models of success, no matter how shallow their morality.

A Wisconsin high school recently put that iconic red carpet to a better use. Fall Creek teachers walked the red carpet, cheered by students, parents, and administrators. There was no paparazzi, no Joan Rivers asking who designed the T-shirts and sneakers, and certainly no line of limos snaking around the block. No one gave them a goody bag worth thousands of dollars, or cornered them at an after-party to negotiate an endorsement deal. 

What teachers receive instead are long hours, low pay, mountains of paperwork, and increasingly high expectations. It is not a glamorous profession. Teachers will not get rich, nor will they gain prestige. What they do get is the knowledge that they help mold the leaders, achievers, innovators, and, yes, teachers of the future.

The role models I want my child to look up to are teachers – people who help build a better future for their communities, people who see education as the most reliable path to successful world citizenship, people who care about more than their next movie, ball game, or reality show.

So while there were no gold-plated statues handed out, no acceptance speeches, or Governor’s Balls, the teachers at Fall Creek High School were recognized as stars, lighting the way to the future.

 

If you have any fun/heartwarming stories of teacher appreciation, please share them in the comment section, we would love to hear your story and maybe even blog and share it with the world!

 

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Carin Lamontagne is a Senior Content Editor and Submissions Editor with PCI Education. For over four years, she has been key in developing process for product submissions and has spent a great deal of her career at PCI working on the software development teams for products such as PCI Reading Program Software, Word Munchers, and Math Munchers.

Prior to her career with PCI Education, Carin enjoyed 10 years in consumer products and specialty retail management. Carin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Anthropology from Texas State University San Marcos.