Category: Frankie Jackson's Blogs - THE SAVVY EDTECH LEADER

Customer-Centered Excellence: From Relationships to Remarkable Experiences

6/3/2025

There’s something powerful about learning and leading together! The passion and purpose within our Savvy Leadership community keep us motivated and moving forward.

What if the most powerful force driving excellence in your school district isn’t a system or strategy, but rather the voice of a student, the trust of a parent, or the insight of a teacher?

At the heart of every successful educational organization are those we serve. In this blog post from our Unlocking Performance Excellence series, we take a deep dive into Customers, as part of category 3 in the Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework.

This post encourages us to go beyond simply collecting data and to ask deeper questions: Are we truly listening? Are we capturing what matters most? Are we recognizing unspoken needs, responding intentionally, and building relationships that earn trust and inspire loyalty?

Let’s explore together how we can elevate the voice of our customers--students, families, educators, administrators, staff, and community partners—and reshape the way we lead, build relationships, and deliver meaningful experiences in education.

Future-Focused Strategy by Design: Leading with Foresight and Performing with Purpose

4/21/2025

We are continually inspired by each other's dedication as we share meaningful Savvy Leadership content, helping us grow and lead together as an EdTech community.

Our latest blog post, “Future-Focused Strategy by Design: Leading with Foresight and Performing with Purpose,” explores Category 2: Strategy in the NIST Performance Excellence Framework.

In this post, we will propose using a disciplined, repeatable methodology to chart the future, navigate challenges and opportunities, and build long-term resilience.

This is blog post #4, as part of the “Unlock Performance Excellence,” a 10-part blog series designed to guide leaders through each category of the NIST Performance Excellence Framework.

LEADING WITH INTENTION

Savvy EdTech Leaders design future-focused strategies with intention. We lead with purpose, deliver with excellence, and drive meaningful transformation.

Anyone can keep the wheels turning. But Savvy EdTech Leaders don’t just maintain the road—they build new ones. We are not satisfied with “what is”; we ask what’s next. We challenge assumptions, reimagine possibilities, and lead with foresight to create a better future.

Leadership and Governance: Navigating An Award-Winning Goal Standard

2/23/2025

Leadership in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Performance Excellence System is recognized as the gold standard because it is a structured, holistic approach that fosters organizational success, continuous improvement, and long-term sustainability.

This blog proposes a design for creating a leadership system that promotes peak performance by eliminating distractions and prioritizing the essential leadership processes and key performance indicators (KPIs) that truly drive results. This is blog post #3 of a 10-part blog series, "Unlock Performance Excellence."

As an EdTech leader, how would you describe your leadership and governance structure? Can you define it? Is it based on a framework, or is it your experience from the school of hard knocks? Here’s the real question: Is your leadership built to last? Are you continuously improving and actively developing the next generation of leaders?

What if you cut out all the noise and, as the highest priority, focused on these SIX performance excellence leadership processes and key performance indicators (KPIs) that drive results?

Let's give it everything we got! The next generation of Savvy EdTech Leaders deserve a robust leadership blueprint.

Organization Description: Examining EdTech Organizations with Clarity and Transparency

1/27/2025

The organization description in the NIST Performance Excellence system provides a structured framework for understanding our EdTech organization's nuances. This blog will offer a methodology for crafting a detailed organization description that will provide critical insights into key factors that shape your leadership.

These critical insights include our organization's vision, mission (purpose), culture, requirements, strategic challenges, threats, opportunities, and many others that help us better understand the context in which we lead.

Without understanding these factors, whether initially or continuously, how will we make decisions and lead our team(s) effectively?

"Leadership without insight is like navigating the open sea without a compass; you might be moving, but are you truly heading toward your destination?" - Frankie Jackson

You probably think, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm already doing this, or I already know." And you might. And yet, there might be more that we can explore.

Using strategies in our Savvy EdTech Leader book, this blog is dedicated to deepening our understanding of our EdTech organization by offering clarity and transparency. Its purpose is to help us fully grasp our mission, structure, and the value we bring while fostering trust and empowering better decision-making. After all, isn’t this what great leaders aspire to achieve? Who wouldn’t want to be part of that vision?

Why Use the NIST Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework as an EdTech Leadership Blueprint?

1/2/2025

"The NIST Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework establishes a national standard of performance excellence, driving measurable outcomes and guiding Education Technology (EdTech) Leadership to create transformative systems that build organizational success."

- Frankie Jackson

This blog post will discuss why any Savvy EdTech Leader might consider using the NIST Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework as their EdTech Leadership blueprint to drive organizational success and propel growth.

Ride The Horse That Brung Ya

On a personal note, my heart races as I write this blog. In this post, I aim to share why I am so faithful to the NIST Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework, a framework that has been instrumental in my professional journey.

In Texas, the idiom "Ride the Horse That Brung Ya" is colloquial slang for staying loyal to the methods, people, and practices that have helped you succeed. The NIST Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework has a long history in our nation and with me in my career journey. You can read about that here.

What I can say in a sentence or two is that when I started my career in public education as a Chief Technology Officer (CTO), the hiring Superintendent of Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District (GCCISD) said, we don't want you to change a thing about your leadership strategy. We are hiring you so you can bring innovative leadership and quality principles to our education technology program.

And with the NIST Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework, I started my 30+ career in public education serving as an EdTech Leader and Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Unlock Performance Excellence (Blog Series)

12/31/2024

Our Savvy Education Technology (EdTech) blogs are dedicated to delivering fresh, insightful content centered on EdTech leadership. Drawing from key chapters of The Savvy EdTech Leader, we explore strategies for crafting impactful and innovative systems that drive success. This series introduces a dynamic approach to measuring organizational success, leveraging a performance excellence maturity-level framework to guide continuous improvement and inspire growth.

Why is measuring organizational success important? Now is the time in your career journey to amplify your impact and measure your leadership success like never before! Team members need to know where the organization stands to break higher barriers and continually make adjustments to improve themselves and the organization.

Savvy EdTech Leadership focuses on what truly matters: your organization's success. Success is about the collective achievement of the entire organization under your leadership. It is measured by how well you guide and empower the whole organization, ensuring every part thrives together.

To get started, consider these two questions.

Building Personal Accountability in Ourselves and Others We Lead

11/26/2024

How often have we worked for someone or been part of a team where we cared so much that we would go to the earth's ends to ensure we did what we said we would do? Or, come hell or high water (my mother says), we will do whatever it takes to deliver results on a specific goal or deadline.

Here's the savvy part: As a Savvy EdTech leader, how do we influence others to feel the same way about us? How do we lead those we are responsible for, so they follow us on their own accord? That's savvy! We either get things done and deliver, or we don't.

How do we create personal accountability in others, so they follow us, not because of our title or because they have to, but because of who we are? Have you ever said or heard something like this when talking about your team or those you lead?

My senior engineer for network infrastructure needs to pull his weight. His lack of action is affecting our school district’s network and Internet availability. Teachers, students, and parents are complaining.
I don't trust my administrative secretary to do her work correctly. She makes too many mistakes, which is causing me undue stress. And she doesn't seem to care.
My student information management team needs to take ownership of their work. When I ask them for a status about our new product implementation, they don't feel a sense of urgency. I feel like they aren't even listening to me.

Casting Your Leadership Vision: Influential Leaders See More, Way Before

11/14/2024

Suppose you land a new dream job leading a district's EdTech team. You worked many years to prepare yourself. You couldn't sleep the night before because your heart is pounding with anticipation. You have a well-crafted presentation, so you think you are ready. You arrive on your first day and stand at the head of the conference table, looking around at the faces of your new team.

Running with winners and thinking bigger

9/20/2024

Our new book, The Savvy EdTech Leader: Innovative Strategies to Boost Influence and Elevate Your Career, will be officially released in mid-to-late October 2024. It represents the culmination of two years of writing with my three co-authors, Sheryl Abshire, Diane Doersch, and Donna Williamson. In this book, we share our insights and strategies for success in the Education Technology (EdTech) leadership landscape. With our combined experience of 120+ years, we aim to provide practical advice and innovative solutions for aspiring and current EdTech leaders.