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How To Choose The Right CPD For You

April 19, 2021 No Comments

When I was asked to write an article about CPD for School Business Leaders and how you can develop your skills my first thought was… seriously? Over the last year you have been developing your skills faster than Lewis Hamilton on a flying lap! (In under two minutes incase you don’t know how fast that is!)

SBLs have probably collectively been through the fastest rate of development and role evolution than ever before. We’re talking about health and safety, safeguarding, catering, ICT infrastructure, HR and financial management in the middle of a freaking pandemic! Unprecedented, unknown and uncertain times does not blooming cover it.

One thing is for sure though, you did not allow yourselves to be unseen. You rolled your sleeves up, donned your superhero capes and marched into battle.

It’s only now as the fog of war clears and you pop your cape into the machine on a ‘quick wash’, that the progress made and battles won can truly be appreciated.

And not only appreciated but understood.

I don’t have all the answers and there’s much to be discussed but in the context of developing yourself and your role, I am going to pitch up a starting point for the journey ahead. Let’s call it SBL Basecamp.

To understand where you’re going, you need to understand where you’ve been. It’s been a long and torturous road and though I know it might be painful, it’s time to get some perspective and reflect.

I want you to get a piece of paper and put ‘you’ in the centre. Then I want you to answer the following questions with you, your feelings, your opinions and your future in mind. I want you to write down your answers quickly and from the gut:

What happened?
What’s the impact?
What’s changed?
What’s better?
What’s worse?
What’s been learned?
What does this mean for the future?
What do I want?

These last two questions are the most important as ultimately, what the future might look like and what you want from it will determine the GPS coordinates for your journey beyond Basecamp.

If you don’t know what it is that you want, then keep writing on your piece of paper and focus on the following:

What do I stand for?
What are my values?
What motivates me?
What level of challenge and pressure am I comfortable with?
What is my next logical step and is it one I’m ready and willing to take?
Do I have more than one option and if so, when do I need to make a choice?

In terms of next steps, the development of your role may simply mean developing further within your current context. Progression doesn’t necessarily have to mean onwards (moving schools) or upwards (moving to a bigger or more specialist role). It may mean pulling up that long awaited seat at the SLT table or it may mean building the capacity of your team so in turn, you can build your own.

If progression does mean moving onwards and/or upwards to you, then there are yet even more questions to consider.

Do you want move to another education phase?
Do you want to be a generalist or a specialist?
Do you want to work within a MAT or LA structure?

I know the questions I’ve asked you so far seem huge but until you start to hone your thinking in this way, it will be impossible to answer the next question.

How am I going to get where I want to go?

Yes, the simplest, most obvious answer is CPD but when it comes to determining what type of CPD then the path ahead becomes a lot murkier.

First of all, let’s break down CPD into more manageable chunks – or 3 strands:

Strand 1… if you are experiencing difficulty or need to brush up/keep up
Strand 2… if you need to acquire new skills or further enhance existing skills in your current role
Strand 3… if you’re ready to acquire skills to prepare you for your next role

Now… with your piece of paper in front of you and your general GPS coordinates programmed in to Google Maps ask yourself the following:

What am I looking to gain from CPD?
- What strands am I focusing on?
- Why am I focusing on them?
- Skills, knowledge, accreditation, credibility, meet compliance requirements?
What is my learning style and preferred learning environment?
- Classroom, large group, small group, one to one, online, on the job, structured, flexible, formal, informal, quick, over time?
What investment am I prepared to make?
- Budget, commitment to employer, time, workload, work/life balance, impact, value for money?

There isn’t a right or wrong way of learning and what works for one person will not work for everyone. And perhaps over the last 12 months your focus and preferences have changed! You just need to make the best, most informed decision for you.

There’s so much choice out there when it comes to CPD so here’s a quick CPD brainstorm to get you thinking!

Qualifications
Webinars
Coaching
Mentoring
Regional & Local SBL Networks
Join Professional Association and/or Union
Social Media Networks
Podcasts
Online Courses
Become a Governor

NB: I know that some of the more obvious CPD activities are missing from the list… Our options have been limited this past year in terms of face-to-face events such as conferences, training sessions, network meetings etc. (you won’t believe how excited I am to meet you all in person!) but as there is light at the end of tunnel, don’t overlook this type of CPD as part of your long term plan!

Remember, each of these suggestions will have different costs, time commitments, delivery methods and expected outcomes so do your research and before you part with your cash or sign on the dotted line… ask yourself this:

Am I selecting the right type of CPD to help me achieve my goals?

If the answer is ‘no’ or ‘not quite sure’ then put your pen down, put your piece of paper away and come back to it in a week. Or maybe you just want to hang out at Basecamp a little while longer to gather your thoughts!

It might not even be until the summer break that you can finally take a full breath and look around.

That’s totally fine.

You don’t have to have it all figured out.

Just remember that whenever it is that you’re ready to venture out of Basecamp, you’re not alone. I’m here, the SBL community is here and we’ve got your back. Now go peg that cape out to dry and I’ll see you soon!

To complete a short survey about SBL CPD just click here! This survey is totally anonymous (unless you choose otherwise) and your feedback will help me focus on developing and creating more ways to help you to reach your goals and get to where you most want to be.

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P.S. Have you joined The Business of School Leadership Facebook Group yet? For practical support, advice, tips, tools & guidance about all things school leadership, join us in the community by clicking here.

Written for: Edexec – Education Executive Magazine (@edexec)

Article, Coaching, Leadership

How To Set Goals In 2021

February 19, 2021 No Comments

The first couple of months of a new year is a time traditionally spent making resolutions and setting goals for the year ahead.

However.

I think it’s safe to say that ‘tradition’ has popped to the shops and is yet to return in what is now famously called these ‘unprecedented times’.

As SBLs, we often say that one of the reasons we love the job is because ‘No day is ever the same’. We enjoy the variety, we thrive under pressure and we excel at finding solutions to problems where, often, nobody else can.

But with each guidance document received, voucher processed, email read and item of PPE ordered, we have found ourselves further and further away from what we now affectionately look back on as ‘the day job’.

So, if we’re not doing what we ‘normally’ do in the way that we ‘usually’ do it, how do we even think about making plans or setting goals when 2020 literally screwed up every idea we had and tossed them in the bin?

What should we be doing?

My opinion? Whatever you want.

Seriously!

What do you want to do?

What do you want to start doing, or keep doing?

What do you want to stop doing?

When you can answer all of the above I want you to then ask yourself… why?

Why does this matter?

Will doing it make you happy? Will letting it go make you happy? Will you sleep easier? Will you smile more?

A side note: we tend to think of goals like performance management objectives which are SMART; specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound – and they often feel big and challenging.

But, for this process, I want you to know that it doesn’t matter whether what you want to do is ‘big’ or ‘small’. You don’t have to set goals that are future-focused and challenging – they can be immediate and… easy! Er, yes – easy!

Goals don’t have to be hard; sometimes, doing something because it simply makes you feel good is a good enough reason to do it!

Small changes can be very rewarding so if you simply want to cancel all of your unnecessary/under-utilised subscriptions because that means you’ll have some extra cash to treat yourself to something nice… perhaps a super nice bottle of gin every month…then I say go for it!

But! If you are committed to making bold and big changes, and setting courageous and clear goals, and you’re worried whether you should or if you really have time, or if people might think you’re getting ‘too big for your boots’, then ask yourself this…

When you look at your goals in 12 months time will you regret not doing them? Will you regret not trying? If the answer is ‘Yes’ – go for it. If the answer is ‘No’, then that is not your goal. It’s what someone else thinks you should be doing, or what you think other people think you should be doing.

Which me brings me to my next question…

Who do your goals matter to?

For the love of all things stationery and chocolate, your goals better matter to you more than they matter to anyone else! If you’re not doing it for you then chances are it’s not going to make you happy, and it’s not going to stick.

Your goals are your goals. They should reflect you, and what you’re priorities are. So, when you think of a plan or a goal for the year, make sure you’re being true to yourself.

And finally….

If you’re not sure where to start, or what you actually want, don’t panic. Instead of digging into the detail, step back and look at the big picture.

Are there any particular areas of your life that you feel have been neglected, have suffered or have taken a particularly hard hit these last few months?
Do you feel like you’re moving forward and, if not, what will it take to get you moving again?
What have you learned these past few months – about yourself, your family, your friends, your views, your skills and your abilities? What’s shifted? What’s stayed the same? What has grown stronger? What’s missing?
What will make you happier, healthier and more content?

I know I’ve asked you a lot of questions here but the reality is that there aren’t any ‘right’ answers. Goal setting isn’t a science and nor should it be. What is right for one person isn’t right for another. So pay no attention to the transformational thinking, new year new you woo-woo stuff.

Keep your eyes down, your heart open and your mind focused on what it means for you to live life the way you want to live it.

Be brave, be you and keep going. You’ve got this.

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Written for: Education Executive Magazine (@edexec)

Article, Finance, Leadership

How To Get All Staff Involved In The Financial Wellbeing Of Your School

October 14, 2020 No Comments

As a Headteacher, your role requires you to know your budget inside and out. You, your governors and your SBM probably spend many hours discussing it and making decisions supported by the financial information that you have.

With the funding situation being so dire, you probably also find yourself in many situations where you have to say no to staff funding requests and try to balance the needs of your students with the constraints on your bank balance.

I don’t know anybody who signed up for the role of headteacher looking forward to, or feeling ready enough, to take on this level of financial accountability but this burden isn’t yours to carry alone. Sure, your name may be over the door but like Health and Safety, financial management is a whole school responsibility. Everybody has their part to play and everyone can contribute to the financial health of the school, it’s just a matter of teaching them how.

Ensure your School Development Plan is costed: Every decision you make as a Headteacher has a financial implication. One way or another, all roads lead back to the budget. When you’re developing your SDP with your SLT, use it as an opportunity to show them exactly how this works. An SDP should be ambitious but if the numbers don’t add up, it’s simply an undeliverable vision. It will also help your leadership team to understand your rationale in terms of decision-making. While they may be thinking of the short and mid-term objectives, you need to show them why the long-term objectives are just as, if not more, important and how strategic financial management supports this.

Weave financial management into regular meetings and discussions: Introduce half-termly budget discussions into your SLT meetings where you or your SBM talk through the management accounts and highlight areas of both capacity and concern. Learning how to read and interpret a set of management accounts is a key skill that all senior leaders should develop; sooner rather than later! Provide cost centre reports to middle leaders to discuss with their teams. When staff come up with ideas, ask them if they have investigated the cost of implementation. Today’s middle and senior leaders are tomorrow’s headteachers so exposing them to this level of financial knowledge and accountability will stand them in good stead for the future.

Promote the role of your School Business Manager: The perception of the school business manager can often be negative. They can be seen as ‘the person that says no’ or ‘blocks’ whatever it is that teachers want to do. By promoting the role and giving a clearer understanding of what it is that they do will add both context and support to the financial management of the school. Direct your senior and middle leaders to discuss their plans with the SBM before bringing them to you. Ask them to regularly evaluate their expenditure and support the school through cost-saving and income generation activities. With your SBM supporting the decision making processes of your staff, you will find yourself saying no a little less often!

Ask leaders to attend LGB and/or Board meetings to observe: Many senior and middle leaders are not aware of the level of scrutiny a school faces in relation to financial management and accountability. By inviting them to observe this process in action, it will add context to the financial aspects of school management and help them to understand exactly what must be taken into account when making financial decisions. Also, it will give them an awareness of financial accountability to external stakeholders in terms of audit and compliance.

Involve leaders in the budget setting process: Putting together a budget is a complex task. There are many factors to consider including revenue and capital income, staffing costs and on costs, ringfenced and lagged funding and so on. By involving your leadership team in the detail of the budget setting process, you are actually showing them the bigger picture. This will enable them to operate more effectively on a day-to-day basis.

Make finance a whole staff topic: Include a slot on your INSET days to deliver a brief financial update to staff. The more that staff understand the financial position of your school, the more mindful they will be when making budget requests. Once a year, ask your SBM to do a more detailed presentation to staff about the budget, how it fits together and, ultimately, how the final figures are reached. Show your staff just how much money is left after staffing, building, utilities, catering and compliance are allocated. Increasing their awareness of the financial context of your school will help them to support you to achieve not only financial efficiency but also value for money.

Being a headteacher can be lonely at the best of times and the added weight of financial accountability can make it feel even more so, especially if your school is struggling.

Through educating your staff, you can create a support system and structure around you to help both lighten the load and reach your strategic objectives.

Why you should educate your staff about finance

To prepare them for future roles by developing their knowledge and skillset.
To teach them how to be financially strategic when it comes to futureproofing and forward planning.
To secure collaborative working with key staff (your SBM) and external stakeholders (Governors/Trustees etc.).
To understand the level of scrutiny and challenge that your school faces in relation to financial management.
To understand the financial constraints of the budget and the rationale behind your decision making process.
To increase their awareness of the financial context of the school in order to improve their own decision making and increase focus on value for money.
So everyone can play their part to achieve financial efficiency and support the financial health of your school.

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Written for: Primary School Management Magazine (@primaryleaders)

Article, Governance, Leadership

How To Implement A Risk Management Strategy

August 24, 2020 No Comments

As school leaders, risk is something that we are incredibly familiar with. We have processes in place to ensure safety on school trips, that our site is secure and that the staff who work for us are screened in accordance with safeguarding legislation.

These systems are woven into the fabric of school life, often without issue or incident.

However, there are other types of risks to our schools – beyond the operational – that require more consideration and focus to allow us to mitigate them appropriately.

By taking a strategic approach to risk management, your school can be proactive and make well-informed and timely decisions.

What does risk management involve?

The process of risk management involves six steps; identification, assessment, measurement, management response, monitoring and reporting.

As an organisation, you should have a process that outlines how you follow these steps to ensure that the management of risk is clearly articulated, understood and implemented by key stakeholders.

At a strategic level, risk management should be linked to your school development plan and its objectives; specifically the risks that will impede you from implementing your plan effectively.

What types of risk are there?

It’s easy to fall into the mindset that everything is a risk i.e. an accident on a school trip or a break-in at school. While these are all risks, as outlined above, they will likely already have comprehensive mitigation measures in place.

Unless you have reason to believe that your measures are not working or are out of date, an audit identifies areas of concern or some other variable factor has changed, then these types of risk need not feature on your strategic and ‘live’ risk register (or similar document).

Risk management does not equate to voiding risk altogether as this is often not possible. It’s about forward thinking, taking appropriate action at the right time and ensuring that you’ve done all that you can to reduce the impact of any risk.

If your management actions are effective and the risk can be deemed ‘low’ then you are managing risk effectively.

Strategic risks usually fall into five main categories; governance, educational, financial, external and compliance.

Operational risks, as outlined above, may be incorporated into your risk management process but only if there is a significant impact upon your progress towards your strategic objectives.

Chances are, serious operational risks would be covered under one of the other five types of risk. Here are some examples of risk for each category:

Governance
Constitution or structure of your LGB (numbers, attendance, committees), capacity of the LGB in terms of skillset and time, conflicts of interest.

Educational
Outcomes, Ofsted, curriculum, provision, staffing etc.

Financial
Limited income, insurances, procurement, internal controls, cash flow, inadequate information or reporting, asset management.

External
Reputational, demographic changes, pupil numbers, community, changes in government policy.

Compliance
Failure to meet legislative requirements, poor knowledge of responsibilities and regulations, audit issues.

How do we manage risk?

Where a risk has been identified, you need to be able to quantify both its probability of occurrence and the relative impact if it does occur.

When you have identified the measures you are going to put in place to mitigate the risk, you should then assess what effect these measures will have on both the likelihood and impact.

You should expect a lower probability of it happening or a lesser impact if it does after you have taken management action.

In the academy sector, this risk assessment process is documented on a risk register. In the maintained sector, you may have an LA risk register template that you use or you may record it in another way.

There are four main approaches to risk; tolerating (accepting and managing), treating (controlling or reducing), transferring (contracting out or insuring) and terminating (avoiding). The approach you choose to manage each risk will depend on your context and your resources.

To be clear on accountability and responsibility, you should determine who ‘owns’ each risk. This will likely be the person who is responsible for implementing the mitigating actions. While we know that the ‘buck’ stops with the headteacher, risk management is everyone’s responsibility. Line management and reporting to your LGB should incorporate the risk management process, ensuring that the accountability chain is robust.

How can we make sure our risk management process is fit for purpose?

When a risk has been successfully mitigated to what you determine to be an ‘acceptable’ level, there should be a point where this risk is removed from the risk register.

This means that the focus of risk management is not diluted and that priority is given to current and ‘live’ risks. In the future, it may be that some risks ‘return’ and at that point, they can be revisited.

When it comes to managing strategic risk, it’s important that the process is integrated into existing structures and systems. This ensures that it is a regular topic of discussion.

The more people that are involved in the identification, assessment and management of risk, the less likely it is that the process will become subjective or overlooked.

Risk management may appear to be an onerous administrative process but when it’s well implemented, it can help you to protect your school, staff and students as well as save money, provide stability and help you to make smart decisions about the use of time and resources.

Risk Management: Self-Evaluation

Do we have a formal risk management process?
Is it explicitly linked to our strategic objectives?
How do we categorise risk?
Is our assessment of risk robust?
What is our approach to risk?
Are accountability lines clear in terms of risk management?
How do we communicate management action in terms of addressing risk?
How does our governance structure support risk management in terms of scrutiny and challenge?
How do we keep our risk management process objective?
How do we determine whether a risk should be removed from the risk register?

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Written for: Primary School Management Magazine (@primaryleaders)

Article, Leadership, Staffing

How To Recruit The Right SBM For Your School

May 20, 2020 No Comments

When it comes to recruiting a School Business Manager, it’s important to remember that there are many different types and flavours.

Though they may all have the same or a similar job title, they will have varied experience, qualifications and specialist areas of expertise.

To ensure that you appoint the right SBM for your school, I’ve put together some tips to help you navigate the process.

Get the fit right

When it comes to recruiting a School Business Manager, the wider context of your school is hugely important. Consider the role in the context of your Senior Leadership Team and what your SBM will be expected to contribute to the school at that level.

They will of course have a different remit to the rest of your SLT but helping you to develop strategic plans, managing resources, providing reports and contributing to the efficient and effective running of the school are just some of the ways that your SBM can add value and have an impact on your school.

If this isn’t how you envision your SBM operating, then maybe it isn’t an SBM you’re looking for. If you’re working within a MAT, think about how the MAT operational systems and infrastructure influences the role of the school SBM and what this means in terms of your approach to recruiting.

Also consider the people management element of the role and the people/ teams your SBM will be line managing. What ‘soft’ skills will your SBM need in order to ensure that these teams operate effectively?

Get the job description right

Think carefully about the role your SBM will be undertaking. Is there a bias towards one particular element? Perhaps you have an old building that requires a lot of looking after or you have big plans for expansion.

Maybe the finance needs tighter management and monitoring or your staffing processes need updating and coordinating. Consider what third party contracts and SLAs you have in place relating to the role of the SBM.

What level of expertise will your SBM need? Are you expecting to bring more of your business services in house or will your SBM be working alongside other specialist providers making sure that things get done and run smoothly?

When you have a clear idea how much autonomy, skill and experience you want your SBM to have in each area, you can shape the job description and person specification in a way that is totally bespoke to your school.

There is a huge difference between leading, undertaking, administrating and overseeing so be clear at exactly what level you want your SBM to work.

Get the recruitment right

Recruiting to the post of SBM requires specific expertise. Your recruitment panel should include an experienced school business professional. If you’re in a MAT, you might ask your CFO or COO to assist. If not, someone from the LA, another school or your local SBM group will be able to support you.

Role-specific knowledge is essential in terms of recruitment; especially when it comes to assessing the practical exercises your candidates will be undertaking.

Make sure that the recruitment tasks are focused on school priorities and the areas you need your SBM to excel and give candidates the opportunity to evidence their knowledge and skills in analysing, interpreting and presenting their conclusions.

Remember, if your candidate pool includes people from a non-educational background, be as inclusive as you can with tasks by providing enough contextual information to ensure that they are not disadvantaged.

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Written for: Primary School Management Magazine (@primaryleaders)

Article, HR, Staffing

Get Creative With CPD

April 20, 2020 No Comments

In the current financial climate, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find ways to both create efficiencies and deliver a quality education provision.

Budgets are being slashed and along with it, our capability to provide the number and quality of staff we need to deliver in the classroom. Add to that the teacher recruitment crisis and we have a perfect storm of staffing misery.

Without a doubt, our greatest resource (and cost) is our people. Think for a moment about what they want from their job, what they want from us and perhaps why other people might want to come and work for us; especially in the current context of financial pressure and high stakes accountability.

Essentially, they want what we all want in a job; reward & recognition, development, career progression, support, fair treatment, flexibility, autonomy and work/life balance. One of the key budget lines that enables some of these employee engagement drivers is CPD.

Staff training is essential to school improvement, reducing turnover and increasing retention. With unskilled staff, poor performance and high turnover, it does not take long for a school to slide into special measures.

I know when you’re looking at your budget that CPD might appear to be a ‘luxury’ you can’t afford but it really doesn’t have to be that way. In the world of education, it’s easy to boil CPD down into qualifications and conferences; expensive, time consuming and not always the best value in terms of on-the-ground impact.

Whilst both qualifications and conferences can have some great benefits it’s unlikely that, on their own, they’ll provide your staff with all that they need to continuously develop. Thinking more widely about training and development opportunities can help you to get laser focused on improvement objectives (for both your staff and your school) and help you keep your training budget under control.

Factoring in learning and delivery styles, desired impact and ways in which the learning can be disseminated more widely across your organisation can also help you to make better decisions about what type of training to offer your staff. By thinking about CPD a little more creatively, we can identify training opportunities that deliver high impact at low cost.

Let’s look at some examples in more detail:

Mentoring and Coaching

Deploying some of your more experienced staff or linking up with a partner school can create coaching and mentoring opportunities with low to zero cost. Consider using your network to source some one-to-one coaching and/or mentoring for key school leaders such as Heads of Department and SLT. This type of CPD can reap huge benefits both in terms of development and support for staff that are struggling.

Workshops to develop specific skills i.e. public speaking, report writing, interpreting financial data etc.

Not every CPD need requires a full-day conference or qualification to acquire knowledge or develop a skillset. Breakfast sessions or lunchtime workshops providing in-depth training on a specific topic can be just as effective. Again, if you have expertise within your network, you can share this knowledge more widely and potentially at low cost.

Online Training

Many CPD providers offer online webinars digging into key training areas such as safeguarding, assessment, data, management, HR, finance etc. Some providers even deliver these flexibly. This will avoid creating cover issues within school and also, potentially be lower in cost than similar face-to-face options.

Local Networks

Working with local schools, groups of staff (Heads of Department, SLT, SBLs) etc. can also create valuable CPD and research opportunities. Accessing the knowledge of others means that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel and also, have support available for staff who need it.

Secondments & Work Shadowing

Either shadowing someone internally or working on secondment at another school (perhaps as a part of an exchange) can offer a fresh perspective, on-the-job training and a potential route for succession planning. These opportunities allow staff to both acquire the knowledge that they need and build the capacity of the organisation.

Individually Driven CPD

Some people’s learning styles just don’t lend themselves to classroom based/teacher led learning. If your school can find a way to guide, record, measure and assess the impact of individual CPD activity then this can really work in your favour. Participating on social media, reading books, listening to podcasts, subscribing to relevant organisations and/or becoming members of professional bodies can also create impact at relatively low cost.

When it comes to identifying the CPD activities that will be most effective for each member of staff, the key is to really get to grips with your staff as individuals and what role each plays in the success of your organisation. You can do this by aligning your CPD plans more explicitly to your appraisal process and succession planning strategy. Doing this can provide you with a strong and cohesive staff and school development plan.

Consider dividing your CPD strategy into three strands:

CPD for those who are experiencing difficulty or need to brush up/keep up
CPD to acquire new skills or further enhance existing skills in the roles people currently do
CPD for skills that need acquiring in preparation for the roles people aspire to or are planning to undertake in the future

Categorising and tailoring your CPD will not only make staff feel valued and costs more manageable, it will help deliver robust school improvement.

In addition to the above, I have put together a ‘CPD Menu’ for you with 25 CPD activities with guidance on budget, learning styles and benefits to help you design a bespoke CPD strategy.

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Written for: Teach Secondary Magazine (@teachsecondary)

Article, HR, SBM

SBL Surgery 7: Applying For A New Job

March 25, 2020 No Comments

I’ve tried everything I can to make it work at my current school but it’s just not happening. I love the SBM role but I go into work every day feeling terrible. It’s got to the point that I know I need to move on. I’m ready to apply for new jobs but it’s been so long since I wrote an application and had an interview that I’m really nervous about the whole process. Where do I start?

First of all, congratulations on making such a brave decision. If you are unhappy where you are and you know that there’s no prospect of change, then choosing your own happiness and wellbeing will always be the right decision. If I could insert a GIF here, it would be the high five between Maverick and Goose in Top Gun!

Ok, now for some tips to get you application savvy and interview ready.

Do your research

Read the advert, job description and person specification thoroughly. Be clear on pay scales, terms and conditions, reporting lines and responsibilities. An indicator of the value a school puts on the SBM role is the salary so read the small print carefully. Also, check whether the role will be part of the SLT. Your research shouldn’t stop here though.

Look at the website, Ofsted report, performance tables, governance documentation/minutes etc. and Google the organisation and its leader to see what comes up. All of this information will help you decide if you should apply and if you do, be useful to frame your application around.

But, whatever you do, don’t panic yourself into applying for a job in a school that you have doubts about. You owe it to yourself to be picky!

Arrange a visit

Do this before you submit your application as if you do decide to apply, you’ll have even more information to make use of. You will learn a lot from meeting the staff and seeing the school in action. These observations will tell you straight away as to whether this is a place you’d like to work and if you could see yourself working within the team.

Also, a visit is a good way to test out the commute. If it’s too far to go for a visit or an interview, then it’s too far to travel every day. Don’t try and talk yourself into a role with a tricky commute – you will regret it!

Structure your personal statement

Beyond the qualifications, training and safeguarding elements of an application form, recruiters pay the most attention to the personal statement. This is how they’ll determine if you meet the person specification.

Map out the criteria and write a list of bullet points that evidence your experience for each to make sure you don’t miss anything. Flesh it out into a narrative and read it aloud to yourself to make sure it flows. Remember to not just write about what you’ve done but what impact you’ve had. Be as specific as you can!

If you feel comfortable, ask someone you trust to read it over for you to give you some feedback. The aim here is to leave no doubt in their minds that you are not only qualified and experienced but are also capable of doing the job they need you to do.

Make a good impression

Even if you’ve been for a visit beforehand, the interview day is a different kettle of fish. Be dressed appropriately, keep your body language open, make eye contact, smile and project a positive energy.

Ok, that last bit sounds a little woo-woo but you know yourself, you can tell the difference between someone who wants to be there and someone who doesn’t. Nervous behaviours can sometimes send mixed signals so try and be as relaxed as you can.

You won’t be judged for being nervous but they’ll want to see that beyond that, you’re friendly, genuinely interested in the job and actually glad to be there.

Don’t get complacent

You will be being watched for every minute beyond the 45 minutes you’re actually sat in front of the panel so keep your game face on at all times. Every member of staff you come across is an ‘interviewer’ of sorts so how you treat them is as important as how you treat the formal panel.

How you behave throughout the day will be fed back so you want to show that you are consistent in terms of attitude and how you present. Though these things aren’t covered in the job description and are hard to measure, people will remember how you make them feel. Make them feel good!

If it comes down to two candidates, they will likely pick the person who is the ‘best fit’.

One last thing…

Don’t forget that you’re interviewing them too. If you show up for an interview and you’re greeted by someone who doesn’t make you feel welcome, if staff are rude to you or if the day is completely chaotic, this will tell you a lot about how the organisation operates and will give you an insight about what it would be like to work there. Again, issues crop up – printers don’t work, a panel member might have been replaced at the last minute or a meeting room might have been double-booked. Watch how they handle it and you will learn a lot about them too.

If it doesn’t feel right then it probably isn’t. Don’t be afraid to say no and don’t be tempted to say yes out of panic. Trust your gut, it will rarely guide you wrong.

And if you know you did everything right and they didn’t choose you for the role, that’s okay. It simply means that someone else was a better fit, not that you weren’t a great candidate.

Remember what you’re worth, remember you deserve the best and don’t settle for anything less.

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Written for: Education Executive Magazine (@edexec)

Article, Leadership, SBM

SBLs: Issues Stepping Up Into A New Role?

March 15, 2020 No Comments

There’s been a lot of chatter recently on social media amongst SBLs about the qualifications, skills and knowledge needed to step into a more senior role.

Do we want to be generalists, specialists or executives?

Do we aspire to be COOs, CFOs or even CEOs? How do we get there?

In the developing and progressive MAT landscape, all of these options are now available to us. The pinnacle of the SBL career ladder now has a roof hatch that has been thrown wide open, leading us higher still to new and potentially exciting opportunities.

But what if you don’t want to clamber through the hatch into this new world? What if being an SBL in a school is as high as you want to go? After all, not all teachers aspire to be Headteachers and not all Headteachers want to become a CEO. Why should it be assumed that all SBLs want to become something else?

Many SBLs have invested blood, sweat and tears to get where they are – and they want to stay there. They don’t want to be moved out of their school, chained to their desk and have their eyesight deteriorate through squinting at spreadsheets. (Ok, not all senior jobs are like this but some are – and some just feel like they are because we don’t want to be there!)

Whilst the MAT context allows for opportunities, some SBLs are talking more and more about being forced into senior roles with little consultation and no support.

Some are saying that they only took on a new role to ‘help out’ through the MAT start-up phase but are now not allowed to step back into their original role.

Some are saying that though they were excited at first, the role new isn’t what they thought it would be and despite asking for support and flagging up their concerns, they’re not being listened to.

Others are saying that though they wanted the job, their MAT doesn’t understand the role, seeing as it almost as a ‘super-SBL’ rather than a senior role with accountabilities and responsibilities in its own right. After all, if they’ve done it in one school then they should be able to do it across five, right? This shows a lack of understanding of other key MAT roles, the bodies that govern it and the structures required to run it effectively.

Understandably, setting up a MAT can be costly. The idea of ‘dragging and dropping’ existing staff into other roles may appear to save costs but it does not set the foundation of a sustainable or efficient organisation. Yes, the role of SBL may be evolving but in this mixed economy, there is room for everyone.

So what if this is you?

What if you are in a job you don’t want or are struggling and unsupported?

What can you do?

If you definitely don’t want to continue in your new role…

Go back to the conversations and meetings you had when the changes to your role were agreed. Review any paperwork you were given or that you signed i.e. a contract or job description.
Consider what the CEO and Board articulated your new role to be and highlight the differences between what they thought it was and what it actually is.
Look at the arrangements made to cover your original role (if there were any) and how temporary or permanent these are.
Speak to your CEO and/or Chair of the Board and explain how you are feeling and what you would like to happen moving forward.
Treat this as a HR process and use the information you have gathered to state your case. If you need support, speak to your Union or professional network and get some advice.

Of course, if the situation is complex and you can’t find an easy way out, then instead focus on the positives. You have a role that will enhance your CV and you can use this to move into a new role. SBLs with executive level leadership will be attractive to potential new employers. Set yourself some goals and a timeline – get what you need to get from the job and take it with you to a place where you can be happy, doing the job that you love in an organisation that values and supports you.

If you want to stay in the role but you need more support…

Similar to the above, review what you were told about your new role and look at what the role actually is. Perhaps the role description is correct but the job in itself is un-doable as you are expected to do your original role at the same time.
If your MAT is in a transition period of growth, then use your knowledge to put forward a developing structure to enable you to do the job you should be doing.
Produce a business case including phasing, costings, staffing implications, CPD needs etc. and state why these changes are necessary i.e. to mitigate risk and achieve sustainability.
Often, people don’t know what they don’t know. Unless you spell it out for them and start raising a flag now, they will assume that all is well and that they can carry on regardless.
If you raise your concerns informally, there is a chance that they won’t be seen as urgent or imperative. Ensure that your concerns are clearly articulated and recorded formally (whether that is at an Executive, Board or Line Management meeting) so that they can be revisited and reiterated to effect change.

We’ve all been in situations where our good nature has been taken advantage of or the grass has looked greener and in reality, it’s not. There’s nothing wrong in standing up for yourself, changing your mind or asking for what you need. If you’re not given the support that you need, regardless of how you got here, then my advice to you is to seriously consider whether this organisation is the right one for you.

You shouldn’t be forced into a job against your will nor should you be expected to undertake a role that may well be impossible.

Don’t settle and don’t suffer.

You’re worth more than that.

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Written for: Education Executive Magazine (@edexec)

Article, Leadership, SBM

SBLs: How To Build Your Confidence

January 21, 2020 No Comments

Emotional confidence isn’t about having no fear and being able to do anything – it is more about having a base self-belief (self-esteem) upon which starter and smarter confidence can be built. Ultimately, it is the ability to be aware of one’s own needs, the needs of others, being able to show empathy, knowing when to speak out and when to support – and even when to show vulnerability. How can emotional confidence be honed – and how can it be a boon in the workplace?

In my last piece for Edexec, I talked about respect for the SBL role and what I believed were the blockers in the sector. I encouraged you all to keep talking, shout when necessary and be persistent.

Now I know that sometimes, this is easier said than done. Especially if you are an SBL who doesn’t get a chance to show how much you can make a difference because you are not allowed to or you are limited within your context.

If you’ve ever worked with me or heard me speak at a conference, then you’ll know that my own experiences as an SBL were tough. I was young, unqualified and working with established leaders who had no idea of the value that a quality SBL could add to the organisation. I had to make up a lot of ground fast!

The strategies I used (besides gaining as much knowledge as quickly as I could!) involved looking at how I perceived myself, how I wanted others to perceive me and what I could do to bridge that gap.

For those SBLs who are feeling low in confidence and wondering how they can break the cycle and move forward, here are some ways you can shift your mindset, become the SBL you know you truly are and show others why you deserve to be valued, recognised and celebrated.

Decide what kind of SBL you want to be

Visualise yourself unfiltered, unafraid and unlimited. What does that look like? Now ask yourself why you feel that you are not able to be these things. Consider the 5 SBL Tools for Demonstrating Impact and Recognition in my article here. Are any of these areas holding you back? Why do you think that is and more importantly, what are you doing about it? We often behave in accordance with the way that we believe that we are, not the way in which we wish to be. How would this super-SBL version of yourself act in difficult situations, dealing with staff or leading a meeting? Identify what those behaviours are and articulate them clearly so you have concrete goals to work towards. Leave the ‘if only…’ at the door and show up ‘as if’ you’re already there.

Question your inner critic

What we believe is actually not a belief – in our mind, it has become fact. This narrative is what is known as ‘negative self-talk’. Write down all the reasons that you believe that you are not able or allowed to be the SBL you want to be and ask yourself what evidence you have to support that.

For example, you’d like to be an SBL who speaks up in meetings. But you don’t. Why? Because when you speak up, you feel stupid and think people don’t care about what you have to say. Dig into this more. Why do you feel stupid? Are you going to say stupid things? (Of course not!) Or are you saying something eminently sensible but nobody cares? Ok. Hold on. Nobody cares? Really? You won’t know until you say it! And if they really, really don’t appear to – how can you make them care? How can you position your view or shape your argument to make sure that you get the attention of the people you’re speaking to?

Make decisions from a place of courage, not limitation

We make decisions every day – but the basis of our decision-making can inadvertently set us on the wrong path. Whether it’s because you’re buying into your inner critic or you’re responding automatically to how you feel other people see you or want you to behave, you can find your ‘negative self-talk’ turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, focus on making decisions based on the outcome you want to achieve. What do you need to do? What is the right thing to do? What do you need to get across? What is your main purpose? When you operate from a place of conviction and courage instead of fear, your confidence both in yourself and your abilities will blossom.

Set boundaries

Stop trying to please people. I say this as a recovering people-pleaser! We think that if we say yes to everything and no to nothing, then we can prove our worth. Actually, all we’ll achieve is accumulating a to-do list that not even the most talented productivity expert could untangle! There is power in saying ‘no’ or ‘not right now’ or ‘it will have to wait’. The more you can establish those boundaries, the more in control you will feel and the more confident you will be. Saying no doesn’t make you appear unhelpful or unapproachable – especially when we’re operating with conviction and courage in relation to ‘what is the right thing to do?’ and ‘what is my purpose’? Saying no helps you to come across as assured, assertive and in control.

Ditch perfectionism

It’s easy to believe that if something isn’t perfect then it has no value. Wait – believe…? Yes, perfectionism is a limiting belief that we accept as fact (see point 2). Who said that less than perfect wasn’t good enough? Time pressures often mean that as SBLs, we don’t get to finish things off as neatly as we’d like or to present them as perfectly as we’d like. You know what? That’s ok. Because often, the standards we set for ourselves are much higher than anybody else’s. Sometimes good, is good enough. And that is just fine.

Demonstrate confidence

You and I both know that you can do this job. You know what you’re doing, you know what needs to be done and you know what you should be doing to make it happen. So do it! Confidence is triggered by intention. Tell people what you’re doing, what you’ll achieve and when you’ll achieve it by. Then get it done. By demonstrating confidence and your ability to achieve, you gain credibility – which in turn, breeds more confidence! When you talk confidently, you inspire others to have confidence in you.

Toot your own horn

When you have achieved something amazing, contributed to a major project or saved your organisation from a crisis, make it your mission to point it out. Remind people of what you have done and what you can do in order for them to see you as a credible leader and contributor to the success of the team. Often, the people around us don’t know what it is that we do or don’t understand the impact that we have on our schools. By sharing your successes, you explicitly demonstrate both the value that you provide and the confidence that you have in your ability to deliver. Recently on Twitter, SBLs have been talking about their ‘ta-da’ lists instead of their ‘to-do’ lists. Sprinkle those ‘ta-da’ tasks all over your school!

As credibility is earned, not given – confidence comes from within. For people to see the value that we add, we have to see the value within ourselves. It does get tough when we think that people don’t want to listen to us or care about what we do. But you care about what you do; you have a unique skillset that your school needs. So you give it to them with all you’ve got! The rest will follow.

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Written for: Education Executive Magazine (@edexec)

Article, HR, Staffing

Staff Retention: How To Keep Hold Of Your Staff

January 10, 2020 No Comments

If your staff are determined to leave, there’s ultimately little that any headteacher can do to stop them. You can, however, take steps to reduce the likelihood of staff wanting to move on due to professional misgivings. Here’s how to go about identifying staff concerns ahead of time and assemble a robust retention strategy.

When it comes to recruitment and retention, it’s easy to get lost in short-term activities instead of focusing on long-term strategy. The truth is, there are many touch-points and milestones that can create ‘deal-breakers’ for your employees resulting in resignation. Some are beyond your control but many are within it. Before we look at what you can do to create a robust retention strategy, let’s first look to our employees and what they want from us as employers. These factors, as a whole, constitute what is known as the ‘psychological contract’.

The psychological contract is the ‘silent partner’ of the employment contract but it is different in that it is unwritten and subjective. For the employee, the psychological contract is focused around their expectations of the employer and how they hold up their end of the ‘employment deal’. These expectations relate to areas such as:

Reward
Recognition
Development and progression
Security
Management support
Flexibility and work/life balance
Autonomy
Fair treatment
Trust

The management of the psychological contract is key to positive employment relationships and the facilitation of employee choice in order to improve both recruitment and retention.

Though the psychological contract may be intangible, it is similar to the employment contract in that it can be ‘breached’. From the employee perspective, the most serious form of breach is through organisational and management behaviours which compromise one or more of the above areas. Examples include: over promising and underdelivering, a ‘do as I say not as I do’ culture, a lack of follow through, not meeting deadlines, mismatched processes and practice and moving the goalposts.

For an employee these types of breach, if unresolved, often result in disengagement. This might start out with feelings of dissatisfaction, progressing to working to rule and doing as little as they can. If this continues for a period of time, it could impact their wellbeing and even result in prolonged periods of absence or resignation.

As employers, what we have to wrestle with and be alert for are instances where the employee perceives that there has been a breach. This could be due to a lack of communication or information or simply staffs’ own interpretation of management behaviour. Real or perceived, these breaches can be avoided and addressed – thus mitigating the impact on turnover and staff engagement.

Whatever the truth or reality is, how your staff perceive you as an employer will impact their psychological contract with the organisation. From the moment that staff join your organisation, they are constantly yet often unconsciously assessing whether leaders do what they say they will, honour the promises they make, lead by example and apply policy fairly and consistently.

When you start looking at the employment relationship through the lens of the psychological contract, the levers you can pull to maintain a healthy psychological contract with your staff become much clearer.

From your perspective as an employer, the psychological contract lives in what we know more commonly as ‘how things are done around here’. In relation to the list of what our employees want from us, these ‘things’ include:

The creation and management of staffing structures and restructures
Recruitment processes
Leadership and line manager behaviour
Policies and implementation
Appraisal and Performance Management
CPD, career progression and succession planning

All of these things will currently exist and/or take place within your organisation but how well your organisation does these things has a significant impact on how staff view you as an employer and whether they want to continue working for you. In essence, employer behaviour in these areas determines whether an employee feels supported, treated fairly, valued, recognised, developed, allowed autonomy and trusted.

Here are some areas to focus on that will help you to both shape and maintain a healthy organisational psychological contract and improve retention:

1. Job Design & Recruitment

Turnover can create the perfect opportunity to affect organisational change with minimal disruption. If you have your finger on the pulse and your eye on the future, you can reduce the likelihood of wholesale restructures down the road. Also, take the chance to really think about not only the vacancy that needs to be filled but what type of person the role would suit. Make it an attractive role and be clear what it will be like to do this job on a daily basis; for all its quirks, make sure you highlight its perks. If you’ve nailed job design, then attracting the right candidate for your role shouldn’t be an issue. However, the ‘psychological contract’ starts here – everything that is written, spoken and communicated from the start to the end of the recruitment process sets the tone for the future working relationship. Be consistent, don’t make promises you can’t keep and deliver on everything you say you will. This rolls right through into induction and probation periods. Don’t leave them adrift, wandering around your corridors. Take charge, set expectations and set your stall out in terms of what your staff can expect to receive from you as a member of your team.

2. Line Management and Workload

How your line managers look after their staff is a critical part of maintaining the psychological contract. How managers treat people has a direct impact on how staff feel about coming to work in the morning. They are the ‘face’ of the organisation and the decisions that are made so how they communicate to staff matters. The value that you place on the quality of line management directly indicates how much you value your staff.

How well you listen to you staff is also crucial in maintaining the psychological contract; workload being a good example of this. If a task is seen as ‘worth it’, staff will be more likely to engage with it in a positive way. If they see it as a ‘waste of time’, this will affect their view of their role and how they feel about working for you. As I said before, their perception of what’s worth it and what’s not may be skewed but the sooner you address these discrepancies, the better.

3. Performance Management, CPD & Succession Planning

If job design and recruitment form the beginning of the psychological contract and line management establishes it, performance management, CPD and succession planning cement it. These processes are about identifying those who need support, supporting those who are ambitious and ready to progress, identifying specific organisational and individually beneficial CPD and having a meaningful dialogue with staff. They alone embody and facilitate several of those employee ‘wants’ we covered: reward, recognition, development, progression, support, fair treatment, autonomy and trust so it’s essential that you get them right.

How you do business defines both your culture and your identity and how you do something is just as important as what you do. Polices and processes must be designed and actively managed with your people in mind; not only to hold them accountable or to measure them but to recognise them, reward them, bring out the best in them, engage them and value them. By doing this, the right people will not only want to work for you, they will stay working for you.

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Written for: Primary School Management Magazine (@primaryleaders)

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