Author: Phil McMillan

Herding cats?Sticking jelly to the wall?Same stuff, different day? Whatever phrase you like to use, my guess is the idea is a familiar one – the quest for plans and policies to be followed with consistency. This is a hallmark of schools who are stuck in ‘good’.I call them the ‘agains’…you might be familiar with […]

Good morning! I hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable half term! I had some great responses to my last e-blog about your worst experiences of difficult conversations and the lessons you learnt for the future so thank you for those! As I’ve had so many excellent questions and comments over the course of this term we […]

Good morning! Many thanks to all the messages I’ve received in response to last week’s question about communicating clearly. Here is another installment from me, Phil McMillan from Heads Up, on some more thoughts and tips on how to handle those difficult conversations that are needed to drive improvement. We’re going to address some of […]

Many thanks to all the messages since last week about the mistakes we make with tricky conversations. It’s me again, Phil McMillan from Heads Up, with some more thoughts and tips on how to handle those difficult conversations that are needed to drive improvement. One response from last week’s question about common mistakes that caught […]

Hello! Thanks to everyone who got in touch since last week. I’ve had a lot of interesting responses about what one question you would ask an expert about having difficult conversations! My expert is working on the answers which we’ll be sharing after half-term. I’m Phil McMillan from Heads Up, back again with some thoughts […]

Thanks so much for all the replies to my question last week from Stuart, Sylvia, K, Jennifer and everyone else about what would make having difficult conversations easier for you. If you missed last week’s post, I’m Phil McMillan from Heads Up. This term I’ll be sharing some thoughts and looking to hear from you about […]

Do you hate having difficult conversations? I do. I’m Phil McMillan from Heads Up (aka Mr Sonia Gill!). Back when I was a team manager nothing filled me with more dread than having to tackle a member of my team about their performance or behaviour. Two weeks in to the new term and I’d imagine […]