Successful difficult conversations

Category: High performing teams

Yep! It’s almost the end of the school year. It always comes around so fast. Beginnings and endings are important; taking a moment to get these right pays dividends for your mindset and productivity. So here are some tips which I really hope help you, both in your role and on a personal level. Reflect […]

Last week I asked ‘how are you?’. Thank you for all of your replies. One theme stood out: well-being. Your team’s. And your own.   And it’s a theme that has been around for a while, but it certainly seems more pronounced than ever.   So here’s a nice activity (which lends itself to a […]

How are you?   I mean it, really, how are you?   If things are feeling hard right now, you’re not alone.   With just weeks until the end of term, uncertain budgets, recruitment being harder than ever, the day to day running of a school brings all sorts of challenges, it’s understandable if it […]

I don’t know about you but I feel the world is constantly trying to distract me in ways I don’t want.   At work, at home, everywhere! I think of distraction as noise. The more of it there is, the noisier it is.   And it’s not helpful or nice noise, it’s noise that interferes […]

'The way I think things are – nothing is significantly wrong but so much more could be right… ' Do you feel this way? What could be ‘more right’? And what are you going to do about it?
I see this all the time. Plans are made, results aren’t as good as expected, so plans are changed. Plans keep changing, but people don’t. (Although the great ones move on too quickly!). What I find in schools is that your plans are fine. The problem is everyone isn’t doing them for some reason or other.
I call moments where your culture can really be seen ‘cultural touch points’, and many of these happen naturally during the course of the year:

As a headteacher you are the leader of your school and the leader of the next generation; you know too well that your school’s success ultimately rests on your shoulders. Leadership creates culture by design; a lack of leadership allows a culture to form by accident. Great leaders create great cultures. The behaviour of individuals, […]

Here’s how reactions look like in an RI, Good and Outstanding school. You’ve got an idea to improve an aspect of school, maybe it’s reading, maybe it’s maths, maybe it’s playtime. You’re excited to share it. And you do, at a staff meeting. Depending on the culture of your school you will tend to get […]