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Successful difficult conversations

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Category: Improve your difficult conversations

This is what 70% of school leaders avoid talking about with their team…

In my Outstanding School Test, I ask the question: Do you talk to your team about their conduct as much as you do their performance? 70% say no. So on the plus side, maybe there is no need to talk about their conduct. On the other hand, maybe we’re not talking about conduct very much at all.

The most common people issue in school is…

Not. Following. Policies. I bet that sounds familiar? There are 5 common difficult conversations in schools and this is always the most common. And it’s wearing to keep going on about it every time a policy isn’t followed. Here’s a tip to help you.

84% of school leaders report this issue

Many school leaders have been asked, in The Outstanding School test: Is anyone in your team not performing their job as well as they need to? 84% say yes. 84%! And given that people are the key to your school’s success and happiness that’s a big number! But with challenging recruitment […]

Are you one of the 4% of schools who don’t have one of these people problems?

For over a decade I’ve been helping sort out those tricky staff issues in schools; the ones which require a difficult conversation to fix. Soon after I started, I noticed some issues cropping up regularly. So I started to ask other schools if they needed to have a conversation about any of these issues with […]

Resignation date has been and gone. How was it for you? Some advice.

Resignation date has been and gone. How was it for you? Some people who need a new opportunity have moved on. Some who you wish were staying are leaving. This presents an all too familiar leadership challenge: recruitment. And yes, we know that’s hard right now. Harder than ever. So here’s some advice if you’re feeling like there’s a hard challenge ahead. Let’s look at your data [...]

Recruitment is hard, so should you avoid the difficult conversation in case they leave?

Welcome back after the Easter holidays. Summer 1.And we all know this is an important term for resignations. I’m not trying to depress you, I promise. But we all know May half term is crunch time. With recruitment more challenging than ever, it’s understandable if you want to hold onto every member of […]

Name ideas for achieving excellence. Our survey says…

I’ve spent over a decade walking into schools and talking to school leaders trying to answer this question: What stops us breaking through the ceiling of normal, and move beyond delivering good education to providing exceptional education? Thinking about how to share what I’ve learned puts me in mind of the old game show ‘Family […]

Your school is leaving stones in it’s shoe – here’s why

If you get a stone in your shoe, what do you do? Stop, take your shoe off, remove the stone, put your shoe back on and carry on. Right? Because having a stone in your shoe: Can be painful, and it slows down how fast you can walk. Simple problem, obvious solution (the only […]

Have you chosen what ‘hard’ you want in your leadership?

I know you love your school. But as a leader doesn’t it feel like there are more hard bits in your day than good bits? A parent is upset about a decision. There’s been an incident in class. You can’t get the absence figures to improve, despite best efforts. And then there’s staff. You love […]

The one thing you need to fix this year

Who, not what, is the issue you need to fix this year? I ask because I regularly hear this phrase from school leaders: “It’s been brilliant this week in school because ‘X’ has been off sick/on leave”. I imagine you’re instantly picturing someone who makes you feel the same way. Maybe it’s your site manager. […]

Category: Improve your difficult conversations

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