Successful difficult conversations

Category: High performing teams

75% of school leaders don’t have at least 2 hours to think. You might be thinking, 2 hours! Where am I going to find two hours just for thinking?! That would be amazing (and a luxury). But as a leader, thinking is a critical part of our roles.

I think you and I can agree that: All schools are working hard. No school is ‘coasting’ (I hated that phrase!). Having walked into hundreds of schools I’ve never found a school that isn’t hard working and committed to their children and community, regardless of results or inspection outcome. But what is fascinating is what […]

I spent over a decade visiting schools that recently achieved outstanding ratings, even in tough contexts, to understand what they did differently to move from good to great. It wasn’t their curriculum, which was solid. It wasn’t their behaviour management, which was excellent. It wasn’t their team’s happiness or well-being, which was great. All of these things were in place. What really set them apart was their people—they created high-performing teams [...]

Welcome back!   A shiny new school year!   I hope you had a great break, and have come back rested and recharged to work your magic, to give your communities’ children great education.   And at the start of the year I bet you’ve got some great new initiatives in mind.   Something that […]

Do this with me: Grab a piece of paper. Write down how many people are in your team (the number on payroll, but don’t worry about being exact). Now write down these three headings side by side: Some issues                          Solid        […]

Would you like to improve your team, with minimum input and maximum output? ‘Yes!’ I hear you cry! I mean, who wouldn’t?   So let me share this tool which school leaders love (after all it’s Valentine’s day next week so let’s share the love).   It’s great for creating high performance.  It’s beautifully simple […]

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 […]

Nothing goes by more quickly than the school year. We’re always looking towards the next holiday, and how much we want to achieve in that time. They say the week before a holiday is the most productive, the first week back the least.   I think this is one of many reasons schools are so […]

Half term. Phew! It’s here (or soon will be).   Time to collapse maybe? Get your hair done? Dentist appointment? What else is on the to do list?   Maybe you’re going away for this half term, maybe you’ll be at home.   Whatever your plans, have you planned in time to recuperate?   Recuperation […]

How is the start of the year going? Really well I hope 🙂 I’m hearing good news, happy vibes and refreshed teams. Yay! That doesn’t mean everything is perfect, but the sun is out (inside and outside school)! It’s great to enjoy this month in school. But make sure you do this one thing: Whatever […]