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 those, whose hard work seems to produce greater results, are doing differently.
What is even more fascinating is that often, not always, outstanding schools are working less hours than other schools. Less!
In trying to figure out how to be better than good, people focus more on the what, rather than the who.
On the path to creating a great school, those schools focus on the who more than the what.
Let’s break that down.
The ‘what’. These are the fundamentals of running a school, teaching, learning, curriculum and more. They’re all important.
Yes, they can always be improved. But at a point those improvements make less and less of a difference.
What makes more of a difference to their effectiveness is the ‘who’.
The ‘who’. By this I mean is everyone doing what you’ve agreed to do, as well as they can and improving it?
Think of a key initiative in your school.
Is everyone doing it, day in, day out?
Are they improving it and making it more effective?
Which would have the biggest, positive impact on your school?
- Everyone is delivering that initiative, as set out, and enhancing it. This is what focus on ‘who’, your team, does.
- Changing an initiative. This is the ‘what’.
Now think about this across your school.
Great schools get everyone on board, because once a school is solidly good, yes, the ‘what’ you’re doing can be changed and improved, but the big gains come from everyone being on the same page with you and doing what needs to be done, consistently, and improving it.
And it means they often are working less hours and deliver stunning, holistic education for their children.
Spotlight Resource
You can understand how high performing your team in 4 easy to get numbers. Check out this short video on my website, where I walk you through these 4 numbers and what they can tell you about how good or great your team is.