A group of school business professionals have convened a roundtable discussion in Birmingham on the 30th May. The event will take place just days before the General Election. I’m one of the SBMs who came up with the idea and I am convinced the time is right to hear from school business leaders as the country decides which …
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An accidental discovery this weekend led me to a number of articles about the impact of the ‘authority gradient’ in high stress, high stakes situations in both medicine and the airline industry. The authority gradient is defined as the perceived difference in status between different members of an organisation. It is a barrier to effective communication …
Continue reading "Malpractice and the Authority Gradient"NASBM has confirmed the timeline for its conversion to the institute status and has announced that the new Institute of School Business Leadership will open its doors on the 20th November 2017. Conversion to Institute status is the latest development for the school business leadership profession and is designed to promote and further professionalise the …
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In Trafalgar Square there are four stone plinths for statues but only three of them are permanently occupied. The fourth ’empty’ plinth has become famous for being incomplete; it stands unfinished in one corner of the square with a tangible air of absence. A debate rages over whether to continue the tradition of temporary art installations or to …
Continue reading "NASBM’s conversion to Institute status completes the ‘fourth plinth’ for school business leadership"
Managing change is a key skill for school leaders. Even more so in the current funding climate where we have to make tough decisions. This blog looks at the importance of communication during times of change. I was talking to Gary my network manager recently about the importance of letting colleagues know when their computers …
Continue reading "Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre"I’m going to share how we prioritise premises development requests and maintenance requests at my school. I’m not convinced we have the right answer and am keen to hear from colleagues on what you do or if you have any suggestions for improving our framework. We use four different weighted factors to assign an overall …
Continue reading "Prioritising premises requests"On Wednesday 19th April 2017, a school girl left her sixth form class to go an help a broken down boat because she is a lifeboat volunteer. Think about it for a moment. She left the allegedly safe environment of her school to go to sea and help others in difficulty. (Full details here). I …
Continue reading "Let’s celebrate (considered) risk"
Returning to work today after the Easter weekend, I embarked upon the long-avoided task of tidying up some of my files and folders. In doing so, I came across this tribute to my dad which was written two years ago by one of his former colleagues. (To be clear, Dad hasn’t just died, he passed …
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It’s time to celebrate the concept of public service and to encourage our some of our brightest and best graduates to serve in the wider public sector beyond Whitehall and the Civil Service Fast Track programme. I want to see able young men and women follow me into school business leadership. But administrative careers are …
Continue reading "Serve First (an SBM equivalent of Teach First)"
I was listening to a programme on Radio 4 this morning in which various actors and sports stars talked about their rituals and rites for preparing to perform. The programme highlighted their increased focus as the music to settle the audience starts, their mental rehearsal of their opening line, their deep breathing in preparation for the first play …
Continue reading "Getting ready – the ritual of preparation"