CEO Thought for the Week

Happy Wednesday Everyone! I hope you’ve had a good week so far.

I happened to be scrolling Twitter (X) and came across a tweet by Adam Grant who is an organisational psychologist and author. When I read it, I was struck by its relevance to what we do in schools every day. The tweet gave descriptions of a few characteristics. Here is the tweet:

Now we’re very fortunate in our profession we don’t come across too many arrogant people but when I reflect on the other characteristics, I can move between all of them. My challenge to all of us (including myself) is how do we push ourselves to spend more time being “proactive”. Regardless of our roles, being more proactive enables our schools to be more effective, challenging situations to be managed more easily and us to have the greatest impact.

So, what does being “proactive” look like. Well, it relies on us thinking ahead and considering possible outcomes or options. For example, if you’re working with a child who becomes dysregulated what options have you prepared in advance to manage this? Could that be different tasks, spaces away from others to regulate or activities

that help refocus. Now I know I’m stating the obvious with that, but do we always have those things ready and immediately to hand? Are we proactively watching for the signs or are we simply reacting?

The same with class teaching. What have we got prepared and up our sleeves ready to go in terms of adaptions if children are struggling with a concept, or if the resources fail or to support our children with SEND. These need to be considered and planned for “proactively” not left to chance. It’s really hard to make good, well thought out decisions when you’re in the middle of something not going well. We need those options ready to go.

School leaders also must be “proactive” in anticipating what is required of them by colleagues, children, and families. Things need to be to prepared, possible outcomes reflected upon in advance and we all need to be flexible to move from one solution to another if the plan goes awry. As the famous saying goes “ no plan survives first contact with the enemy.” Or my preferred version is a quote from Mike Tyson, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. I’m hoping its not quite as dramatic as that for us but my challenge to all of us is how do we be more “proactive” to get ourselves on the front foot with options and alternatives planned and ready if things look like they’re starting to go wrong.

How are we as individuals, schools and a Trust focusing on being proactive by focussing on our goals and then constantly shifting and adapting to get there by ensuring we’ve put in the thinking ahead of time so that we’re ready for almost anything!

Have a great week everyone and thank you for all your hard work. It is appreciated!

Best Wishes

Gavin