CEO Thought for the Week

Hi All,

Hope the week is going well for you and that the end of term and that well deserved break is starting to appear on the horizon.

Since my last email I’ve been in a lot of meetings as you would expect… some really productive ones and others… well not so! I’ve had meetings with Diocese Directors, those responsible for SEND across Lincolnshire, North Lincs and North East Lincs. I’ve met 1:1 with the Head of Education and the Head of Inclusion for North Lincs and more importantly seen many of you! What struck me walking out of every one of those meetings is the importance of language, tone and active listening.

Where those meetings were great, I genuinely felt like those I was meeting with were really listening and listening to understand not just to interrupt and have their turn. In the best of those meetings, people were conscious to try and use a positive tone, thinking carefully about how we take challenges and frame them in a way that means we can think positively and work towards a solution or next steps. Also, when the language of possibility was used it created a buzz in the room rather than negative language which just shut down the conversation and left us all feeling flat.

We know that there are many challenges in our roles across schools, but you will be amazed at the impact you can have on someone (big or small) if your language and tone is right and you’re really, really listening. It’s all our responsibility to choose our words wisely to build that buzz in our schools and across the Trust. So, this week let’s “flip the script” and seek to listen well, speak thoughtfully, and use our words to create positive change.

Have a great end to the week!

Best Wishes

Gavin