CEO Thought for the Week

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’ve had a positive week so far and are managing to stay warm!

I was asked a question this week that made me stop and reflect; “Are you better at your job than you were this time last year?”- a colleague asked me. My initial answer was “I hope so” followed quickly by a more definitive “ yes-I am!” That conversation got me thinking! Where had that improvement come from? What amazing piece of CPD, coaching programme, pearl of wisdom or significant event had occurred to make me better than before. The answer of course is there wasn’t one event.

I’m better today than I was last year because of the thousands of interactions, conversations, events, and activities that I’ve engaged in. But just doing things doesn’t make us better, continually reflecting, analysing, and questioning does. Did I say the right thing? Was I clear in my expectation? Did I give enough support? These constant internal conversations help us make sense of all that we do and give us an opportunity to do it better next time. We are so fortunate in our roles that we’re not in the “rinse and repeat” business of doing the same thing year in and year out. Every day (even every hour) is different for us because the children are constantly changing, the expectations shift, the needs and challenges are never the same. Sometimes we wish for it to be the same and for there to be some more continuity but that isn’t education. We’re here to meet the needs of the children and families who walk through our doors. Not the ones we had 5 years ago or hope to have in the future but the ones who need us right now. To do that, every single person within our Infinity family must be a reflective practitioner trying each day to improve, to tweak and to develop our offer to be even more accurate in meeting the needs placed in front of us. Our children need us to be deliberate in our intent, have an urgency to our actions and to continually reflect on what will make it better tomorrow. We don’t have to do that alone we have over 500 colleagues who have ideas, suggestions, resources, and a commitment to helping us all refine and improve on what we do. We’re good at our jobs but we continually strive to be even better for the colleagues, children and families we serve.

Thanks for reflecting, reimagining, and rising to the challenge every day!

Have a great week!

Best Wishes

Gavin