CEO Thought for the Week

Good afternoon, everyone!

I hope you are having a good week and looking forward to the half term break.

This week I’ve learnt a new word! It’s one of those mashups of two existing words brought together to reflect a change in the times or approach. My new word of the moment is “Stagility”. It’s a combination of the words “Stability” and “Agility”. Stagility really resonated with me as I looked up the definition. Essentially, it’s an organisational term that reflects on the need we all have as members of a team to have “Stability” in our roles and work lives which contrasts (and sometimes conflicts) with the needs of organisations in the modern world to remain “agile”. In a nutshell, people like things to stay the same but companies and places of work must keep changing! “Stagility” is trying to find a way where both needs can be met.

There is no doubt that education is an ever-changing landscape, and no two school terms ever feel the same. Whether that’s external challenges such as budgets, DFE initiatives, Ofsted, community changes or internal challenges such as staffing, improvement plans, AI or SEND. We are simply in the wrong job if we’re hoping for things to stay the same! So how do we manage this if as people we’re programmed to like “stability”. Well for me its about how we anchor ourselves and each other in this sea of constant shift and change. Like all we do it comes down to our vision, our mission, and our values. When all around us is in flux we must remain focused on why we’re here, what we stand for and how we work together.

It is only by returning to our core that we can find a way to accept the change and learn to ride the waves rather than being battered by them. If we can appreciate that we have to be agile in our approaches and our response to the world but firm on our vision and values we can have both the ”stability” we crave as people knowing who we are and what we stand for and at the same time ensure our offer to children, our ability to support our communities and our reciprocity for our colleagues can continue to be “agile” enough for the changing times we’re in.

Thanks for all your hard work this term. I hope you have a wonderful break next week.

Best Wishes

Gavin