This seems to be one of the most common phrases that comes out of my mouth when talking to staff. People need to know that we support them and will look out for them, and if things do go wrong that somebody is there for them.
This blog is all about how I look after the staff in my school. It is not a how to guide, I do not always get it right and it is not a "look at how good I am" blog. I am always looking for new ideas, so please do share what you do with me so that I can continue to do better with this key area of being a head teacher. We must also remember my context; I am a head in a small, rural primary school and what I do will not work in other schools, but I believe the philosophies stay the same.
In my opinion, the way to make a school run smoothly and to be the best place of learning for children is to look after your staff. The one thing I have noticed is that first and foremost staff want to feel trusted and valued. Once this is in place, sit back and watch the magic happen. I value staff in a number of ways, such as;
1. Autonomy in the classroom. I am not a head who will have long lists of non-negotiables. Nothing makes a staff team feel down trodden and put upon than being told how to do their jobs. Our staff are professionals and we must treat them as such. Yes, we need consistency, but consistency is not teaching by numbers. Every single one of my teachers is different and teach in different ways. I would not get the best out of them by telling them how to do their jobs.
2. Allow risk taking. The number of my staff who still ask for permission to do things amazes me. I like to push the idea that staff should take risks, try things out and if they make a mistake, it doesn't matter. We do seem to have squeezed this out of the profession and real growth does not come without risks being taken. I think they worry because of previous experiences, where they may have been reprimanded about things. This fear needs to be removed - if your staff believe it is a right call for the children, encourage them to do it.
3. Remove data driven targets and observations. We have removed all data targets from the performance management process. These are arbitrary numbers and do not tell the whole picture. We have more of a focus on CPD and personal growth of the children. This is much more important to me as a leader. I also do not observe my staff. I don't need to. I talk to them, they talk to me. I talk to children. I see books. I walk around the school to say hello. I teach lessons. I do assemblies. I talk to parents. What would a lesson observation tell me that these things don't? Nothing. All it does is put pressure on staff.
4. Value your staff as human beings. This is an important part of trust. We have a give and take philosophy at my school. My staff do go over and above for the children as do most staff in most schools. But this does not happen without the right ethos. Whilst there is a leave of absence policy, we take each request on a case by case basis.
"You need to go to a doctor's appointment? Ok, that is fine, I hope you are alright."
"You want to go and see your child's nativity?" No problem, I will cover your class."
"You have a special event coming up? That is fine, but will you please be flexible in the future?"
"You stayed late to help out this evening so I will do a long assembly tomorrow so you can come in late."
"You need to drop your own child off at school tomorrow morning? That is fine, I will cover you class until you get in."
5. Be supportive. This takes us back to "I've got your back". I always let my staff know I have their backs. If a stroppy parent is coming in, send them my way. If you have made a mistake, that is fine, we will deal with it together. We present a united front, and I will never undermine my staff. If mistakes have been made, we will apologise, but not to the detriment of the member of staff losing face and authority. Of course if the mistake is serious, or of a safeguarding nature, this would have to be dealt with differently.
6. Workload. Number 1 - remove ridiculous marking policies. They are not needed, do nothing useful and stress out the staff. I prefer my staff to think about learning and next steps rather than pointless writing. Reduce the report template to make it as time effective as possible. If you add a new initiative, remove one. Always ask the question, "What impact will this have on the children and the staff?" If there isn't much impact on the children - don't bother! Another simple thing you can do is to plan your calendar of events to spread them out across the year - try not to change too many things at the last moment.
7. Talk to each other. Talk to the staff. Ask how they are. Ask how their families are. Ask for their opinions on things. Ask what is working. Ask what isn't working. Share some of your worries and concerns. Make joint decisions on important things that impact upon the staff. I have an open door policy. Staff come to me with concerns. They come to me with celebrations. The come to me to check I am OK.
8. Have fun! Simple. Enjoy what you do. Have a laugh.
As we all know, we are currently in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. School staff are quite rightly worried, annoyed, confused and frustrated. We need to look after our staff (and ourselves) as much as possible. How have I done this at my school? Firstly, I keep coming back to the eight points I have spoken about above. I have spoken to the staff to ensure that our home learning policy is manageable for the them. We set work weekly, with manageable feedback. We will never do live, online lessons. Staff do not come into school unless they are on the rota and this is one week on, two weeks off. Staff have been encouraged to have time off and step away from the laptop!
I have spoken to my staff regularly, and make them feel involved in decision making. Yes, I have taken a massive weight of the background work away from the teachers so that they can focus on the children, but once I have possible solutions I ask them for their feedback. This way, we can work together as a team to provide the best possible provision for our children. When we eventually get the call to extend the provision for children in our school, we will be making the decisions together to ensure we are all safe.
I would like to emphasise how in awe of my staff I am. I have done their job, know how tough it is, and I see my job as being an enabler. I am only there to enable my staff to do the best possible job for the children in our school. The job that they have done over the past few weeks is nothing but amazing and it fills me with pride to see how much they care about our school and our children.
I think one song sums up my leadership philosophy when working with my staff:
If this blog has resonated with you, please do get in touch through the comments or on Twitter.
Look after yourselves everybody and remember that I am here for you to lean on if you need a friend, as a number of you have been there for me.
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