March 20 Newsletter
February 29, 2020
BUSINESS UPDATE
Leadership Skills
What are the key skills that you need to be a great manager?
Be a Motivator
This shouldn't all be to do with results. There are other things that are also valuable, e.g. enthusiasm, teamwork, customer service. Make sure that you appreciate the big and small things. Rewards don't always need to be monetary, sometimes a "thank you" or a "well done" can be hugely motivating.
Set Goals
And, make sure that everyone knows what the goals are! They should also be challenging and achievable. If they are not, this could end up being demotivating and produce poorer results in the long term. There should also be a point for the goals. How do individual goals contribute to the company's objectives and growth plans, this helps everyone feel like they are working together to achieve a larger goal.
Open Culture
Empower your team to make decisions and use their initiative. This will encourage the team to be more proactive and help you to retain good people. By building the team in this way, it will produce a mix of different thinking styles, personality traits and ideas. Your role then become more of a guide to make sure that everyone is working toward the same objectives.
Have difficult conversations
They could be about performance, attendance or behavioural issues towards team members or customers. No one enjoys these conversations, but they could be re-framed to help them with their development. It is also better to have these conversations early on, so that bigger problems are avoided.
Be direct
Be honest, fair and specific about what you don't think is working. Then work together to put a plan in place to resolve the issue, this works best if the person directly contributes to agree these changes.
Management is changing, especially as larger proportions of the workforce are now working flexibly and remotely. But the core values stay the same and communication is at the heart of everything.
ACOUNTING UPDATE
Achieving zero carbon emissions
The UK was the first major economy in the world to pass a law to end its contribution to global warming by 2050. The target will require the UK to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. This provides companies with the opportunity to develop new services, new business models, save money and enhance their image and reputation. Companies that fail to adapt may cease to exist in the future.
So what can you do to reduce your company's carbon footprint?
Good starting point
Firstly you need to understand what your current carbon footprint is, so you have a benchmark to compare to. There are a number of free guides and tools that can help businesses do this. For example, the Government-backed Carbon Trust offers a free Carbon Calculator for small and medium-sized companies.
Develop a strategy
Set out a strategy to reduce carbon emissions, including specific targets. Help and guidance is available through independent organisations such as Energy Saving Trust or Business Link. Remember to continually review your targets and how you are performing against the targets. Staff involvement should be encouraged. Achievements and milestones should also be communicated to clients and stakeholders.
What type of things could I do specifically?
Switch to renewable energy
Travel less by using Zoom for virtual meetings
Switch to electric cars
Train drivers in ecodriving techniques (saving fuel and reducing emissions)
Change internal lighting to LED and maximise natural light, motion sensors could also be installed to ensure lights are switched off if rooms are not being used
Purchase recycled paper or refurbished phones and IT equipment
Minimise single use plastic - provide employees with reusable water bottles
Print as minimally as possible.
APP OF THE MONTH....
GOCARDLESS
Bring all your people paperwork together in one place and speed up the time-consuming tasks that keep getting in the way
What can it do for me?
All your employee data in one place
It allows you to create appraisal forms and complete them online. Instant access to important HR information. Track and record all training and CPD of staff.
Easy holiday and absence management
Clock time to the second with the stopwatch feature. and a simple dashboard view to see where all staff are.
Smart alerts
Warnings before right-to-work documents expire, minimum wage warnings and critical health and safety alerts.
Contact us if you would like to know how Cirtrus HR could help you.
Until next month,
Katherine and David
Inclusion is desirable, yet it is complex. In this two-part blog, we begin to unravel the challenges of increasing needs in education and diminishing resources. In this article, Dr Anita Devi explores some of the many challenges Educators in England currently face. Her intent is to extend perceptual thinking from problem to solution. In Part 2, Katherine Robertson will unpick some of the financial levers for consideration. I have worked in the education sector for a fair few decades now. Am I showing my age? Possibly, but also my experience and out of that experience is born wisdom. Wisdom is applied knowledge with the benefit of lived experience and hindsight. To broaden our thinking, I have decided to focus on three areas: Rising needs in the classroom – ensuring each child receives an educational experience that is progressive, whilst meeting their needs Less is more – applying a structured and systematic approach to providing support for special educational needs and disability (SEND) Commissioning with purpose – intentionally involving others, when needed. Since the increase in needs always outmatches the rise in resource funding, sadly we will always be in a deficit. This is not about being despondent, but hopeful through responsive and creative solutions. In many life situations, we face elements of the unknown and so we put in place checks and balances to ensure we maintain stability. If our own personal finances were continuously in the red, we would be faced with three options: Reduce spending Increase income Look for alternatives In the education world whilst options 1 and 2 may be possible to some degree, it is restricted and ultimately option 3 has been our default; especially if we are to adhere to the core principles of The Salamanca Statement (1994) and more closely to home, The Children and Families’ Act 2014. Rising need in the classroom Those who lead on inclusion and /or SEND need to simplify systems to ensure those learners who require additional and adaptive provision receive it. I have expanded more on this in a July 2023 booklet, which you can download here . If as a leader, you understand the fundamentals of an inclusive provision framework, you can reduce the paper trail to make it purposeful, without compromising on keeping a diligent paper trail of evidence. This will also ensure you know whether what is in place is having an impact or not. SEND: It is time to lead differently . Less is more There are a number of core decisions to be made when additional provision is put in place. For example, in or out of the classroom? How long is the defined additional support required and most importantly what is the expected outcome from the additional support? For far too long, we have assumed the ‘forever’ model when it comes to interventions or additional support. We have often omitted to discern short-term from long-term, as well as factor in the negative impact of too many interventions simultaneously. Short-term interventions, if assessed and targeted well can (in many instances) provide the learner with new skills and/or increased independence. This is a desirable outcome, as none of us is truly seeking to create a dependency model. Equally, administering too many interventions simultaneously takes away from the exploratory nature of interventions i.e. what’s working and what needs to change. We have indeed moved away from the ‘medical model’, however, some of the basic principles still need to be considered. In response to a medical condition, a doctor would not prescribe multiple medications or remedies simultaneously. Due care and consideration would be given to the negative interactive impact of one solution upon another. We need to apply a similar approach to inclusion and SEND. This is not denying that a child may have multiple needs, but sometimes it is about focusing on one thing at a time. Commissioning with Purpose This has been a bugbear of mine since 2018 , if not before! As a previous SEND Advisory Teacher, I was always intentional about ‘adding value’ to what is already in place in any setting. As a previous Senior Leader / SENCO, I was always intentional about securing services that provided ‘value for money’. I’ve worked with The Audit Commission on this and The National Audit Office, not to mention Business Managers and local authorities. I would also encourage readers to explore their ‘decommissioning process’. As a long-standing Education Change Consultant, my team & I always write our exit plans before we go into support. This is regardless of whether we are working in the UK or overseas. I am continuously amazed how many schools/colleges rely on the same service for years, even if there is no impact evidence of change through the input they are buying in. Over the years, training head teachers at national conferences, I have always advocated ‘procurement with precision’. Even at local authority level, I think provision would be better if Porter’s Forces were applied during the annual review of an EHCP in regard to placement choices, especially non-maintained Independent schools (NMIs). Supplier power through exuberant price hikes, in a time when there is a shortage of places, is both immoral and financially unsustainable. This is just the start of the conversation, but with a few systemic tweaks – schools and colleges can begin to look differently at provision. Still meeting the needs of children and young people but reducing the strain on financial resources and human manpower. Do get in touch if you would like to find out more. Author: Dr Anita Devi dr. h.c. Dr Anita Devi , leading SEND specialist, and Katherine Robertson , strategic finance expert, have joined forces to offer a new advisory service for schools and colleges . This service is designed to provide strategic financial governance of SEND provision, focusing on efficiency, effectiveness, and value for money . We help you explore financially sustainable solutions that support early intervention, improve outcomes, and make the most of every pound spent, without compromising on quality. If you're ready to rethink how SEND resources are used in your setting, contact us for a preliminary conversation at SEND_Finance@youtopia.co.uk 📢 And keep an eye out for our upcoming blog
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