Mark Solomons, founder and CEO, Welbee
While there is a moral imperative to build a culture where staff really matter, the competitive labour market and financial situation make this essential. Easier said than done in such a busy environment where so much time is spent on operational tasks and ‘firefighting’.
There is great similarity between the offer that many Trust’s make to staff; support through EAPs and counselling; life, medical and legal cover; CPD; gym membership; salary sacrifice; and shopping discounts - to name a few.
So how can you stand out as an employer of choice and beyond the strategic planning across the employee lifecycle?
Making your schools and MAT great places to work every day
There is one thing that if you don’t get right, evidence shows will reduce outcomes, increase costs and waste a significant amount of time and effort. You will also see many more of your team leave.
It is how staff feel every day when they turn up for work that makes the real difference. Do they feel valued, appreciated, supported and that they belong?
At the core of this are their everyday experiences, which determine how they feel they are treated by their line manager and other leaders. This means having a focus on leadership behaviours and making sure these align with your values and underpin your vision. These should ideally be created with all staff and be well articulated.
Understanding how to lead others can be a challenge for some line managers, who often have limited time and opportunity to lead. For example those promoted as teachers, who continue to spend a significant time in the classroom and are likely to have had little training in ‘people’ skills.
The words of one of the UK's leading organisational wellbeing experts, Professor Sir Cary Cooper, suggest it is social and interpersonal skills that have the biggest impact on the wellbeing of staff. Without an awareness of these and their inclusion in professional development, it isn't a surprise that some leaders create stressful situations for their team – they are often subject or project experts, when they need to be ‘people’ experts.
To help leaders understand the behaviours that are likely to benefit staff, there are competencies that you can share, proven to prevent and reduce workplace stress and improve the wellbeing of staff.
Competencies (and behaviours) proven to prevent and reduce staff stress
The good news is that extensive research from Goldsmiths, University of London, identified twelve specific leadership competencies that will help, different from those used in National Qualifications. The 12 competencies, split into 4 areas, are; integrity; managing emotions; considerate approach; proactive work management; problem solving; participative / empowering; personally accessible; sociable; empathetic engagement; managing conflict; use of resources; and taking responsibility for resolving issues.
For those reading this from the HR profession, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development were one of the three funders of the research and these competencies are on their website. The other funders were Investors in People and the Health and Safety Executive.
Self-assessing against these competencies is the easy bit (we make 4 self-assessment questionnaires available in the Welbee Toolkit). Supporting leaders to choose to adapt and change behaviour is much harder. People have deep and long-held beliefs and need to understand why they should change, as well as making time for regular and deliberate reflection and practise to develop new habits.
Senior leaders have to be role models, so others copy, and as line managers they have to coach their middle leaders. Without this people will very quickly return to their default position.
Introducing the above competencies (and associated behaviours) to senior and middle leaders across your MAT is a great first step, the cornerstone on which to build your people strategy and it is the fastest way to improve the experience of your staff.
The CST Blog welcomes perspectives from a diverse range of guest contributors. The opinions expressed in blogs are the views of the author(s), and should not be read as CST guidance or CST’s position.
