Denise Inwood, CEO of BlueSky
The recent CST guidance paper, The Performance Review of Executive Leaders: Understanding the Challenge; Winning Hearts and Minds, developed in partnership by CST, BlueSky and Browne Jacobson, explains how the process of performance review is key to supporting the chief executive to deliver their trust’s strategic plan.
An effective performance review strategy allows the trust board and the chief executive to develop and agree clear objectives that are aligned with the trust’s priorities. It is also crucial that they agree what a successful outcome looks like and how that success will be evaluated: this will provide a clear structure for ongoing conversations throughout the year, helping them both review progress and identify areas where the chief executive may benefit from ongoing support.
One key component that will lead to the setting of clear and effective objectives is a robust competency-based framework. This helps to focus the performance review discussion on skills and behaviours needed to meet the trust’s priorities, allowing the chief executive to work with the chair to identify how the leader’s strengths can be leveraged to deliver the strategic priorities for the year ahead. These conversations should also help the chief executive assess where they may have gaps in experience or expertise, and understand how they can develop through training or mentoring, or draw on the strengths and capabilities of other team members.
The role of the 360° Review
Objectivity and ongoing dialogue are vital to effective performance reviews for staff at any level, but are perhaps trickier when it comes to the trust’s most senior leader. The chair of the trust board is usually the conduit between the chief executive and the board; although there will be regular contact the chair may not have the most comprehensive oversight of their work.
A 360° review uses a series of questions or statements covering aspects of an individual’s competencies and behaviours. The questionnaire is circulated to agreed individuals that have worked closely with the Chief Executive and likely to have clear insights into their performance.
Processes such as a 360° review can be a helpful tool to provide a balanced evaluation of competence and support the future professional development. As outlined in the guidance paper:
Used alongside other evidence, the 360° review can help reduce bias and expand the reach of feedback to provide a broader spectrum of insight into the chief executive’s work. The anonymity of the reviewers encourages more honest and comprehensive feedback, while the clear framework of the questions or statements deliver focus on ‘typical’ and ‘significant’ aspects of behaviour or competence.
BlueSky has worked with CST to develop Opal Review, a 360° review tool developed uniquely for the education sector. Opal Review is a simple and intuitive cloud-based 360° feedback solution, designed to support a developmental approach to performance reviews. Utilising a competency framework based on CST’s The Core Responsibilities of a school trust Chief Executive Officer, Opal Review can be used to support the wider chief executive performance review.
The aggregated feedback gathered through the review process is mediated through a facilitator, often an external consultant. Facilitated feedback has been shown to lead to more impactful outcomes than simply sharing the report: the facilitator’s role is to help the reviewee to understand and take ownership of the feedback, and take positive steps to translate this into a pragmatic personal development plan.
In the context of the chief executive’s review, facilitation also helps preserve confidentiality and objectivity. The feedback generated is confidential to the chief executive, and is not intended to be shared widely with trustees or other senior leaders, though they may choose to use it as a starting point for discussions in their wider performance review. The facilitator can help them to identify how objectives will be achieved and their success measured, how developmental activities will be implemented, and how other team members may be able to support the achievement of outcomes.
As part of the wider evidence gathering phase of the performance review process, the 360° review can be a powerful tool for supporting the chief executive to see their role, work and accountabilities in a broader context. Feedback from the review can be used as a basis for conversations that help to inform and define the objectives the chief executive will agree with the chair: working with their strengths to identify areas for professional development and determining where other team members may contribute to deliver positive outcomes for the trust.
You can download the full guidance paper Performance reviews of school trust executive leaders: Process planning and delivery here.
To discover how BlueSky’s flexible online platform simplifies, streamlines and enhances talent management processes in schools and Trusts, please visit our website.
Talk to the CST Consultancy team for more guidance on CEO Performance Management and Mentoring at governance@cstuk.org.uk.
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.
