WE NEED LEARNING LEADERSHIP, BEAUTIFUL SYSTEMS AND INTELLIGENT ACCOUNTABILITY!

If we are serious about building world class provision for our children and young people, more than ever we need to develop learning leadership, beautiful systems and intelligent accountability...

LEADERSHIP NEEDED!

We live in a  world where we are increasingly over-managed and under-led!

Management is about coping with complexity, while leadership is about promoting change. Leaders select and develop talent, motivate people and coach and build trust! Managers maintain systems and structures and maintain the status quo! Of course we need both, but  most of all at the moment we need strategies and ideas, we need innovation and creativity, we need trust and empowered people who are passionate about what they do.

YOU DON'T FATTEN A PIG BY CONSTANTLY WEIGHING IT!

We all know that we need world class education and learning to enable our young people to thrive and succeed in the world of work and to help our companies and businesses compete on the world stage. We need brilliant provision in every school, every classroom, every workshop, every lecture theatre and wherever learning takes place... starting early and continuing throughout the college and university system. We seem to have been struggling with this all my working life and people keep telling us that schools in England are still performing poorly when compared to the best in Europe let alone the best in the world.

EXCELLENCE MATTERS!

"Whether they burst with excitement or simmer quietly, when you are in the presence of enthusiastic people, you feel happier and more excited about your life, perhaps you even feel inspired."
How do we create excellence... in our classrooms, our schools and colleges, our businesses and companies and in our lives and communities? We need to create a culture where everyone goes the extra mile to achieve that bit of magic. A culture where everyone cares about the business and everyone feels a sense of ownership... about their school, their company or their community A culture where everyone is trusted, empowered, valued and respected for the unique contribution they can make. A culture that is rooted in developing those unique talents alongside core skills, character and higher level skills.

TEACHING THE ELEPHANT TO DANCE!

A colleague asked me recently how she should start with the challenges she was facing  and I told her she should read a great book by James Belasco...

HOW WE DO THINGS ROUND HERE!

I see productivity is down again and to address this we need to look at the culture of organisations, businesses, schools, colleges and universities. It is something I have wrestled with all my working life but how do you move on from saying the words to actually making the cultural change? We have some brilliant organisational development plans, so many briefing sessions for staff, so much training and development, we invest so much in our people. However, for some strange reason, it hasn't changed the way we do things around here! We need to create passionate organisations where learning leadership, beautiful systems and intelligent accountability drive performance and I think the problem is that our focus too often is on management and not leadership!

DOES IT WORK, JAKE?

In these busy times I often wonder if we are making a difference and whether the programmes are changing lives and importantly getting young people on pathways to success and the world of work. It was really encouraging to read Jake's story...

DOES IT WORK, WILLIAM?

In these busy times I often wonder if we are making a difference and whether the programmes are changing lives and importantly getting young people on pathways to success and the world of work. It was really encouraging to read William's story so far...

DON VALLEY ACADEMY AMBASSADORS START THEIR JOURNEY TOWARDS THE WORLD OF WORK!!

I was really pleased to be back at Don Valley Academy today working with Richard Brooke, the academy principal, and Patrick Morris, who had managed to get a fantastic group of students to apply to become Don Valley Academy's first 'Better Learners, Better Workers' ambassadors!

Sarah Ward and I had already delivered a whole Year 9 assembly and a targeted workshop to explain the approach, the programme and the opportunities and challenges ahead for any students interested in working with us over the next two years. Today was the interviews...

THE NHS AMBASSADOR PROGRAMME MAKING A DIFFERENCE!

I met with Yvonne Byrne and Cheryl Plant this morning to review where we are with the 'Better Learners, Better Workers' NHS programme. The programme is one of the original strands of 'Made in Sheffield' and Yvonne's passion, enthusiasm and commitment has had such an impact on so many young people over the last six years.

WHAT MAKES FOR SUCCESS?

Over the last forty years I have seen so many extraordinary places and learned so much about success and achievement. It seems to me that successful organisations, successful schools and successful teams, all have the following characteristics...

BEING WORLD CLASS MATTERS... OK ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH ANY MORE!

High-performing countries like China, Finland, South Korea, and Singapore and those like Canada and Australia, who see a future where automation, globalisation and collaboration are changing the landscape, realise the global economic landscape has changed. In response, they are re-imagining their education systems by focusing on developing world class skills. We need to persuade the powers that be here that the future is only going to be secured if we develop a World Class Learning Framework to drive our learning landscape. A framework built on World Class Skills as well as subjects.

WHY SKILLS MATTER TODAY!

"The principal goal of education... 

should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things... 

men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers."

How do we equip our young people with what they will need to thrive and succeed in a world of work where the landscape is changing so rapidly that many if not most of the jobs they will be doing are new or haven't been invented yet!