Something that immediately struck me when I started working in a school years ago was the lack of planning that the local authority had completed around a £100k building refurbishment to house an after school club on our school site. Three years later, that same building was torn down as part of a larger £1m development.
Questions as to why the initial works had been allowed to go ahead, prior to what should have been a strategically planned greater expansion, were met with indifference and unsatisfactory answers. It felt that resources were being wilfully misused. And that was my introduction to the world of education and school business management…
It’s essential that school business managers focus on increasing productivity, driving quality improvement and increasing resource efficiency throughout the school – but that can only be done through effective strategic and operational planning, even if that’s something not performed by those around you.
‘Effective planning’ sounds simple, but I’ve encountered a number of SBMs who tell me that their lack of time makes operational planning hard to even consider, let alone implement. SBMs know how essential planning is, but find that it takes a back seat to those other daily demands clamouring for attention the moment they walk through the door. This creates a perfect storm of stress and fire fighting, helps foster an environment in which performance and impact are less than they could be, and which over time will affect the well-being and motivation of staff, allowing feelings of resignation and complacency to creep in.
Make time to take a step back. Avoid procrastinating by not channelling all your planning efforts into a single timeconsuming task that feels so onerous you end up doing nothing. If you need support with the planning process – from someone within your school or an external consultant, for instance – then ask for it. Start by simply identifying, by month, key milestones for the next 12 to 24 months, working backwards and identifying what your workflow and tactics will need to be in order to achieve those milestones, while ensuring that accountability, deadlines and budgets are allocated to each individual tactic.
Effective planning will lower your school’s staffing costs by eliminating wasted time and improving process flow. Communicate your plan visually to everyone involved, so that the schedule of tasks is made available to your team ahead of time and kept up to date. As well as following up with the various staff involved in order to rectify any problems, you’ll also need to continually monitor and adjust your plans as needed. Planning allows you to feel more in control of your day, rather than your day in being control of you. Above all, good planning will lead towards the creation of a leaner, and hopefully more responsive working environment.
Nazli Husein is a freelance school business manager with experience spanning independent, maintained, academy and free schools
