Your school’s pupil numbers, curriculum model and financial bottom line provide you with more than a firm steer as to what your staffing structure should look like. Your staffing structure is the nerve centre of your school, requiring almost constant attention that can range from a full restructuring to just a few tweaks. In truth, schools are always in the process of restructuring their staff, but doing so with a sufficiently long lead time allows this to become a change management process, rather than a wholesale HR operation you need to complete in a half term.
Given the current climate of continuous change, how can schools ensure that their staffing structure is both fit for purpose and value for money? And how do you make sure that what looks good on paper works out well in practice? What follows is a three-phase selfevaluation guide designed to help you achieve just that…
Phase 1: Determination
Where do you need to be, and what might prevent you from getting there?
It’s essential to determine your ‘destination’ before setting off on this journey, or else you risk the wheels coming off along the way. Curriculum-led financial planning and benchmarking are key cornerstones of school budget management, but other factors also need to be taken into account before you start reshaping your staffing structure.
It’s easy to delete lines from spreadsheets and merge classes in SIMS, but when it comes to dealing with people, assessing, evaluating and implementing the changes you need to make won’t be as straightforward. A consideration of the current context, wider picture and long-term goals of your school should be the starting point of any staffing review.
Assess your vision, mission and strategic plan, and determine whether they’re reflective of what needs to be done and where the school needs to get to. Consider whether there might be any external threats to your organisation that need managing. Review any upcoming legislation or accountability framework changes that could impact your capacity or hinder progress towards your objectives.
Determine what strategies you’ll need to ensure that accountability lines remain clear in the face of change, and check that you can protect your continuity of operation and facilitate knowledge sharing to mitigate the impact of turnover. Identify what knowledge your governors will need and what role they should have in relation to any changes you need to make.
Phase 2: Assessment
What do you already have in place, what else do you need and how can you fill in the gaps?
When determining your destination you’ll almost certainly have flagged a number of issues requiring your attention. Recruitment or redundancy is often seen as the obvious way forward, but both options can prove costly and should only be undertaken if all other angles have been explored.
At this stage, marrying together as much as possible the ambitions of your staff and the ambitions of the organisation can really start to bear fruit. The more you know about your staff and where you need to be, the better placed you’ll be to implement the changes that are needed. The future isn’t predetermined, so go through as many drafts as you need to.
Ensure the information you have on your staff is accurate and up to date in terms of pay scales, job descriptions and skillsets. Look at the tasks being done in your school and consider whether the right people are doing them, if they can be done in a more efficient way or whether they need to be done at all. Look across your structure, establish what capacity you have and whether it’s concentrated in the right place.
Consider whether a review of descriptions, investment in CPD and appropriate remuneration could secure better value for your organisation and staff, rather than further recruitment. What routes for progression are there in your organisation? Could your leadership roles could be redefined? Thinking about this could not only reduce your head count and overall cost, but also help foster your management talent and create new progression pathways.
Look closer at your performance management system and see if it can be made to serve you better in terms of talent identification and management. If you can’t locate solutions internally, consider whether a service level agreement or local collaboration might be a suitable solution.
Phase 3: Evaluation
When it comes to staffing, there’s always going to be a curveball you didn’t account for – maternity leave, a resignation, long-term illness or similar. This phase is about both testing and safeguarding your strategy in as many ways as you can. What risks come with your proposed strategy and how are you going to communicate it?
Determine whether your process of structuring has to be implemented quickly, or can be managed over time. Think about the impact of any changes on your support staff and operational capacity, and ask yourself ‘What if?...’ Think of your head of English, business manager, deputy head and your union representatives and what they might say about your plan. What would worry them or make them anxious? What questions might they have? Now think about the answers you’d give them.
Having now drawn up a draft proposal, give yourself some time before returning to objectively evaluate it. Consider whether your proposal will achieve what you need it to. Consider the risks it could create, and what plans will need putting in place to mitigate those. Be sure that you’ve truly exhausted the alternatives, that the reasons supporting your proposal are sound and that you’re comfortable in justifying your decisions.
Be clear about any elements of your plans that are non-negotiable, allow time for appropriate communication with staff and build space to include meaningful feedback. Use that feedback to demonstrate transparency and fairness, through both discussion and implementation.
5 Issues to watch
1. Beware the ripple effect
One seemingly small change can create a lot of problems. Don’t assume anything, and always think at least two steps outside of the immediate ‘impact zone’ when it comes to adding, removing or changing any roles.
2. Have a contingency
Don’t hang your strategy on one person or one plan – keep an alphabetised file of back-up plans, just in case.
3. Don’t be held hostage
If you end up getting caught out, negotiate on your own terms. Don’t be panicked into a ‘knee jerk’ (and likely costly) response. Remember that hostage situations can be negotiated.
4. Consider intelligence, not just evidence
Do your homework – don’t just rely on hard data. Triangulate your knowledge with numerous sources before committing to anything.
5. You don’t need to be a mystic – just be aware
It’s not just about planning for the future. You can only plan so far ahead, and the unexpected can and usually does happen. What matters is that you regularly review your plan, so that you’re agile and better placed to respond should your situation suddenly change.
Laura Williams is a former MAT chief operations officer and school business manager, and the founder of LJ Business Consultancy
