P e rformanc e manag e m e nt
Getting the best from your team: performance management for the admin and support staff The increased emphasis on performance management within the new Ofsted Inspection Framework gives schools the opportunity to take a more holistic view of staff development. Alan Cowley shows how by extending the entitlement of performance management to admin and support staff, schools can benefit whilst offering a more professional working environment
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PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
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egular readers of my articles, or those who have attended any of the courses I run, will know that one of my biggest frustrations with the teaching profession is our reluctance to embrace modern business practice. In spite of all we now know about the anatomy of institutions and the characteristics that make any organisation successful, when it comes to education we uphold the quaint belief that the success of a school is purely down to what happens in the classroom. We have a phrase that we use frequently in our courses, ‘Step outside’. These words are more synonymous with confrontation and indeed, when we use them we’re flagging up to our course members that their perceptions are about to be challenged.
More importantly, we are simultaneously using it as an invitation to temporarily forget that they are part of the particular institution that is their specific school and to metaphorically ‘stand outside’ of the school, looking in with the eyes of a stranger. Our course evaluations tell us that this is a most effective technique and one that frequently produces the ‘eureka’ moment we need in school transformation. So...fair warning! For the rest of this article I’m asking you to ‘step outside’. Stepping through the portals of many schools these days it’s not unusual to be met by a banner or flat screen TV bearing some inspirational words about learning, common examples being “In life, everyone is a
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learner” and “In this school, everyone is a learner”. In my experience, although the former is certainly true, the latter may not be as accurate, even in the institution in which it is displayed. Why not?
In spite of all we know... we uphold the quaint belief that the success of a school is purely down to what happens in the classroom 17 3
P e rformanc e manag e m e nt
It goes without saying that all of our pupils are learners and that their learning is encouraged through a stimulating and relevant curriculum and engaging delivery by skilled teachers, and measured against rigorous targets. Our teachers are also learners and through our noncontact training days we provide input that supports engagement with our school development plans. More particularly, our teachers are subject to a performance management process that enables them to identify aspects of their own learning that they would like the school to help them develop.
It seems to be more or less universally accepted that performance management should be seen as a positive opportunity
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I can well remember when performance management was first introduced and the suspicion in which it was held by many within my profession. Now however it seems to be more or less universally accepted that performance management should be seen as a positive opportunity and that even with a degree, a teaching qualification and a wealth of experience, there are always new skills and areas of expertise that we can further develop.
acknowledge the importance of the effectiveness of the whole staff team in delivering outcomes, why do most schools not have a performance management entitlement for support or admin staff? You’ll all be familiar with the templates used for job descriptions in schools today with the lists of ‘must have’ skills and competences and the ‘desired’ list. But to what extent do we:
The question I pose is this: Given that in industry and business we
1. follow-up on the strengthening or
We were amazed, and they were delighted, that their needs and their contribution to the school... were finally being recognised
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
The importance of creating a happier workplace environment cannot be overlooked development of those individual skills 2. improve our school’s effectiveness by developing a wider awareness of the process of education and where each role fits in the delivery of a first-class system?
had been in their current (or maybe one previous) school, but others had worked in industrial or retail contexts s SLT Discussion Point and were able to and support n mi ad r ou e talk authoritatively 1. How can we includ existing CPD staff in elements of our about approaches programme? to dealing dy need that are not alrea we do 2. What skills with ‘clients’, m? tea rt po up provided by our admin/s something they ining would our admin/ 3. What additional tra had not thought like? support team members of doing before as there seemed to be an established ‘house’ practice. We asked each member of the team to identify an area of training that they thought would most benefit their role and found that many of them asked for training on dealing with aggressive or angry callers.
peaks in incoming phone calls, all of the admin team had found themselves in the situation where they were answering calls from
Further investigation revealed that systems within the school did not inform the admin team when calls had been returned and in many cases, teaching staff had not able to contact the caller during the next few working days and so the request had been forgotten. At some stage or other within the working day, because of lunch breaks, overlapping working hours and
The most valuable outcome was the change in atmosphere within the school’s office
A couple of years ago we were called into a secondary school that had just been placed in special measures. The head had resigned and an executive head appointed. We were asked to look at the way the school interacted with its community, one of the issues identified by Ofsted as in need of improvement. Given free-rein by the new SLT we started with the school’s main interface with the outside world – the office. Before we designed our intervention we had a meeting of the entire admin team in which we set a positive approach and discussed their perceptions of the issues raised by Ofsted. The first thing that we discovered was that the meeting was their first ever training session. We were amazed, and they were delighted, that their needs and their contribution to the school as a successful institution were finally being recognised. For some of the team members, their only working experience
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It is often said that, in schools, the first victim of budget cuts is CPD...staff training however doesn’t have to be expensive disgruntled parents. The answer was two-fold. We delivered a course on defusing aggressive clients but more importantly worked with the admin team to develop a workable school communication policy that not only included guidelines and expectations on returning calls but established a practice that allowed the admin team to be aware of the progress of such. Of course, in today’s targetdriven world, the policy and subsequent surveys of parents and staff provided evidence that ‘outcomes’ had been met. But, for us, the most valuable outcome (and believe it or not, it was tangible) was the change in atmosphere within the school’s office. Team members felt that they were now being treated as equals within the wider school staff team, that their roles were valued and worthy of development, and that their expertise was appreciated. The importance of creating a happier workplace environment cannot be overlooked. The performance management cycle should be a two-way dialogue that informs both
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sides. Employers soon find out if there are ‘hidden’ issues that are causing concern, which if ignored can become costly in terms of finance and personnel. I know of one school that spent a small fortune sending the data manager on a training course only to lose her to another school. Her replacement went the same way! The first said that she left for a higher salary scale, the second went to another school for the same money.
Staff training however doesn’t have to be expensive. These few tips may help you provide costeffective training. •
Peer support is always a good first option if the expertise already exists.
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The cost to the school in providing the training for the second and third time, advertising the post in the press, coping with an unsettled team, and running
Can you offer a series of training courses within a school cluster or even more widely that could draw on the expertise of an existing staff member from one of the schools?
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Don’t assume that the admin team won’t benefit from training sessions organised for the teaching staff
Don’t assume that the admin team won’t benefit from training sessions organised for the teaching staff, especially if you’re looking at ‘the big picture’.
Whilst working within a school environment brings with it specific problems, much of the work is generic and the skills needed are similar to those found in offices in industry around the country.
inefficiently for such a long period of time, not to mention the pressure placed on colleagues who inevitably have to cover for vital unfilled roles, is massive and could have been off-set by a well thought out, proactive performance management programme. It is often said that, in schools, the first victim of budget cuts is CPD. It is very easy to limit the training budget of the admin team to what is seen as ‘essential’ such as managing a new function within the school’s MIS, but courses of this type are there to meet the school’s needs and not the needs of the staff in developing skills they already have.
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Are there any local businesses that are willing to provide training in any particular area?
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Are any of your pupils’ parents in a position to offer training either by themselves or through their employer?
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Can some of your admin team pass on some of their IT skills to teachers on a one to one basis?
In the relentless drive to improve standards within our schools, it would be a mistake to overlook the development of this key group of employees when their roles include interaction with parents and the wider public almost on a minute to minute basis. n