Here we go again…………..

Another autumn term, another new start!

For some, this brings the excitement of a new job, or a new post within the same organisation.

For many staff in schools, the start of the new school year brings with it a host of new possibilities – perhaps a new or different classroom, and certainly a new class of pupils. New staff will have arrived and new allegiances will be formed.

A whole new set of challenges…
How we deal with any change varies for each of us, driven by our own internal perceptions, values and experiences. And yet you can acknowledge certain “givens” that may help us through new experiences.

These may be thought of as things that support our resilience and our ability to deal effectively with change:

• our confidence in our own abilities (based on previous successes),
  
• our sense of fairness and equality,
  
• our sense of “doing the right thing”, and
  
• our sense of perspective.

Our personal and professional networks take on a greater significance during times of change, so it is worth thinking about the key people in our lives who provide the greatest support.

From a Well-Being viewpoint, take the time to consider what you want this year to be, and how you want to work. This is an important way of reminding yourself of your own individual locus of control.

Someone with a strong sense of self and a clear view of where they are heading in life is far more likely to engage positively with change, and proactively shape a set of circumstances to their own advantage.

So, ask yourself the question “What do I want this new school year to be like?”

Challenging yourself and invite yourself to make the small shifts in behaviour that we at Worklife Support know can make such a difference to how you feel about our work.

End of term blues?

The end of another academic year is upon us, together with the demands of end of term events and activities that show schools at their very best to parents and local communities.

All staff recognise the supreme effort needed to get through these last few days of the summer term.

In the follow up to recent media reporting over Headteachers’ salaries, the halting of the BSF programme, the Academies Bill, new Free Schools, and a host of other new initiatives, public speculation and sometimes misinformation, perhaps it might be helpful to reflect on the strengths and successes of our schools and those at every level who work so hard to make it so.

The public mindset can be fickle – on the one hand, teachers and others are held up as hero figures, encouraging children and young people to be aspirational and grow beyond their current environs in order to flourish and thrive.

On the other hand, they are often seen as the public face of bureauocracy, chasing targets and harassing families in order to meet those targets and be seen to excel and achieve the “outstanding” label that is seen as so important.

So let’s remember when the schools are closed over the summer break, when in reality many Heads, teachers and other staff will be choosing to work, that we have a system that in the main actually does work, thanks to some really dedicated people who keep things working successfully - sometimes in spite of, rather than because of, government.

It’s so easy to dismiss everything that has gone before in an effort to be seen as the “new broom”. The trick is going to be to build on the successes, while tackling new challenges with what is likely to be a decreasing set of resources.

All staff working in schools should remind themselves of what they do well and then focus on pulling together to face up to what is going to be a very interesting new term.

Managing schools responsibly in a time of cuts

We are all faced with the prospect of what is euphemistically called 'tightening our belts' over the coming years. Whatever the political arguments over timing, everyone seems agreed on the need for cuts.

When faced with this, there are two common reactions. The first is for special pleading - "I understand the need for cuts but not this." The second such reaction is looking after number one; retreating into a silo, protecting your own and (sometimes) either explicitly or implicitly suggesting others are a better target. Neither attitude helps very much. These responses may be predictable but can lead to division and mistrust at the very time when staff need to pull together.

In schools, there are some signs of the the latter reaction setting in with regard to support staff. There are 200,000 more support staff in schools than there were ten years ago. We've already heard talk of 'weird and wonderful job titles' and 'what do all these people do?"

Some Heads claim not to need a bursar - 'just give me the money, I know what I'm doing.'From a Well-Being perspective, this is not a particularly helpful response as it may deflect from the emphasis in raising standards that is the hub of the Headteachers role, and present them with a whole raft of other management tasks, which may well compromise their own personal, professional effectiveness.

In the current climate, schools have a responsibility to be managed as effectively as possible. This means having systems in place to ensure that the school can continue to function even if the Head teacher is not on site. It means assessing the effectiveness of all staff and ensuring that they are the best they can be. Simplistic solutions will not work in the long run.

in particular, simply slashing the numbers of support staff will not only destabilise many schools, it may well be counter-productive in terms of the main reason for these people being employed: pupil outcomes. Earlier this year Ofsted found that "The wider schools workforce, including teaching assistants and learning mentors, is making a difference to pupils’ learning [but] these staff must be effectively deployed, well managed and properly trained."

In other words, investing effectively in your support staff will reap reward, but it requires good management, planning and implementation. It needs to be done properly through a whole-school approach, not ''I'm alright, Jack' or simply letting the Head do it all - even if the Head thinks they can!

Worklife Support works with organisations in order to develop strategies to manage change effectively. This key element of a wellbeing approach to management involves treating all staff not like sheep to be led, or as potential rivals for the sack, but as true colleagues working together toward a shared and agreed goal.

This approach does not absolve any of us from making tough decisions but we are more likely to make the right decisions if we try to work as an inclusive, effective and efficient organisation.

Leaders and Change – keeping on an even keel through the choppy waters of change

We understand that of all the changes that can occur to us in our working lives and in wider society, changes in leadership can have a profound and unsettling effect.

If we reflect on the recent change of administration at political level, a number of us will recognise a sense of anticipation about “new brooms sweeping clean” as well as a possible sense of nervousness about the future.

It’s probably not by accident that our language is so littered with metaphors relating to change – not only do we speak of “new brooms” but also “wiping the slate clean.”

However, it might be worth considering certain things that may help us safely navigate these unchartered waters of change.

Firstly, remember what has gone before – be informed by the best of what has previously happened in the history of an organisation – and decide what to hang on to and what to jettison. Praise and celebrate what works well, and ensure that it is invested in in order for it to continue. Equally, use any period of transition to consider what needs to change, and how best to make it happen.

Secondly, give new leaders a fighting chance!

Is it so hard to believe that people actually want to do good and want to succeed? Interestingly, the Press has been full of doom about our new Lib-Con alliance, yet it might be refreshing to actually suggest that our political leaders really do believe in what is best for the national interest rather than party-political interest.

In Worklife Support, we see new leaders going into schools and academies amid staff uncertainty and anxiety – another metaphor “better the devil you know…” – and having to work hard in the early stages to settle nerves and reassure staff that change is a natural developmental process, and that not everything is necessarily going to change straightaway, if at all. Results from our Well-Being survey show that a change in leadership is often perceived as troubling by some staff.

Tim Brighouse has a brilliant take on change in schools in “Essential Pieces” (right-click and 'save target as' to copy this to your desktop) – he says of a successful school - “we understand and welcome change because change is learning and that’s our business”. He talks of the five elements that need to be present in the management of complex change – vision, skills, resources, incentives and action plan.

Finally, understand what has changed and what has stayed the same. A new leader will, of course, want to mould and shape an organisation to their own vision, but at the same time will need to be informed by reliable intelligence as to what shape the organisation is in.

Change is a process where staff engagement and keeping people informed is critical to steadying nerves and keeping staff on board.

Sick and In Work?

Why do employees come into work when ill is the interesting question raised by a new study for the Work Foundation

The study doesn’t exactly answer the question, but it does highlight many interesting issues.

One such is terminology. The idea of someone being physically in work but mentally elsewhere, for reasons of either physical or mental ill-health, has been commonly described as ‘presenteeism’. The new report prefers ‘sickness presence’ not least because of the link that implies with sickness absence.

The report is clear that sickness presence affects many more employees than sickness absence, up to 45% of staff claimed to be present while ‘sick’ over a four week period.

The study finds sickness absence to be much more closely related to performance that sickness absence, which alone would make it an issue of importance to managers in the present climate.

It identifies three key drivers, including work-related stress, pressure from managers and financial worries. We find this last point interesting as we find take up of debt counselling amongst clients of our EAP generally disappointing.

The study looked at one particular company, AXA-PPP, but the outcomes certainly chime with our experience of schools. It may well be that things are even worse in education. There is enormous personal and vocational pressure amongst all school staff to turn up; even more so with the advent of ‘rarely cover’.

So what does all this mean?

Firstly, anyone thinking about sickness absence alone needs to think again. Organisational effectiveness is impacted more by sickness presence, so things may be worse than many managers realise.

Secondly, it seems likely that many of the organisational developmental strategies, such as our organisational Well-Being programme, can have an even greater impact on performance provided you aware of issues like sickness presence and tailor the interventions accordingly. Ensuring that organisational wellbeing is complemented by individual wellbeing services, such as an EAP and personal health services, can generate even more positive outcomes.

Emphasising access to financial advice and guidance seems, if the report is right, to be particularly important.

It is also clear that training managers to be aware of and the effectively manage staff wellbeing will have enormous benefits for organisations. And given the coming squeeze in the public sector, intelligent staff management is going to be hugely important.

Paying attention to report such as this one from the Work Foundation, and ensuring that you invest in staff wellbeing is looking more and more like a necessity for schools and other organisations everywhere.

Use your EAP to Save Money

Staff health and wellbeing programmes are undoubtedly going to be an easy target as cuts in spending start to take effect, even though it is clear that such a move is short-sighted and self-defeating.

However, it is undoubtedly harder to argue the case if staff are not using their employee assistance programme (EAP) or similar service. Low use means the staff aren't interested, so the thinking goes, so it's an easy decision to make.

Our experience says this isn't so and that low use usually masks a range of barriers to wellbeing that the organisation needs to overcome.

Promotion
The most obvious barrier is publicity - if staff don't know about a service or think its not for them, they won't use it! Giving out a leaflet when someone joins and sticking up a poster in the staff room is not going to be enough, especially once your colleague loses the leaflet and the poster in the staff room is covered up by the latest sponsorship form.

We try to promote a range of services and activities to make sure that our EAP (Worklife Support for you) is fresh and relevant to staff. Our customers can contact us to learn more. A key lesson is that promoting staff wellbeing is a year-round activity.

Independence and Confidentiality
Many staff feel that a service like an EAP is a 'bosses spy'. This is not the case for all reputable services: EAPs are impendent, professional and confidential. We do not give the employer details of what its staff call about, nor do we tell the world about issues raised from particular organisations.

Not for me
Thinking the service is someone not for me is often prominent in organisations with a relatively low level of emotional literacy, where organisational wellbeing has not taken root. This shows how an EAP will work even more effectively in conjunction with a service such as the Worklife Support Well-Being programme as organisational as well as personal issues can addressed.

And the simple truth is that everyone has times as you go through life where you need a little help - there should be no shame, stigma or loss of self-esteem in using a service like an EAP.

Problems
The flip side of these issues is that many people see an organisation that has a high level of calls as an organisation with problems. Often, this is simply not the case. It is just that staff know about the service and feel empowered and confident enough to use it.

Milestones and Millstones
PPC, a leading EAP provider, produced some time ago a report based on the idea that as we travel down the road of life, we pass many milestones - birth, childhood, education, marriage, buying a house, work, retirement etc - and using an EAP can help prevent that milestone becoming a millstone.

Even the smallest rural school will have staff who have come up to one of life's milestones in the past year. An EAP can support you with information, advice and counselling, helping you to cope more effectively with the issue and so maintaining your level of contribution at work. That is why it is a workplace benefit to both the staff member and the employer.

So, far from dropping staff wellbeing services, tough times are the best time to invest in supporting your staff so that employer and employee alike can weather the storms ahead.

Now is the time to invest in your staff

The new Employee Outlook from the CIPD is out and, not surprisingly, it makes for very gloomy reading.

Press coverage picked up on the warnings it contains for employers that only a third of employees trust or have confidence in their senior managers, and only a quarter of staff are consulted about decisions that affect them.

However, that was not the only bad news. The survey reports job dissatisfaction on the rise, together with fear of unemployment, and accompanying rises in bullying, stress and and conflict. What the survey doesn't ask is: what drives this behaviour?

Many readers will have had conversations with friends recently where the usual "how's work going?" question will be answered with a grimace and an answer something along the lines of "but at least I've got a job." People seem naturally to retreat into a defensive posture in times of uncertainty, re-inforcing silos, and generally building fear and mistrust in the workplace.

And yet, in times of recession, spending on supporting staff through training, development or other services is usually one of the first items of expenditure to be cut, although this is the very time that staff need more and not less support. A simple example: if workloads are growing, don't staff need more support on how to prioritise their time, and on how to manage increased pressure?

The CIPD report recognises this in recommending that employers track job satistfaction and engagement and improve consultation. It also recommends that employers should help their staff cope with stress and, as living standards stagnate at best, provide financial advice.

At Worklife Support, this has long been our view. The Well-Being programme helps deliver organic organisational change while Worklife Support for you, the employee assistance programme, offers individual support, both emotional and practical, including financial guidance. Our Enhanced Well-Being programme, where both services operate in tandem, is proving increasingly popular.

Investing in your staff and promoting whatever support services that you do make available should be seen as central to your continued effectiveness and success. Simple knee-jerk reactions to the current climate of uncertainty does no-one any good, and may end up actually costing organisations more than they may save. A strategic investment in a programme such as the Well-Being programme proactively supporting both organisational effectiveness and individual support should be seen as a key opportunity to demonstrate to your staff a real committment to employees.

Change Resolution

We're now two weeks into the New Year and, if usual practice is anything to go by, almost everyone you know will have given up on their New Year's resolutions.
This is a cliche, of course, but many cliches do contain a kernel of truth and this is no exception. The question is just why are we so bad at keeping such resolutions? Does this reflect a more general difficulty when faced with change?

And just as important is what happens when we fail at making change or keeping resolutions. A recent article in The Guardian highlights work from Richard Wiseman at the University of Hertfordshire which suggests that we become dispirited at the collapse of our New Year resolutions and end up feeling even worse than before.

The way to achieve change - and successful resolutions - first involves planning - work out a plan and some smaller steps that you can easily measure, which will help you stick to it. Don't worry about the odd lapse and, ideally, stick to one plan at a time.

Anyone trying to make lasting and successful change without a plan, whether in personal affairs or in their organisation, is more likely than not doomed to fail.

Other general tips for ensuring a change process works, whether personal or organisational, include making sure that the goals you set are challenging but achievable, make sure that you can monitor progress, and concentrating on the benefits of change. This relates to the appreciative inquiry method we recommend when developing plans as part of the Well-Being programme.

You might also want to take a look at the website 6Changes which emphasises the tiny steps approach to building new habits.

You can follow Richard Wiseman's useful and informative Twitter feed (@richardwiseman).

Today is National Stress Awareness Day.

When thinking about stress, it is useful to think first about what stress actually is: stress is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them.

Here are simple indicators of our ability to handle stress. You might want to think about each one and how some simple improvements will help build your ability to cope with stress:

• Getting enough sleep Research shows a small reduction in sleep time can have an impact on how we think, behave and make decisions.
• Regular exercise is good for the mind, as well as the body.
• Eat sensibly with a balanced diet.
• Think positive - negative thoughts can act as self fulfilling prophecies.
• Try not to smoke or drink to excess
• Switch off: time spent on ourselves helps develop self-esteem and a sense of identity.
• Social interaction People benefit from involvement in something greater than themselves, such as doing things for a church or charity, and from simply spending time with friends
• Manage your life Plan a schedule which you manage, rather than one which manages you.

Don't forget all the support networks that are out there for you: your employee assistance programme, trade union, occupational health, friends and family.

You might not be able to stop stress but you can improve your ability to cope with it when it comes along.

Happiness is catching

If the joys of the summer are now a distant memory, you may want to consider spending time with your ‘happy’ colleagues, as according to Professor Richard Wiseman, happiness is catching.

The psychologist led a unique mass-participation “happiness experiment” aimed at putting a smile on people’s faces. Recent research suggests that only 36% of Britons are ‘very happy’ so Professor Wiseman set about fnding the best ways to banish the blues.

More than 26,000 people went online to join in the research and try out a selection of recognised mood-boosting techniques. The idea was that, since happiness is thought to be contagious, they would send ripples of cheerfulness across the UK.

According to the results, it seems to have worked. The sample showed they were 7% happier after the experiment. “The fgure is statistically signifcant,” said Professor Wiseman, “I thought we wouldn’t see a change, but we got a 7% rise.”

"Thinking about one positive thing that had happened the day before appears to have been by far the most effective technique.”

“There was no big improvement in the weather or anything in the news that could have accounted for it”, he says. “Who knows, but I like to think we might have cheered up the nation!” “Everyday may not be good, but there is something good in every day.”

Why not see if the techniques used by Professor Wiseman in his ‘Happiness Experiment’ can have a positive impact on your own happiness? He suggests:

• Starting the day by thinking about the things that made you happy from the previous day
• Remembering to smile whilst carrying out everyday tasks such as making a cup of tea
• Carrying out small acts of kindness, such as paying someone a compliment or holding the door open for someone
• Expressing gratitude for the lucky aspects of your life, for example being in good health

You can learn more about Prof. Wiseman on his website or follow him on Twitter.

In a similar vein, you could also follow Dr Happy - we hope you are already following Worklife Support...

The National Agreement - Making a Difference?

Last week, a comprehensive (500 plus pages!) review of the national workforce agreement covering English schools was published.

Aspects of School Workforce Remodelling; Strategies used and Impact on Workload and Standards - to give it's full title - attracted some headlines because of the conclusion that any gains in teachers' workloads made by the agreement have been wiped out by new initiatives.

There were other interesting points made, however, that have not been publicised so heavily, such as:

• Heads are consistently more positive about what is happening in their schools than teachers - for example 97% of heads say their teachers have PPA time, considerably fewer teachers agree.
• While teacher workload may go down, support staff's goes up. 75% of administrative staff feel their workload is excessive.
• At the same time, there is still reluctance, especially in primary school, to involve non-teachers in the senior leadership of schools.
• Between a fifth and a third of all teachers claim to have been consulted on changes made in schools. Only 40% of support staff are consulted about changes in their role.
• Several aspects of the agreement are being ignored in practice, particularly in special schools.

There is lots more in the report but perhaps the most worrying conclusion is this: there is no relationship between the re-modelling strategies that heads reported and the actual change in attainment in each school.

We know from the Birkbeck report that the Worklife Support Well-Being Programme can have an effect on attainment - it would be interesting to know where the discontinuities between remodelling and Well-Being are...

Rarely Cover

The new 'rarely cover' regulations come into force on 1st September and WAMG has issued guidance on how to implement them.

Rarely cover means that teachers may only be asked to cover rarely for absent colleagues. As WAMG says, this means that schools need to have 'robust systems' in place to manage this new reality. It notes that only 30% of teacher absences are related to sickness - which implies there is plenty of absence to manage.

The immediate focus is going to be on how heads are going to cover for those absences that teachers will cover no longer , but undoubtedly in the longer term, there will be some assessment made of the amount of time teachers are spending outside the classroom.

Heads will need to consult with all their staff on managing the new situation. They will also need to make sure that when a teacher is covering a colleague that it is teaching cover and not merely supervision.

In the longer term, schools are bound to need to know more about what exactly their staff are doing and when: for some, there could be some surprises!

And while only 30% of absences are sickness related, that is still a substantial amount of time being lost to schools.

Improving the wellbeing of staff and providing effective employee assistance programmes for all staff will become even more important for tools, especially as financial pressures grow over the next few years.

Starting the School Year - Working Positively with Your Staff

In her recent article Take your staff with you, Margaret Adams of CIPD reflects on the significance of the start of a new school year and suggests a few hints and tips that school leaders might like to be mindful of, alongside school development plans and the formal elements of moving a school forward.

She considers how to motivate staff and, even within a context of budget and resource limitations, she stresses the importance of the “softer” elements of motivating staff to support leaders in making plans actually happen!

Focusing on 4 key aspects of working positively with staff, she suggests the following:

• tell the world how well your staff do – managing the press & pro-actively promoting the positive achievements of the school
• pay attention to 'welfare' issues – ensuring that all staff feel respected and nurtured
• send people home – recognising that we all need to work hard, but that a long-hours culture can become counter-productive
• Offer everyone, not just NQTs, support with the management of workload, including encouraging delegation and prioritisation – recognising what is within our control to change and take control of

The work of Worklife Support, through our national Well-Being programme for staff in schools, confirms the her view that recognition for staff – developing and supporting a sense of self-worth – and promoting a staff culture where everyone is valued, is key to school success.

How to Survive the Summer

You've almost made it to the end of term!

Most schools break up this week (although we know some have done so already and others go into next week).

While the prospect of a rest is likely to fill you with a sense of joy and relief, the run-up to the summer break can sometimes be a source of additional tension. And the realities of returning to work in the new academic year can bring you back down to earth with a bang…

With this in mind, we’ve put together a few hints and tips to help you make the most of your break and survive your return to school..

1) Tie off any loose ends – a sense of closure will help you to switch off.

2) Why not draw up a ‘to do’ list for your return before you leave – this will help you to clear your mind and will also help you settle back in in the autumn.

3) Don’t expect too much of yourself in the first few days - people are often struck down by minor illness when they let themselves relax after a long, hard term.

4) Try not to set unrealistic goals for the summer break – make the most of the opportunity to lie in and do the things you most enjoy, but try to avoid a really hectic schedule.

5) Set a specific time for any work you need to do either at the beginning or the end of the holiday and enjoy the rest of the break without it hanging over you. If you need to go in when the results are published, it may be worth using the time you’re on the premises to carry out some other work-related activity.

6) If you do think about work, think about how you plan or organise your work before you think about specific tasks. This is a chance to take the time to re-organise yourself so that you work better when you do go back.

7) Avoid thinking about responsibilities, tasks or concerns awaiting you back at school – this is your chance to forget about all of that.

8) But do think! Thinking time is as important as doing time - and you can do it anywhere!

9) Try to plan a day or two of ‘transition time’ on returning in the autumn term in order to catch up on paperwork, check e-mails and so on – throwing yourself in headfirst on your first day back can be a real shock to the system!

10) Make some plans for the next holiday period soon after you return to work – it’s important to have something to look forward to in order to avoid those autumn blues.

The Impact of School Leadership

The DCSF has published the results of an extensive research report into the effects of school leadership on pupil outcomes.

Researchers from 3 institutions aimed to establish the how much variation in pupil outcomes can be accounted for by the leadership of the schools, by looking at schools that had achieved a significant improvement in a relatively short time.

The findings emphasised the importance of the "educational values, qualities and ...strategic actions" of the headteacher.

Interestingly, while the broader leadership team will have a similar effect, this is greater in primary than in secondary schools.

The findings also emphasise that a 'one size fits all' approach does not work as schools will be at different stages academically and socially. Anyone hoping to read the 200-odd pages of the report to find a neat checklist of attributes required for school improvement will be disappointed.

That is not to say that there are not clear messages: about improved teaching practices and the effective use of data, for example.

Once again, a report looking at leading change in schools emphasises the importance of the headteacher, even as the rise of the leadership team ideal now means there are, for the first time, more assistant heads than deputy heads in schools.

One of the report's conclusions is:

"The sustainable transformation of a school is the outcome of effective leadership [which] results in the improvement of physical, psychological and social conditions for teaching and learning..."

Statements like this can sound obvious, but they are worth repeating to those school leaders who still do not see the relevance of addressing staff wellbeing.