Greater Manchester Business Week – August 04, 2019

AUGUST 2019 BusIness 31

W

ITHIN schools,
there is a
maintained focus
on the well-being
of students, as
there indeed
should be;
however it is important not to neglect
the welfare of staff, and to apply the
same standards to their individual
care. Leaders need to acknowledge
the complexity of well-being, which
includes physical and mental health,
social interaction, finances and job
satisfaction.

IMPROVING STANDARDS

In the new framework for September
2019, Ofsted has quite rightly
brought attention to staff welfare.
The inspection body found that
the primary areas which negatively
impact well-being are: a lack of
support (from senior management);
pupil behaviour; workload; and
marking pupils’ work.
The ‘Outstanding’ Leadership
and Management category will be
adjusted to consider ‘the extent to
which leaders take into account the
workload and well-being of their
staff in order to deliver a high-quality
education, while also developing
and strengthening the quality of the
workforce’.

IMPROVING WELL-BEING

If staff are healthy and motivated,

they will be able to perform better,

resulting in improved outcomes.

Leaders need to implement a policy

to support this, focusing on: the

organisation as a whole, training for

leadership and management, and

educating the workforce.

Firstly, your school’s well-being

values should mirror its mission.

If your values include supporting

pupils, then the same should apply

to staff, to create a happy, positive

and productive environment to learn

and work in. Well-being must be

embedded into the system, modelled

and visible for staff to buy into it.

Effective communication is vital;

leaders need to ensure that staff are

comfortable sharing concerns and

seeking help when required. Leaders

must be also equipped with the

necessary skills to tackle issues; some

may need training on having difficult

or sensitive conversations with staff.

Once understood, management

can subsequently guide staff to help

and support their own well-being,

and show staff that their physical and

mental welfare is important to the

school.

For more on how One Education can

help you, visit oneeducation.co.uk

Supporting staff well-

being in the workplace

COMMERCIAL FEATURE

SCHOOLS need to ensure that staff

well-being is high on all agendas

and modelled from the top.

We are regularly asked by our

schools to review their current

well-being practices. Often, we

see that schools are actually doing

more than they think in relation to

well-being, but unfortunately staff

do not recognise some practices as

‘well-being’ support.

Schools will have supportive

policies in place such as attendance

management, flexible working

and family friendly schemes. It is

important to educate staff what

well-being actually means in

practice and ensure well-being is

integral in a school’s culture.

Well-being is in everyone’s

interests; staff need to take

responsibility for their own

well-being and leaders need

to understand that before they

can help others, they must help

themselves.

We encourage schools to align

well-being strategies with their

school improvement plan and self-

evaluation.

To implement an effective well-

being strategy, leaders should firstly

review well-being enablers; these

include communication, leadership

and management skills, data, and

the physical environment. Once

these areas are being effectively

managed, interventions can then

be planned.

Interventions are often

grouped in three areas: mental

health, physical health, and

healthy lifestyles. I have seen

some excellent ideas in schools,

albeit some could be seen as

controversial, such as days off for

Christmas shopping, gardening

clubs, regular social events,

investment in mental health and/or

first aid, fitness sessions, and even a

gin tasting club!

To conclude, schools need to

understand their own staff and

school setting, and balance these

with financial pressures before

investing in interventions.

SPECIAL COMMENT:

Pam Mason, Senior

HR Manager at One

Education

It may still be summer, but the football
season is already well underway. Like
many football fanatics, I’ve been
cramming over each team’s form
sheets and stats, trying but failing to
put head above heart when selecting
my fantasy football team. Once again,
only a couple of games in and I’ve
already completely overhauled my
team.
I presume, like most people, last
season Zinedine Zidane had then-
Chelsea forward Eden Hazard in his
fantasy football team. Finishing the
season on top of the Premier League
fantasy table, Hazard became Zidane’s
marquee signing this summer for Real
Madrid.
But it was no surprise Hazard
performed well. He has consistently
notched up the points since moving to
Chelsea in 2012. In the 2018/19 season
he played 37 times – only missing four
games. He scored 16 goals and made
15 assists whilst making an average of
49.16 passes per match. These stats are

the winning formula to any fantasy

team.

It’s not just armchair fans like myself

who will be pouring over the stats to

build the best team, but the

boardrooms of the great clubs of

Europe as well. Over the past 10 years,

football consultancies have become

popular among the sheikhs and

oligarchs in charge to supply data in

support of their decision to shell out

£100m on a player like Hazard.

These consultancies claim that, by

leveraging data, they can forecast a

player’s future performance, and

improve the success of a club’s

recruitment process as a result. There’s

no doubt in my mind that there’s room

for improvement. One such

consultancy, 21st Club, have said that

only 50% of new signings prove

successful. While, on average, a new

manager will stay for only 12-24

months.

So, long gone are the days when a

Premier League club will buy a forward

based on a hunch. And so, too, are the

days of SMEs having to make business-

critical decisions without the support

of data. I have found more and more

businesses using data-driven tools like

their cloud accounting package, to not

only do their bookkeeping but act as a

mechanism for decision-making, too.

Cloud accounting packages allow

businesses to see trends in their

accounting activity, helping them

make more informed decisions. I have

seen this firsthand. Growth Street

clients have been able to record their

Growth Street overdraft-style

transactions on their cloud accounting

package meaning they can use this

information, along with other key

metrics, to evolve how they manage

their day-to-day cash flow.

More importantly, though, if

company directors can save a little

time using data to speed up and

improve decision-making, it’ll also give

them a little more time to focus on

their fantasy football team. My tip for

them: Raheem Sterling (even though,

as a Liverpool fan, it hurts me to say

that).

For more fantasy football tips please

feel free to drop me an email: miciheal.

[email protected]. Or for more

information about how Growth Street

could help your business, visit

growthstreet.co.uk.

Michael Ellis is Growth Street’s

Stockport-based Head of Sales for the

Midlands & North

Data is allowing football clubs to win,

anD it coulD Do the same for your business