The Department for Education has created a programme for Executive Leaders. One of its purposes is to develop the skills, knowledge and behaviours that a high-performing executive leader needs.

De Novo’s founder, Jo Wright, was approached to lead a session which formed part of the Managing Resources and Risks module of the programme. The workshop took place towards the end of last year and was well attended by aspiring and serving executive head teachers and multi-academy trust (MAT) chief executive officers (CEOs).

The main take away points for the attendees were:

Heightened awareness of why organisations fail and the warning signs
Importance of a more ‘business-like’ culture and thought process to identify and deal with issues promptly
The need for greater commerciality to achieve a better business model, operationally and financially
The significant impact a strong Finance Director with appropriate skill set can make
The tangible benefits of identifying and investing in talent, upskilling management and recruiting quality leaders
Importance of a diverse skills mix in Governors to support, challenge and hold leadership to account
The challenge of identifying and dealing with the vast amount of uncertainty – debated key risks, ways of mitigating them and the need to contingency plan
A focus shift is required from reporting on issues to actually resolving them – clearer roles / responsibilities and accountability are critical to speed up the process
The need to constantly embrace change to secure sustainability long term
How key the right cultural attitude is to evolving an organisation, and the amount of time and effort required before it embeds
War stories and case studies of both Colleges and Corporates, demonstrated where the timing of issues being addressed was the difference between success and failure

The lively session concluded with a discussion about ways of trying to future proof and secure long-term sustainability. Positive feedback from leading education services provider, Cognition Education, who organised the course included:

“Just want to say an enormous thank you for your time and input, I understand it was a really informative session, and very well received.”

“Just a word of thanks for your input today. It was really great, and the attendees really enjoyed the session. We kept drawing on it all day as we worked through the materials so thank you again.”