Arguably, it has never been harder to be an SBL than right now. Val Andrew offers some alternative ways of thinking to rekindle confidence in yourself and your role.
Read the full article below or on page 40 in our May magazine
My last piece for EdExec focused on the reasons why so many school business professionals were leaving the profession, based on feedback from practitioners. For this article I thought we could switch this concept around, and look at why we decide to work in schools in the first place, and how acknowledging this can help us to build our own professional confidence so that we can get back to enjoying the role again at a time when the challenges around us are huge.
Why do we choose to work in education?
I am a fan of Simon Sinek and his Start with Why idea. Whilst the original concept of Sinek’s book was marketing, and excellence in leadership, aimed at the business world, I think this concept can be enlightening when we apply it and seek to understand why we choose to work in the education sector.
There’s no doubt that one of the key reasons SBMs are leaving the profession at the moment is pay-related; I’m not denying this is a massive issue right now across all public sector organisations. However, public sector pay has never been as competitive as the salaries we could attract working in the commercial world – so one could deduce from this that we absolutely don’t choose to work in schools for the money!
So – why do we choose to work in schools? When you ask the question, the responses are varied:
Transferrable skills – many who join our ranks as school business professionals start their careers in the world of commerce. At some point, there is a realisation that a specific skill set is readily transferrable into the role of the SBM and this, coupled with a desire to escape the ‘rat race’, leads many choose to switch their focus to public sector and look for roles within education.
The hours – this is probably a reason that is quickly being eroded as workloads across the sector are fast approaching the same unmanageable levels often seen in the private sector. That said, post-COVID, and in the light of the current recruitment and retention crisis (yes, it is a crisis now!), schools are having to be more creative with flexible working arrangements and part time contracts.
Family reasons – there’s no denying that working in a school environment suits people with young families. It brings direct contact with education policy that can be informative on a personal level (it’s a long time since we were at school and things have changed!) and there’s the prospect of being able to work hours that dovetail more suitably with children’s school time – and the holidays! Holidays is a bit of a ‘red rag’ scenario, when many SBMs work full-time, contracted, hours but the greater opportunity to take annual leave during school holidays definitely remains an advantage over a private sector organisation where all your colleagues want annual leave in the school holidays and it’s usually allocated on a hierarchical basis.
Desire to ‘give something back’ – increasingly I hear this, particularly from those who are escaping high pressure jobs in the city, and/or have worked in other services. The feeling that they are contributing to/investing time in supporting the next generation is a laudable reason for taking on an SBM/SBL role.
As Simon Sinek says when describing his ‘golden circle’ concept, it’s not what you do, or how you do it, that is really important – it’s all about the WHY. Personally, I can identify with several of the above ‘whys’ but, on balance, I’d say that for me it was a gut instinct that took me to work in a school environment.
If you study what Sinek says about the link between his golden circle and the limbic area of the brain – which correlates with Professor Steve Peters and The Chimp Paradox – this is where ‘gut instinct’ decisions come from – this is where our ‘why’ is decided. The limbic part of the brain defies logic and rational thinking and is sufficiently powerful to drive behaviour so, from this I can deduce it was my ‘Chimp’s’ fault that I ended up working in education!
Some of the above will resonate with you, and there will be other reasons I’ve not listed that are also relevant as to why we choose to work in education. The key question is, once we understand our own personal ‘Why?’ how can we use this information to engender more confidence professionally?
What is professional confidence?
This is the ability to believe in yourself when it comes to all aspects of your career and future goals; whether you are new into your SBM/SBL role or not, feeling confident is vital – so many of us suffer from imposter syndrome at various stages in our careers and there are a number of studies that examine the reasons behind this.
Linking this to the concept of the way the brain works most of us feel that the more you believe you can do something, the more confident you will feel. Using this thinking there are two ways to increase your confidence – either:
increase your ability to do something; OR
brainwash yourself into believing you can do something even if you can’t.
According to Professor Steve Peters, we think this way because the ‘Chimp’ in our brain has hijacked our thinking. In this instance, we have to contradict our ‘Chimp’ and move our thinking towards the notion that we either base our confidence on the absolute belief in our own ability OR we base it on the fact that we will do our best. Self-confidence is, therefore, enhanced when we have realistic expectations of ourselves. Apparently the ‘Chimp’ will continue to try and derail our thinking – hence imposter syndrome often recurs. Who knew there were such tussles going on inside our heads – but once you understand this it makes dealing with the issues much easier.
Lots of famous people have confessed to suffering from imposter syndrome – including Albert Einstein and Meryl Streep. To overcome this isn’t easy, but it is doable – you can combat it by doing three simple things:
Acknowledge it – maybe read The Chimp Paradox to gain a broader understanding of what is going on in your head but, overall, accept that this is happening to you;
Talk to someone – break the silence and share your feelings with others – family, friends, colleagues etc.
Focus on your strengths and abilities rather than negatives – try to adopt a more positive approach to your thinking and be realistic in your personal expectations.
In addition to these three core strategies, and in a day-to-day practical sense, try and act more confidently even if you don’t feel it. Work on portraying that confident exterior. Look people in the eye and don’t be afraid to smile (others will wonder what you know!) Make sure you are well-prepared for meetings, conversations and professional discussions, and don’t be afraid to admit if you don’t know something – but undertake to find out. There are six key characteristics of confidence which I think embody the roles we have in schools perfectly, and these are:
character, caring, competence, consistency, credibility and communication
To summarise
We are operating in a very different paradigm these days. There is so much conflict and challenge throughout our sector but, despite this, we all share a common goal which is to contribute to the health, wellbeing and education of our children and young people. If what we do doesn’t have an impact on those innocents, why are we doing what we do?
Food for thought – if you haven’t looked at the two books I’ve mentioned I can recommend them both (not on commission!)
Don’t forget lots of SBM/SBL practitioners are resorting to support from professional coaches and mentors as a way of keeping perspective and helping to develop their own professional and personal confidence.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this piece and that it offers some alternative ways of thinking to make your world seem a better place.
The SBL ‘state of the nation’ by Esta 16th June 2023 https://edexec.co.uk/the-sbl-state-of-the-nation/(opens in a new tab) Laura Williams, school leadership coach,…
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