How to Build Communication Success in Your School

A Guide for School Leaders

Karen Dempster, Justin Robbins

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138240872
• eBook ISBN: 9781315282152
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book provides a step-by-step guide to achieve best practice communication within schools. Communication is a critical component in building strong partnerships with parents, attracting and retaining the best teachers, building and protecting a school's reputation and, ultimately, in ensuring that students can be at their best.

Aligned to the National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers (2015), as well as Ofsted and the Independent Schools Inspectorate requirements, it provides an 'inside out' approach to create and communicate a compelling vision, building leadership communication skills and supporting the day-to-day management of communication in schools.

Full of practical strategies, audit tools and planning materials to help develop your communication approach, this guide covers key topics such as:

• attracting and retaining the best teachers;
• improving the effectiveness of leadership and management;
• building the reputation of the school;
• working with parents; and
• knowing what to do in a crisis.

How to Build Communication Success in Your School is essential reading for headteachers, school leaders and all those interested in education management and leadership.

1 Communication matters

 

 

What do we mean by communication?

Communication is the art of listening, reading, observing and being self-aware, and then expressing thoughts or responding in speech, body language or writing.

In this first chapter we will look at what we mean by communication and why it is critically important for both you and your school. People often confuse information and communication. Information is only communication when it has been received and understood (in some sense) by the receiver. Good communication is when a message from the sender has been received and understood. This is the tricky part to get right, particularly with increased ‘noise’ that can cloud or even stop your message from getting through. Once you've read this book, you'll be in a much better position to ensure that you communicate well with each audience every time.

Everything you say and do is communication. You may have heard the statistics that only 7 per cent of communication is verbal. Ninety-three per cent is nonverbal – which means your body language and how you use your voice. Yet, few of us invest the time in making sure we have the right skills to communicate effectively. We take it for granted (because a lot happens in our subconscious), but there are many things you can do that will significantly enhance your ability to communicate more effectively.

Effective communication is critical

“The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.”

Tony Robbins

Whether in personal relationships or in the boardroom, communication creates better results in all walks of life. Big companies caught on to this opportunity some years ago. They know that if you communicate better as an organisation then you are more successful.

For example, in 2013, the Harvard Business Review carried out a survey to understand the impact of employee engagement (whether people are able to be at their best at work) on performance. They identified that 73 per cent of respondents ranked effective communication as a factor most likely to bring success (only behind high level of customer service).

The Engage for Success report The Evidence: Wellbeing and Engagement (March 2014) highlighted that organisations that have highly engaged employees are able to reduce staff turnover by 87 per cent. In addition, disengaged employees are four times more likely to leave an organisation than the average employee (Corporate Leadership Council, 2008).

Companies with highly engaged staff report employees taking an average of 7 absence days per year, approximately half the 14 days per year reported in low-engagement companies. Those employees in high-engagement companies also report significantly less workplace stress, 28 per cent versus 39 per cent (Aon Hewitt, 2012).

It seems obvious and is proven, but schools still need to grasp this opportunity. Teachers need to be expert communicators to get the best out of the students they teach and to achieve great results. They need to have the ability to receive information holistically (what they hear and also what they don't hear), understand this and synthesize it so they can express themselves and respond really well. What they say needs to reflect their expertise, and inspire and demonstrate that they care about students, motivating them to want to learn.

School leaders in particular need to be able to inspire and motivate. This is something that is being reinforced by the Department for Education (DfE) through their National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers and is also an ongoing theme in Ofsted and Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) reports.

In schools that take the building of communication expertise seriously, teachers will be happier, which in turn will make for happier students who will achieve improved results. We all deliver more and better when we are happy and motivated. This ‘discretionary effort’ can make the difference between a good and outstanding school. And, of course, this all makes for happier parents who will also talk positively about the school.

I want to be at my best every day

We all want to be at our best every day. We want to thrive at work and believe in what we do. We want to be motivated to do our best and benefit ourselves and the school in which we work.

A lot of this comes down to a school's culture. James L. Heskett says that culture “can account for 20–30 per cent of the differential in performance when compared with ‘culturally unremarkable’ competitors.”

Many organisations let their culture grow organically. However, a great culture should be purposeful and planned. But what do we mean by culture? It seems to have so many different aspects. John Coleman (2013) highlights six components of a great culture. These are:

1 Vision: Your culture starts with your vision.

2 Values: Values provide a guide on the behaviours and mindsets needed to achieve the vision.

3 Practices: Values need to be lived in the organisation's daily working practices.

4 People: Key to making this happen are the people who have shared values or want and are able to live the values.

5 Narrative: Every organisation has its own history and unique story. This narrative helps to create the culture.

6 Place: The place and environment in which the organisation operates that influences values and behaviours.

MacLeod and Clarke's Concept of Employee Engagement (2014) adds another enabler, which we believe is critical. This is integrity. Despite any of the above being in place, if leaders do not act with integrity then they mean very little.

The benefits of great communication

Great communication within your school will deliver very real and tangible benefits. Here are just some examples; there are many more benefits you can hope to see if you improve how you communicate:

  1 You'll be able to better inspire and motivate your students to learn.

  2 You'll be better equipped to respond to difficult and unexpected situations.

  3 Parents and colleagues will understand what you are trying to say.

  4 There will be less confusion and time wasted trying to address misunderstandings.

  5 You'll take people with you on important decisions and ideas.

  6 You'll be able to network better and share your views through social media.

  7 You'll be more confident in communicating in front of larger audiences.

  8 You'll be more aware of your own impact on other people.

  9 More people will want to work with you.

10 Your relationships will be better (everywhere).

11 You'll be less stressed.

12 You'll grow in confidence and in your job.

13 Your students will benefit because you'll communicate better.

If you invest time in understanding how to communicate better, you will be able to take further steps to be at your best. You will be able to help everyone else in the school be at theirs too. You will be able to build trust amongst teachers and parents. And you will develop a culture that everyone loves and can thrive in. In the next chapter we will look at feedback from parents about school communication and what they expect to see and hear from their school.

Top three take-aways:

1 Communication is everything you say and do.

2 Good communication skills are critical for every teacher and school leader.

3 If you improve communication, then you'll improve results.

2 Hear from the parents

Our independent research with parents across the UK, from both the state and private sector, highlighted communication as a fundamental issue for them. Parents want to be heard but don't always feel that ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Communication matters
• Chapter 2 Hear from the parents
• Chapter 3 How are you doing?
• Chapter 4 Your starting point: Your vision
• Chapter 5 What is holding you back?
• Chapter 6 Know your audiences
• Chapter 7 Create your own marketing advantage
• Chapter 8 Build your skills
• Chapter 9 Inspire and motivate
• Chapter 10 Stop the overload
• Chapter 11 Take the technology advantage
• Chapter 12 Communicating change
• Chapter 13 When crisis hits
• Chapter 14 Communicating inclusively
• Chapter 15 Put it into action
• Chapter 16 Are you succeeding?
• Chapter 17 Create good habits
• Chapter 18 You’re ready to go
• Bibliography
• Appendix 2.1 Fit2Communicate survey results
• Appendix 4.1 SWOT analysis for schools template
• Appendix 4.2 Example survey questions for parents
• Appendix 4.3 Example survey questions for teachers and governors
• Appendix 6.1 Understanding how far you need to move your audiences’ mindset
• Appendix 7.1 Example school media policy
• Appendix 9.1 Building an impactful story
• Appendix 9.2 Delivering inspirational messages
• Appendix 10.1 An example to support parents in finding information
• Appendix 12.1 Question and answer template
• Appendix 13.1 Crisis communication in schools: Key messages template
• Appendix 13.2 Crisis communication plan template
• Appendix 13.3 Crisis management communication principles for schools
• Appendix 15.1 Your school communication plan
• Appendix 15.2 Building your parent/student/teacher partnership agreement
• Index