Insights
We regularly produce articles that we hope will inform, inspire, and provide insights into school strategy and leadership.
You Call It Transparency. Your Team Calls It Something Else. New
Transparency isn’t about saying more. It’s about removing uncertainty so people can act. Overshare and you create noise. Say too little and you create doubt. The real skill? Knowing the difference when it matters most.
New Title. Old You. Now What?
Promotion changes expectations overnight, but identity evolves slower. You are not failing, you are forming. The leaders who thrive treat growth as a discipline, not a hope, and give themselves permission to become the person the role now requires.
Are Schools Ready to Face the Next 10 Years?
Australian schools face a future shaped by AI, workforce shortages, fee pressure and social change. Planning harder won’t be enough. Scenario-Informed Strategy helps leaders draw future uncertainty into today’s choices, assumptions and governance conversations.
Four Red Flags of School Strategy That Limit Effective Curriculum Planning
Strategy doesn’t fail in schools because leaders don’t care. It fails because planning is mistaken for strategy. When strategic choices are unclear, curriculum is forced to compensate. Clear strategy simplifies priorities. Curriculum then does what it’s meant to do: translate intent into learning.
Onboarding For Cultural Fit Is a Tactical Leadership Act
Onboarding for cultural fit is not an HR task or a January checklist. It is a tactical leadership act lived through daily signals, decisions, and behaviours. When many staff start together, culture is briefly teachable. Miss that window and misalignment compounds fast.
How Do Schools Win? First, Stop Playing Everyone Else’s Game.
Winning makes schools uncomfortable. Yet winning doesn’t mean beating others. It means coherence — making deliberate choices about what matters, and resisting the temptation to chase borrowed scoreboards or endless priorities.
A Plan Is Not a Strategy
Schools don’t need bigger plans. They need sharper choices. Strategy is the playing field you choose and the way you win on it, not a list of actions. When schools shift from plans to positioning, everything else starts to make sense.
The Report Card for Strategy: What Would Yours Say?
Most schools wait until January to review their strategy — but the learning is already gone by then. The smartest leaders pause before the year ends, while the insights are still warm, the data is still real, and the culture is still listening.
Why There’s Nothing Strategic About Pillars
Strategic pillars look stable but fracture true alignment. This post explores why schools default to pillar models, how they limit execution and choice, and why cascading goals create measurable, purpose-driven strategy.
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