You're not alone if, at times, the holy grail of strategy (aka the "value proposition") has eluded the hours, maybe weeks and months committed to mining its existence. You know your school is special. There is something immeasurably different, but compared to others, it just seems so - meh!

When school leaders think about creating value, the usual suspects show up: academic results, building upgrades, technology plans, maybe even a shiny new strategic document. But what if we’re over-engineering it? What if the most powerful levers of value are the most human ones?

There are two.

Grow customer delight. Grow employee satisfaction.

Simple. But far from easy.

1. Grow Customer Delight

Let’s start with a hard truth: most parents don’t actually know if your curriculum is excellent or your pedagogy is research-based. What they do know is whether their child is excited to come to school, and whether they feel seen, heard, and valued.

Please reread that last sentence if your hackles bristled on the first pass.

Delight isn’t the same as satisfaction. Satisfaction is a baseline; delight is when someone goes out of their way to sing your praises. It’s the stuff five-star reviews are made of.

And in schools, delight is surprisingly simple. In Berkowicz and Myers' article, 7 Ways to Cultivate Delight in Schools  the authors tap into these forms:

1. Delight in the Invitation: A genuine, personal invitation to participate in school life can create a powerful sense of belonging and connection. Think curiosity and wonder.
2. Delight in the Mission: When school life visibly aligns with its mission, and not just in lip service, it deepens the authenticity of the educational experience.
3. Delight in the Purpose: Recognising the deeper meaning behind teaching and learning renews motivation and joy. Nurturing and championing the extraordinary potential of every child.
4. Delight in the ‘Sacred Moments’: Focusing on present experiences—play, wonder, connection—anchors daily joy. Living in the moment and recognising that each experience is rich and has value.
5. Delight in the Relationships: Authentic connections that influence and impact students are borne from the notion, “They don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
6. Delight in the Children: Making a difference is the concept. Their journeys are never the same because, as individuals, they each have something to offer.
7. Delight in the Possibilities: Supporting perseverance and growth transforms challenge into opportunity and meaning. Encourage anxious students to attend overnight excursions, and put in mechanisms for them to succeed, rather than allowing them to stay home.

Here are five ways this might look in practice:

• In the last five minutes of each day, the Year 5 teacher summarises all the day's achievements so that when students hop in the car with their parents, their response to "What did you do today?" isn't "Nothing".
• The principal invites students to voice their opinions in uniform policy discussions and implement changes.
• Staff decorate the entryway for the first day of school, creating a joyful, unexpected welcome.
• A school hosts a 'gratitude wall' where students and staff post daily appreciation notes.
• Senior leaders schedule weekly 'walk-and-talks' to listen to staff reflections on purpose and challenge.

Delight is emotional. It’s personal. And it’s contagious.

It’s also what drives enrolments, retention, and reputation. Marketing may get people to your front gate. But delight is what gets them talking at netball games and café catchups. Even the car park is abuzz with positive parents extolling the virtues of the school, its leadership, and its excellent teachers. That’s where your real marketing happens.

So, ask: where in your school’s experience is there room for joy, surprise, or a simple human touch?

2. Grow Employee Satisfaction

Now let’s talk staff.

Because here’s the thing—your strategy, teaching model, and values—they don’t live in a document. They live among your people. And your people are either thriving or surviving.

Employee satisfaction doesn’t mean everyone gets what they want. It means they’re aligned with purpose, supported by leadership, and trusted to do the work well. And yes, it means they’re not burned out from covering three roles.

Want to know how to improve employee satisfaction? Jamie Birt's article, How to Improve Employee Satisfaction (With 11 Strategies), offers these insights:

1.      Research what employees want: Here’s a novel idea. While surveys provide a macro view, drilling into smaller focus groups can uncover the real gems.

 2.      Ensure employees get respect: Often, we take the view that respect is earned, not given. I’d proffer that they gained respect the day they were hired at your school. You saw something of value in them at that point, so it can only be lost, not gained.

 3.      Review pay and benefits packages: Ok, your staff are covered by an award or an enterprise agreement. There’s nothing in those documents that states you can’t pay them more, in salaries or bonuses.

 4.      Enhance job security: Short-term contracts may be helpful for some employees, but rarely for all.

 5.      Create opportunities for employees to use and develop relevant skills: Opportunities for employees don’t always need to be promotions. Develop projects and working groups that draw on employees' skillsets.

 6.      Improve relationships with immediate supervisors: Just do it.

 7.      Demonstrate organisational stability: It baffles me that school employees rarely understand the financials of a school. Firstly, it’s publicly available. But more importantly, it should be discussed so they know leadership priorities, budgets, and long-term direction.

 8.      Recognise job performance: And, I’ll add – do it regularly… like this afternoon when your subordinate leaves for the day, thank them for their effort and mention at least one significant achievement, as though you were paying attention to what they did in the past 8+ hours.

 9.      Prioritise corporate social responsibility: Make it a requirement that employees need to participate in one activity each year: World’s Greatest Shave, Movember, Biggest Morning Tea, Jump Rope for Heart, etc.

 10.  Welcome ideas from all employees: At least have a suggestion box.

 11.  Create an inviting workspace: This probably should have been #1.

A satisfied staff member:

• Stays longer and teaches better.
• Contributes to your long-term plans with passion and personal commitment
• Speaks well of your school.

And in a sector where recruitment is brutal and burnout is endemic, that’s not a nice-to-have. That’s a survival strategy.

Want to start today? Try this: ask your staff, “What’s getting in your way?” Then do something about it. Nothing says, “we value you”, like solving a problem that makes their job easier.

The Interplay: Why You Can’t Do One Without the Other

Delighted parents come from fulfilled staff. It’s that simple.

A toxic culture might squeeze out short-term results, but it will erode your reputation and your people from the inside out. Similarly, a feel-good culture with no performance edge eventually runs out of gas.

But get both right? You’ll be amazed at how quickly enrolments grow, word spreads, and staff start referring their friends to apply.

Value is a Byproduct of Culture

Here’s the punchline: value isn’t something you add on top of good operations. It is the operation.

If you want to be future-ready, stop chasing complexity and start investing in the two things that move everything else: the experience of your people and the experience of your families.

Because in the end, a great school does not do everything. It leaves people better than it found them—students, staff, and families alike.

And that’s the kind of value no spreadsheet can measure.