Liz is joined by Unbound SBLs Emma Gray and Helen Burge to unpack what ‘value’ really means for school business leaders – and how to create more of it, even when time and money are tight.
The conversation opens with a listener challenge: an SBL facing a leadership decision that carries real financial risk, while the rest of the room seems ready to nod it through. Should they speak up or go along with the consensus? Helen and Emma talk through impact assessments, risk registers, and the courage to be the lone dissenting voice – borrowing from Edward de Bono's six thinking hats along the way.
From there, the discussion turns to what value actually looks like in practice: reducing friction in everyday systems, managing supplier contracts as relationships rather than transactions, and making the most of staffing budgets.
Emma Gray and Helen Burge have both been executive business leaders in trusts, and now support school business professionals through coaching, training and consultancy. Emma is a DfE accredited school resource management advisor, and Helen co-chairs the UK Schools Sustainability Network Operations Group. They are fans of risk management, internal scrutiny and operational excellence.
Liz Worthen’s career in education spans teaching, training, commissioning and programme development. Creating Value in Schools is all about sustainable working: taking care of people, planet and resources to secure better outcomes for children and communities.
Previous Unbound SBL episodes:
00:00 Welcome and Episode Setup
01:10 Listener Risk Dilemma
08:40 Contracts and Procurement
11:17 Staff Absence Value
17:22 Benchmarking Debate
20:01 Listener Time Crunch
24:16 Strategic Time Habits
27:56 Frogs Elephants Chocolate
29:09 New SBL First Steps
31:29 Inspiration and Wellbeing
33:37 Final Thanks and Wrap
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