Strategic Schools

Explore the idea of "frenzied stagnation" - the state where educators are busier than ever but making little meaningful progress. In this episode, Simon unpacks the "additive trap" in schools: the relentless habit of doing more without letting anything go. Tune in to reflect on your own context and begin noticing where subtraction might unlock greater clarity, impact, and sustainability in your work.

Explore the Book and Resources

📘 Get The Pruning Principle book - https://simonbreakspear.com/pruningbook/

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Leading complex improvement requires learning, making mistakes, offering alternative perspectives and asking when we aren’t sure about the next steps. To enable this, we need a safe platform for interpersonal risk-taking. In this episode, Simon hones in on the interpersonal construct of Psychological Safety. He explores its importance to team effectiveness and unpacks simple approaches to enhance it with the people you work with. 

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It’s time to move beyond the notion of heroic educational leadership. Improvement is a team sport, and leaders need to purposefully team the teams they are in. In this episode, Simon shares his concept of Team Health. He explains what it is, why it matters, and how we can all play a role in deliberately enhancing group dynamics and processes. 

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In this episode, Simon shares one of his favourite tools for helping teams reflect, learn and adapt: The Retrospective. This simple routine involves teams systematically working through a series of questions at the end of an improvement cycle. Simon unpacks the why, what and how of running a retrospective. Great teams make better mistakes in every cycle of work. The retrospective will help you do exactly that. 

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What if the answer was less? In education, we naturally tend to try to solve problems and improve things by adding additional programs, initiatives and responsibilities. Too often, we overlook subtraction as a strategy for improvement. In this episode, Simon provides some provocative frames to use as a team to explore doing less. In a time of systematic exhaustion, the pursuit of less may be just the strategy we need in order to unlock progress. 

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Building social proof is a crucial step in any school change journey. When individuals see that others within your context have embraced the change and experienced positive outcomes, they are more likely to feel confident and motivated to follow suit. Social proof serves as evidence that the proposed change is feasible and beneficial. In this episode, Simon explores why developing ‘social proof’ can be one of the most powerful ways to gain the support and early buy-in of your staff. He unpacks simple strategies you can use to accelerate your current improvement efforts. 

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We are looking for ways to better structure and organise our work during long-term improvement projects. The Kanban approach to team rapid action planning can provide enhanced clarity, motivation and transparency about what needs to be done and where things are up to. Simon shares the core components of the Kanban approach and provides guidance on how educational teams can harness the benefits of this simple and effective tool.

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Working in 5-8 week cycles can unlock new progress and momentum. At Strategic Schools, we help teams to get out of yearly implementation plans and into working in shorter, more responsive cycles of implementation work. Simon explains how you can constrain the scope of projects and focus on manageable chunks by being strict from the outside about the time the cycle will run for and the bandwidth available. Working in Responsive Action Cycles is a shift in workflow that every leader should try. 

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How can you build and sustain momentum through complex improvement journeys? In this episode, Simon identifies the overlooked role of leaders in sustaining momentum through improvement work. He unpacks simple strategies leaders can take to rebuild their team's energy, belief and motivation. 

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What are the essential things that only you can do? In our overwhelmed and overloaded state, we often lose the ability to prioritise effectively. Simon unpacks a simple framework for pausing and identifying what matters most right now. The most effective leaders never get everything done. Instead, they identify their Must Do's and relentlessly pursue them. 

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