Whilst I remain convinced about the power of Operational Excellence as a framework to aid more intentional reflection against a series of codified domains, there is a more fundamental set of pillars without which no organisation can succeed.
I allude to these in my blog post What we’ve learned presiding over school business leadership professional standards for nearly a decade, but now I’m expanding the thinking.
Organisational success is fundamentally underpinned by five interrelated factors:
- Culture
- People
- Productivity
- Systems and Data
- Continuous Improvement
Organisational culture provides the shared values and behavioural norms that shape decision-making and strategic alignment, thereby fostering adaptability and performance (Schein, 2010; Kotter & Heskett, 1992).
People, as the core of organisational capability, represent a strategic asset and source of sustained competitive advantage through their skills, knowledge, and engagement (Barney, 1991; Ulrich, 1997).
Productivity reflects the organisation’s ability to transform inputs into outputs efficiently and effectively, strengthening competitiveness and enabling sustainable growth (Porter, 1985; Drucker, 1999).
The role of systems and data is equally critical, as robust systems and accurate data support informed decision-making, process integration, and operational excellence (Hammer & Champy, 1993; Davenport, 1998).
Finally, continuous improvement ensures that organisations remain agile and responsive to changing environments by embedding learning, innovation, and incremental enhancement in everyday practices (Deming, 1986; Senge, 1990).
Collectively, these five elements create a dynamic and resilient organisational ecosystem capable of sustaining high performance over time.
However, these strategic ingredients only translate into meaningful outcomes when investment in people is both intentional and supported by employers.
While individuals bear responsibility for their own professional development, evidence consistently shows that learning has the greatest impact when organisations sponsor and embed it within their strategic priorities (Noe et al., 2014; Garavan et al., 2021). Employer support amplifies the return on learning investment by ensuring alignment with organisational objectives, facilitating application of new skills, and reinforcing professional identity and value.
Furthermore, when organisations visibly value and invest in their people, it drives engagement, retention, and performance (Kraiger et al., 2004).
It is precisely for these reasons that ISBL is opening up new conversations with employer bodies, sector leaders, and organisational groups. This shift does not represent a departure from supporting the individual professional, in fact, it places the individual front and centre.
By working with employers to help them understand and act on the critical ingredients of organisational effectiveness, ISBL aims to ensure that investment in people is no longer incidental but strategic and systemic.
Encouraging employers to prioritise their workforce, starting with their people, not only strengthens professional capacity but also enhances the resilience and performance of the wider education system.
In other words, empowered individuals in empowered organisations create the conditions for sustained improvement and innovation.
References
- Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99–120.
- Davenport, T. H. (1998). Putting the enterprise into the enterprise system. Harvard Business Review, 76(4), 121–131.
- Deming, W. E. (1986). Out of the crisis. MIT Press.
- Drucker, P. F. (1999). Management challenges for the 21st century. HarperBusiness.
- Garavan, T. N., McCarthy, A., & Carbery, R. (2021). Strategic human resource development. Routledge.
- Hammer, M., & Champy, J. (1993). Reengineering the corporation. HarperBusiness.
- Kotter, J. P., & Heskett, J. L. (1992). Corporate culture and performance. Free Press.
- Kraiger, K., McLinden, D., & Casper, W. J. (2004). Collaborative planning for training impact. Human Resource Management, 43(4), 337–351.
- Noe, R. A., Clarke, A. D. M., & Klein, H. J. (2014). Learning in the twenty‐first‐century workplace. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 245–275.
- Porter, M. E. (1985). Competitive advantage. Free Press.
- Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership. Jossey-Bass.
- Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. Doubleday.
- Ulrich, D. (1997). Human resource champions. Harvard Business Press.
Stephen Morales
