National Conference 2024 – ISBL CEO opening address

Opening address by Stephen Morales, ISBL CEO, at ISBL's National Conference on 28 November 2024 in Birmingham (transcript of speech as delivered)

Welcome, colleagues. It's a joy to be amongst you again, and I’m looking forward to spending the next two days in your company.

I’m not going to hold you up unduly as I’m conscious you’re all keen to hear from our line-up of esteemed speakers.

But let me ask three quick questions — raise your hand if you’re here to be inspired, again to learn and improve, and thirdly to feel valued. Great — let’s see if we can meet — and hopefully exceed — all your expectations.

Let me preface my address by saying that excellence is evident amongst you all; you’re all awesome and frankly often still both underappreciated and underestimated.

Part of the problem we continue to face is the extent to which all education leaders and governance colleagues recognise that effective operations really matter — after all, this is surely central to ensuring an optimal learning environment for both children and their teachers.

If you understand the importance of good operations management, then the value of the SBP becomes undeniable.

This year’s conference has the theme of operational excellence [OpEx], and you’ll hear from a range of experts and great speakers on the subject. We’ll be unpacking our research and explaining how the new OpEx framework can help every school type and structure transform its operations. OpEx has opened the door to a new conversation about the importance of well-run operations and the role of SBPs who lead the effort.

But I'm going to take the subject of excellence in a slightly different direction for one moment.

In an uncertain world with significant geopolitical tensions, I’d like to talk about the importance of “Societal Excellence” (if you like, our social contract with each other) — one that celebrates difference, is tolerant of each other and is committed to community. The hope for a world that works for the many, not just the few.

I realise I'm a walking cliché — a white, middle-aged, slightly too heavy man enjoying unquestionable privilege.

But because I have a platform, I also have a duty to use it responsibly and for the greater good.

Some of you will know that I chair a sector leaders’ EDI forum and participate in the Ethical Leadership Alliance along with other sector bodies.

We publicly reject in the strongest terms any form of misogyny, racism, homophobia or discrimination related to disability. But I’m acutely conscious that headline statements, meetings and warm words don’t change things on their own. What matters are our collective actions — our job as leaders is to change behaviour and attitudes.

Diversity and difference bring colour to our existence. We know that the best teams celebrate and embrace a range of perspectives, knowledge, skills and indeed cultural reference points. Read Mathew Syed’s Rebel Ideas.

We cannot be truly excellent if we’re not prepared to learn from others, to listen to new thinking and explore new ways of working.

We need to encourage all actors in our system to work together in the interest of the young people we serve. MATs and maintained school colleagues, heads and their SBPs, trust boards and local governing bodies, LAs and central government, unions and employer bodies — we all need to find a way to rub along.

Now linking things to operational excellence — If we are not curious enough to try new things, how can we learn?

We know that young children learn most through experimentation; it is at the very heart of human development.

But as adults and mature professionals, that adventurous curiosity doesn’t need to fade. In order to benefit from rich, professionally meaningful relationships and the sharing of innovation, we need to be open-minded and accepting of each other's points of view and indeed be prepared for change.

Young children don’t discriminate; they take things at face value. It’s only as they grow older that they learn to become biased — to environments, to people, to culture and to change. Regrettably, over time, this often becomes hardwired.

As professionals in education, we need to do more to stem the influences of bias and encourage each other not only to embrace difference but to love it.

It starts with us all — in our work, in our interactions, indeed in our actions.

Along with strategy, execution and influence, the fourth domain of effective leadership is Collaboration & Relationship Building.

It requires us to be adaptable, to believe in the power of connectedness, to possess a keenness to develop others, to be empathetic, to seek harmony, to be inclusive, to promote individualisation, to be positive, and to have an ability to relate and empathise.

Today we celebrate excellence in our work, but let’s also make sure we don’t forget excellence in our human interactions.

The pursuit of excellence is a never-ending journey, not a destination. If we chase perfection, we might get close to excellence — but continuous improvement by its very nature is ongoing; it’s about constantly looking for ways to be better.

The pace and enthusiasm with which we pursue improvement is a personal choice and needs to come from within. There is only so much that can be achieved via prescription and mandation — as soon as the fear of consequence is taken away, if we’re not personally committed to improvement, there is real a danger that we revert to type. That’s why regulation and accountability measures only get us so far. To really improve, we need cultural and behavioural change.

We need to run towards improvement and not hide away from it — defining ourselves only through compliance and the completion of tasks — a kind of ‘that’ll do’ attitude can’t be the limit of our ambition.

But together with OpEx, an intentional commitment to improving and a true sense of community, we can be awesome leaders.

But let's not stop there. We should remember that the thing that bothers our young people most is the future of the planet. Ensuring we do everything possible to reduce our carbon emissions is a responsibility that we all need to own.

We’ve just published our sustainability standards, so please take the time to speak to our resident sustainability champion Paul Edmond. Paul will be leading a dedicated workshop on this important subject. Paul, would you mind just letting yourself be known to delegates.

I’m going to finish with a short but powerful video describing the pursuit of excellence and the relentless endeavour to improve.

I’d like to forewarn you that the three narrators have a colloquial and passionate delivery style that is quite high octane – but these extraordinary leaders have achieved incredible success from very humble beginnings and so their authenticity should go unquestioned.

Focus on the words, not the images, and remember to apply the themes to your own very personal context — this is not about us all being world champions, but simply the very best versions of ourselves — and as I said at the start, you are all superheroes in your own very special and unique way.

Enjoy the VT, pay attention to the message, and we’ll come back together in a moment.

Colleagues, enjoy conference!