Prioritising People over Processes

One of the most important elements in effective, profitable business planning is spending time on the plan. Planning begins with an objective evaluation of your options and opportunities. We often hear the suggestion to ‘remove the emotions and the people from the equation and make an unbiased assessment’. While this may be relevant if you are running BHP, it becomes more complicated when working in a school.

People are at the heart of everything we do. If we remove the people and emotions from our scenario – the school - we will only be left with empty grounds, scrub turkeys, dead air, and locked classrooms.

Of course, to be successful, schools must have a clear strategy and goals that align with their mission and vision. Effective management and leadership are essential, and well-designed systems and IT solutions provide significant support.

The challenge in schools is that the moment you create efficiency, you also diminish the need for human interaction and intervention. Removing humans from the decision-making and planning processes causes a school to lose its uniqueness and warmth. It may create fast, efficient, and shiny outcomes, however the sense of community and whole purpose of education would be lost. At this point, I believe any school would lose its heart.

At Grammar, relationships are our currency, and we must vigorously defend and nurture the intangible elements of our community with energy and determination.

Institutions should continuously evaluate and improve their processes to increase efficiency, but never at the expense of effectiveness and human connection. I tend to lean into the human-centric context, as I believe that efficiencies in schools should be implemented with the people in mind. We can certainly always improve our school and its processes, but if we lose the human element, then not all efficiencies are beneficial in the long term.

Open Day

On Wednesday, we hosted our third and final Open Day for 2025.

The most common response from visitors and prospective families is that they chose Grammar because of the way the school and campus make them feel! This sentiment was expressed so succinctly by one of the families visiting our campus this week:

“We were particularly impressed by the school’s commitment to its values of People, Planet, Progress, and its holistic, values-driven approach to education. The strong sense of community, the focus on striving to serve a purpose bigger than oneself, and the integration of family and connection into the school’s culture resonated deeply with us. It is clear that SCGS not only prioritises academic excellence, but also nurtures character, wellbeing, and community, which is of utmost importance to us as a family.”

Let’s never forget that it is people who create and steward culture. It’s about ‘the feels’ – not necessarily the efficiencies.