ARTICLE

Better together

By any analysis, boards and management teams are under closer scrutiny now than ever before.

The Commissioner, banks, auditors, as well as the usual agencies, are all paying close attention now that the safety net of Education Financial Services (EFS) has been removed and the high wire has been raised to make the fall from grace that much harder.

Some have argued that this is a good thing, that it will focus the mind of senior staff and principals who presumably have been daydreaming their way to perdition to date. I am not sure of that argument. I am not sure that it has worked that effectively as a management tool in the private sector. I’d also argue that if you introduce a lion into the room you’ll tend to focus on the lion even if you were about to make the final breakthrough in your search for the common cold cure before Leo came into your life: I digress.

What I do feel more certain about is that there has never been a time when the sector has to work together to argue its case and its value in developing the skills of the current workforce and the one to come.

The AoC’s ‘Love Our Colleges’ campaign is important. Just as important is the mutual support Principals give each other. We all know that nothing prepares you for the job. And no matter your route to the chair, or your approach to leadership, you have something in common. I never got the ‘it's lonely at the top’ argument. I had people in the senior team and the Board to share with. I also had a great group of fellow principals that I could call for advice, a chat or a rant. I also knew that if I needed to I could call a principal I didn’t know and the likelihood was that they would take the call and help. That support was vital then and even more now. The collective wisdom and strength of the sector is powerful and not just in lobbying but in terms of personal support. We should do all we can to harness it.