How to retire happily from FE – and do everyone else a favour
So I’m crossing the road in Brighton yesterday and there’s Frank on the other side. ‘Hello,’ he says, ‘Are you alright, then?’ Not ‘How are…
Chris Thomson
Don’t let plain English fool you: Making communication clear
If you really want to be understood, write so as to confuse. Sounds like nonsense, but believe me, there’s something in it. Thing is, if…
Don’t just do something, think about it! The words we use make a real difference
Sometimes a single phrase is enough to tell you the quality of a college’s work is going to be very, very good. Examining the documentation provided…
Be guided by what’s dependably, fundamentally certain: Einstein and the CEO
Am I alone? I confess any connection between Albert Einstein and the role of a CEO had totally escaped me. But then I heard the…
The Law of Diminishing Mission
Maybe you’ve heard the one about the three brickies on the building site? They’re all asked what they’re doing The first says: ‘Laying bricks’ The…
Keep it simple, Stupid!
As Muhammad Ali told the interviewer: “Whatever ‘truculent’ means, if that’s good, I’m that.” It can be much the same with ‘management theory’. The buzz-words…
Working with your staff, not on them
Mrs Roberts had the measure of me from the start. ‘Christopher is a bright button but somehow always towards the bottom of the tin.’ Always…
How not to spoil your lunch
We English don’t have a lot of time or space for philosophy. We like to get on with things, not sit around pondering the meaning…
Even the boss can’t see the whole truth
Once upon a time long, long ago I was a callow college Vice Principal and so wet behind the ears there was watercress. And one…
Two ways of thinking about staff training
It is a truth universally acknowledged, at least in Further Education, that the high road to outstanding quality lies in the ‘sharing of good practice’.…