Post college mergers – The end of the beginning
When planning a merger, or any significant organisational change, it’s easy to assume that once completed, all the initial objectives will be realised from day one (one team, cost saved, quality improved, financial security secured, etc), when in fact this is only...
The Lean Learner Journey
I’ve argued previously that there are two key perspectives to consider when looking at the learner journey - both the efficiency and the effectiveness. Getting it right on both fronts is not easy, but I’ve seen as many examples of good practice as I’ve seen colleges...
Maximising Commercial Opportunities in Further Education
Many colleges have understood for some time that reducing over-reliance on learner funding and developing alternative sources of income has been a good way to bolster finances and somewhat insulate themselves from risks to traditional funding. Focusing on training and...
How to save £1m without impacting services
The outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review has been seen by many as a welcome relief from the continued cuts in the FE sector over the last five years. With core funding for 16 - 19 year olds and adult skills budgets protected, colleges and sixth forms might be...
Doing things right, or doing the right things…
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘efficiency’? When leadership say ‘we need to be more efficient’, do you immediately start thinking that means job cuts are coming? If so, you wouldn’t be alone, but that shouldn’t always be the case, and there’s more to...
Is it time to adjust your management style?
In theory, management is designed to improve productivity, but this is increasingly not the case. In today’s workplace there is an excess management epidemic, and it is impacting your workers. Whilst a manager may believe that asking their workers for several updates...
Is poor productivity in the UK a good thing?
It’s a story that we hear over and over again from businesses in the UK: the average worker is not producing enough output for every hour that they work. The ONS has revealed that output per hour fell by 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2014, and labour productivity...