But amidst the chaos, there’s a valuable skill to be honed: juggling. Like a circus performer, you can learn to balance multiple tasks, prioritise effectively, and meet deadlines without losing your sanity. 

Understanding Your Natural Style 

The first step to effective juggling is understanding your natural behavioural style. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you prioritise tasks, delegate effectively, and manage your time efficiently. 

Setting Priorities and Goals 

Just like a skilled juggler knows which balls to focus on at any given moment, you need to be able to identify the most important tasks and delegate or postpone less urgent ones. 

• Prioritise tasks: Not all tasks are created equal. Identify the most critical and urgent tasks and focus on completing them first. 

• Set realistic goals: Break down large tasks into smaller, more manageable steps. This will help you stay motivated and track your progress. 

• Avoid procrastination: Procrastination can lead to stress and overwhelm. Tackle tasks promptly and efficiently. 

Time Management Techniques 

• Time blocking: Allocate specific time blocks for different tasks to stay organised and focused. 

• The Pomodoro Technique: Work in focused 25-minute intervals followed by short breaks. 

• Delegate effectively: Don’t be afraid to delegate tasks to others, especially if they can be handled by someone else. 

Self-Care and Well-being 

Remember, you can only juggle effectively if you’re taking care of yourself. It’s important to make time for self-care. A healthy mind and body are essential for juggling the demands of school life. 

• Take breaks: Schedule regular breaks throughout your day to rest and recharge. 

• Prioritise sleep: Ensure you get enough quality sleep to function at your best. 

• Manage stress: Practice stress-reduction techniques like meditation, exercise, or deep breathing. 

• Set boundaries: Learn to say no to additional tasks or commitments when you’re feeling overwhelmed. 

Building a Support Network 

Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Lean on your colleagues, friends, and family for support and encouragement. 

• Collaborate with colleagues: Work together with your colleagues to share workloads and support each other. 

• Communicate with parents: Keep parents informed about their child’s progress and any challenges they may be facing. 

JFS: Your Partner in Juggling Success 

At Just For Schools, we understand the challenges of juggling multiple responsibilities in a school environment. Our professional development programs can equip you with the tools and strategies you need to succeed. 

Contact us today to learn more about our training programs on teamwork, time management, and productivity. By mastering these skills, you can become more effective and efficient while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. 

Remember, juggling the circus of school life is a challenge, but it can be overcome with the right strategies and mindset. So, keep spinning those plates, balancing those balls, and, most importantly, take care of yourself along the way! 

The post Juggling the School Circus: Balancing Work and Responsibilities appeared first on Just For Schools.

Step 1: Get a Mentor

Don’t underestimate the power of mentorship. Seek out someone in your network who has excelled as a School Business Manager and offer them a token of appreciation, whether it’s dinner, wine, coffee, or chocolate. Prepare a list of topics or issues you want to discuss, and take advantage of their wisdom and guidance. Over time, you’ll notice recurring themes and find solutions that will pave the way for Step 2.

Step 2: Get Trained

Investing in your professional development is key to becoming a respected and successful School Business Manager. There are various training options available to suit your needs, from obtaining a full qualification to honing specific skills such as Time Management, Assertiveness, or Communication. Choose wisely, considering factors like cost, quality, and content. If you need assistance in navigating the options, our team at Just For Schools is here to help you make informed decisions.

Step 3: Get a Specialist

As a School Business Manager, your expertise lies in managing and leading your team, not necessarily in training them. Avoid wasting time and resources by attempting to train your staff on your own. Instead, enlist the services of training specialists who understand your unique business, concerns, goals, and team dynamics. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t cut it. Look for providers who can design tailored programs that cater to diverse learning and behavioural styles of your Education Support Staff.

By implementing these three steps, you’ll transform your role as a School Business Manager, leading and managing your team of customer service staff with confidence and effectiveness. Remember, those who combine fun with the right learning opportunities for their teams are highly valued and sought after in every industry.

Ready to take your Education Support Staff to new heights of excellence in customer service and teamwork? Contact Just For Schools today to schedule a training session customised to your school’s unique needs. Let us help you unlock the potential within your team, ensuring outstanding service for teachers, parents, students, stakeholders, and the wider community. Don’t wait! Empower your team and elevate your school’s success now!

The post Mastering the Top 3 Challenges in Leading Education Support Teams appeared first on Just For Schools.

The game show I’ve been hosting is called – “What stops you … ?”

I’ve surveyed thousands of Education Support Staff from all kinds of schools across Australia; from Perth to Port Fairy, Melbourne to Mildura, Geelong to Gippsland, Brisbane to Ballarat and beyond.

When I finish the sentence as “What stops you… from providing excellent customer service to every customer at your school, every day?’ the responses come at me fast! It takes no time at all for the attendees in my Onsite Training sessions to confirm their roadblocks, and here are just a few:

• Time – So much to do and pressure to do it all as well as balancing the customer needs

• ‘Chatterboxes’ – Customers who like to chat and chat and chat

• Rudeness – Customers who speak down to staff, use offensive language, etc.

• Fatigue – Years and years of doing the same thing and not being offered new things to do at work

• Coworker conflict – It’s hard to remain positive when you don’t ‘like’ who you work with

• External Concerns – Things outside of work making it hard to concentrate and be positive

• No/Low Teamwork – Some ESS bother and some don’t, so why should I?

That’s quite a list, but I could go on and on. 

Ultimately, ESS often feel like they are the ‘bottom of the ladder’ when it comes to their needs being met. No, not all attendees feel this way, but many, many do.

It’s a feeling of being underappreciated and when given the chance, they want someone to know how they feel. The good news is, they are also quick to confirm what they feel would help them improve their service.

They often present the above roadblocks as things outside their control, things that others need to stop, start or fix for them. In reality, if you re-read the above list, all the roadblocks are within their control to stop, start or fix.

Everything on the list is related to Emotional Intelligence. Low levels of EQ is the #1 reason ESS want to give up, leave a role, stop trying, etc. etc.

EQ is related to how we recognise and manage our emotions, as well as being empathetic to the emotions of others. The roadblocks above exist because they elicit a negative/challenging feeling.

Ask your ESS, “What stops you from providing excellent customer service all day, to every customer at the school?”

Listen first, and if necessary, remind ESS that the question is what THEY can do as individuals, not what they want other people to do to remove the roadblock.

• Time – We can’t get more time, but we can learn how to spend it wisely. The first step is to note where time is spent each day and then review for ways to use it better.

• ‘Chatterboxes’ – Practice delivering this phrase with professional body language/tone of voice “It’s been so great to speak with you, but I need to move on, so none of our customers are kept waiting.”

• Rude Customers – This requires self-care. Take time every day to reflect on how well you handle those situations and share your challenges with the team, so others can learn from you and support you.

• Fatigue – Take your leave, your RDO’s, and your breaks each day. Look for new things to learn, and share your skills with new staff.

• Coworker conflict – This requires assertiveness (respecting the rights, needs and feelings of the other person as well as yourself). Speak to the staff member involved with the goal of a win-win outcome.

• External Concerns – Acknowledge your challenges to your direct School Business Manager/Leader. They are there to help. Saying nothing makes it harder for you and everyone around you.

• No Teamwork – Start the conversation with the Manager/Leader. Bring them a positive attitude and be armed with solutions, as nothing breaks a team faster than negativity and blame.

All of the above solutions require a degree of skill, and ESS without the skills of negotiation, communication, assertiveness and prioritising will struggle to implement them.

Just For Schools provides Professional Development to develop those skills.

CLICK HERE to see our full list of training topics. ESS with high levels of EQ, regularly self assess and self regulate. They start their days feeling confident, and they end their days feeling the same way. It’s EQ in action – all day.

Contact us today to help improve the EQ of your customer service staff.

By Cate Schreck – Service Excellence Coach and Author

The post The #1 Reason Education Support Staff Give Up appeared first on Just For Schools.

They tell me they recruited ESS that had the skills and the enthusiasm for providing consistently excellent service and in the first few weeks or months of them commencing in their role, they did provide that great service.

But over time, the motivated and customer-focused employee “care-factor” for providing excellent service had diminished, and their own needs started to replace that of the school and the customers – which includes everyone from students, parents, and the community.

When one, two or a few ESS are allowed to drop their standards, you risk existing service excellence-focused staff feeling taken for granted. Before you know it, you have a team of people providing inconsistent levels of service. Once the school community senses staff are losing interest in them, they will lose interest in the school.

Service excellence lights don’t go out overnight. They dim and flicker first, and this is the sign you need to do some maintenance.

If you are in this place, or you are worried it could happen, below are the 5 things you can do to re-ignite (or keep bright) the service excellence lights in your ESS.

1.     Be clear on what you expect

Don’t assume your ESS knows what service excellence is and how to do it. Too many times, employees are left to use their common sense in this area. Service excellence is not common sense or a “one size fits all” approach. To have all customers delighted and tell everyone they know about your fantasy team and school, you need service excellence standards in place. Be proactive and put time aside to create your own specific customer service standards and yes, write them down.

2.     Talk to your ESS

Once you have written standards, you need to confirm your staff understand them and have the skills to implement them. Talk to your staff – preferably face to face. Your ESS can make or break a school, so you must make time for individual Service Excellence conversations. Hearing you speak about your service standards will confirm to staff how important the standards are and how much power and value they (the staff) have at the school.

3.     Ask staff what they need

Once the team is clear on the standards, ask them what would stop them from achieving those standards consistently and what they would need to remove that stop sign. Let them share their limitations and write those down. Writing limitations on paper or a whiteboard, with a column for solutions, shows that you intend to help them solve the problem. Encourage the team to help each other with any limitations.

4.     Consider outsourcing the solution

Well, of course I would say that, I am a service specialist trainer, after all. But, there are many reasons why you should consider engaging external training support. Whether it’s the soft skills (people skills) of the role or the hard skills (technical skills), do you really have the time and skills to train your ESS? Do you understand adult learning styles, customer expectations, what motivates people to learn and how to adjust your training to suit each staff member? If you do, great, but if not, get an expert for expert results, or you could be wasting time – yours and your that of your ESS.

5.     Step back and let them try

Make it OK for staff to make mistakes – it really is a powerful learning tool. Give them feedback on interactions that were carried out well, and help your ESS review the ones that could have been better. Build their confidence by telling them you know they will do better next time.

Final Note: When creating your service standards, be specific and most importantly, ask your school community for input. After all, it’s your community who determines if your school provides excellent service, not you and not your staff.

To create a culture of service excellence, ESS need to feel valued and motivated. The best way to do that is with practical, relevant and motivational professional development. Find out how you can keep those service excellence lights of your team on full power with The Zone and Onsite Training services.

By Cate Schreck – Author of “The A-Z of Service Excellence”. 

The post 5 Ways to “Power Up” Your Education Support Staff’s Lights appeared first on Just For Schools.