Few school and trust leaders would deny that the operational capacity challenge has become acute in recent years, with rising costs, static budgets, and recruitment and retention issues all adding to the pressure.
While politicians continue to deliberate over the level of future investment in critical public services, a more immediate answer to the challenge, I believe, could be closer than we think.
OpEx – operational excellence – provides us with the tools and a framework to systematically ensure efficient and effective operational processes that could be genuinely transformative. OpEx is a well-embedded industry methodology but absolutely applicable to schools and trusts of any size.
A new ISBL report, A study into the applicability of Operational Excellence to education systems, shows that most schools and school trusts could create between 20 and 30 per cent extra operational capacity if they adopted OpEx – a discipline which already has a track record of delivering similar gains across business and the public sector.
OpEx is defined as “the cultural transformation and technical enablement of an organisation that allows it to perform optimally and achieve its strategic objectives”. Simply, it is about reflecting on what we do and asking ourselves the question: are there incremental improvements that can be made?
It is about identifying operational processes that create waste in functions such as finance, HR, payroll, procurement, contract/supplier management, technology services and estates management, and then reducing and even eliminating that waste over time through small, incremental improvements.
Forms that take too long to complete, duplicate data entries and errors that result in rework are just a few examples of processes that create that waste and are ripe for improvement.
The report will be launched at an ISBL-hosted event on Thursday 3 October, together with a practical framework that trusts and schools large and small can use to analyse their needs and guide their OpEx approaches.
Our report reveals that just 20 per cent of trusts have currently adopted OpEx or OpEx-type approaches. This, I believe, creates a game-changing opportunity for most trusts and schools.
During the research, senior trust executives talked at length about a range of pressures facing trusts, including educational outcomes, behaviour, attendance, SEND and safeguarding, rising costs, and retention and recruitment.
OpEx can directly and indirectly help in all these areas. Here’s how.
Enabling educational excellence
OpEx can help to create the conditions for educational excellence by giving teachers and headteachers everything they need to do their jobs well, such as technology that works, lesson materials when they are needed, and high-quality recruits.
OpEx can also increase staff motivation and reduce attrition by showing them that things are improving and giving them hope for the future.
Capacity creation
While our researchers found some great examples of OpEx in action, they also found several examples of waste in central-function teams. This was driven by inefficient processes, defects, miscommunication, weak operations management, inefficient allocation of resources to work, and staff with insufficient process skills.
OpEx reduces this waste, freeing up time in everyone’s day – capacity which can be reinvested in more impactful activities.
Operational risk management
Most trust boards would claim they have strong risk management due to the requirements of good governance. But our trust visits did reveal a blind spot of operational risk management due to weaknesses in process and quality control.
Policies and procedures are in place to manage risk. However, we found that understanding and use of in-process quality control (looking at the work being done, assessing its quality and ensuring that corrective actions are in place) is still limited.
This can give a false level of confidence that risk is being controlled at the front line. OpEx includes a suite of quality-management tools that ensure there is robust real-time control of the work being done.
Culture change
Trusts that have begun to invest in OpEx revealed that their efforts have had a significant impact on the trust’s culture. Looking at processes and errors from beginning to end has prompted new conversations between staff members and improved cooperation and teamwork.
Although our researchers found lots of good practice, there was little evidence of a deliberate and embedded OpEx approach. That means there’s a huge prize waiting for our sector.
Implementing OpEx will require an investment of time and resources, but done well, it should pay for itself many times over. It’s time to seize the opportunity.
