Three Things Leaders Can Do to Release the Workload Pressure

The audience was amazed by Principal of the Year, Lee Musemici’s courageous response to a question that haunts leaders everyday – workload and how to tackle burnout. At last Friday’s “Leading a Positive School Culture” seminar, Tracey Irving, Deputy Principal of Gwynne Park Primary School asked a question which is on everyone’s mind as we draw closer to the end of term: “How do you manage the large workload and high expectations of staff and sustaining a positive culture and low staff burnout?” It is the elephant in the room when speaking about culture. All very well having great ideas, but implementation can be a curse on an already full day of work. Educators are full to the brim with stuff to be monitored and completed. The responses from the panel were enlightening to say the least. They did not defend the workload, but offered real solutions that make a big difference to culture and wellbeing. I loved Lee Musemici’s courageous response that resonates as a real solution that would be paid back in spades as only valued staff can. “How do you manage the large workload and high expectations of staff and sustaining a positive culture and low staff burnout?” We are always checking the emotional pulse of the school. How are people feeling? What is the general feel of the educators? Are they coping? When we find people are flat from the pressure that we have applied, then we relieve the pressure by cancelling the non-urgent commitments.

1. Cancel a scheduled staff meeting. Maybe an email will do and follow up at the next meeting.

2. Cancel a pending assembly item. If it is too stressful for the teacher due to outside influences or mental capacity to cope, then we don’t have an item. Lee sends a message to the community informing them of the change. We pull back all the pressures we have applied.

3. We also know the term gets busy, so we allocate two weeks out of every term for a reset, re-energise and refocus. No excursions. No incursions. No meetings.

The response bought a sense of empowerment to the leaders as it became very apparent that school leaders can be innovative with solving real peoples' issues that are barriers to better teaching and learning for students. Enjoy your well-earned break and maybe you could investigate the implementation of a Reset, Re-energise, Refocus week. Couldn’t hurt?