Arbor Partner Blog

Staff in schools are working in lots of new ways right now (and harder than ever before), with School Business Managers and Leaders especially feeling the strain.

The upside is that we’re seeing more and more awareness of wellbeing and ways to prevent overload.

Last term we asked School Business Leaders within the SBL Connect network to share their top three tips for managing their workload on Twitter. There were some fantastic pieces of advice around reducing screen time, prioritising tasks and delegating to colleagues.
We’ve gathered some of the best tips below but you can check out all the activity on #WorkloadTopTips @ArborEdu.

Star advice: Clare Payne, SBM at South Lake Primary

• Complete monthly tasks as soon as possible, leaving the rest of the month for project work
• Set specific times of the day for emails and try to ignore them the rest of the time
• Set two tasks that will be completed each day, and make sure they (even if nothing else) get done

Rebecca Goddard, SBM at single form entry primary school in Swindon

• Keep a to do list
• Know when you contracts are up for renewal so you have time to look around for new ones
• Keep talking to your HT/colleagues and let them know if it’s all becoming too much

Jonny Coates, SBL and Business and Finance Director in MAT

• Empower your teams through delegation, trust and saying thanks!
• Use digital technologies to unlock efficiencies to YOUR time
• Shift your mindset. Prioritise key deadlines first. Take the time to do things in a considered way

@SBMWestSussex, Primary School Business Manager

• Automate emails as much as you can to save time and move from your inbox to a task list
• Take a break. Coming back fresh is more productive than just slogging away
• Prioritise and ditch non-essentials if necessary
  
  

How do you manage your workload? We’d love to hear from you – join the conversation: #WorkloadTopTips

If you’d like to discover how Arbor’s cloud-based MIS could transform the way you work and reduce your workload, why not join a free webinar.

With sessions tailored to primary, secondary, special schools and MATs, find out what’s on and book your place here.

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