Sir Steve Lancashire joins Forum Strategy as Chair of our National #TrustLeaders CEO network. Here Steve shares his reflections from the National #TrustLeaders Symposium.
I truly enjoyed our National #TrustLeaders Symposium this week and meeting so many CEOs, COOs, and Education Executives from across Forum Strategy’s networks and membership . The theme of ‘Accomplishment’ was well timed, because, however you define that term, the fact that we were all together in the same room talking about bold aspirations for Trusts’ futures (and the Trust sector’s future!) means that we had already accomplished something fairly significant. We have weathered a mighty storm and are now looking to the future – together; that is an accomplishment in itself.
The pandemic has been brutal in its impact on individuals, on society and on our work as Trust leaders. Our communities have suffered, many of us have suffered on a personal level, and society in general has suffered in so many ways. And yet, here we are this week, talking and planning for a brighter future and challenging ourselves and each other as Trust leaders to do better and to do more. To be the answer to so many questions and the solution to so many problems. This gives me tremendous hope and it emphasises the potential for doing good that sits with us as Trust leaders. We have a pivotal role to play in ensuring our schools and our communities come back stronger and even better equipped to tackle what’s in front of us next.
This question of what’s in front of us is such an interesting one. Without being alarmist, I think our world has changed. And because it has changed, what is expected of us has changed and what we need to deliver on is different too. The pandemic showed that schools are the ‘go to’ places for families and communities that are struggling, that we are trusted to be a constant in an uncertain world, and that we are in the incredibly privileged position of being able to make a real difference to so many lives.
