


Praise and Recognition
(Catch Staff Doing the Right Things)
Managing by Walking About
My journey to founding and now leading Welbee has been a fortunate one for developing my leadership skills. A first job at just 21, selling insurance, to Headteachers among others, gave me exposure to senior people and confidence to talk to them. It also helped me to develop a thick skin and 18 months later earned a place on the Graduate scheme for Halifax Building Society (as it was then - before it became a bank, HBOS and now part of Lloyds).
That led to my first appointment as a branch manager just three years later and to Area Management and then an Operating Board position as Retail Director of Sainsbury's Bank as I turned 40. That was my first career and that last role in particular added a lot, as it involved managing people who had employment contracts from three distinct businesses and cultures - the Bank, HBOS and Sainsbury's.
The skills learnt enabled me to co-found a national charity, taking Olympians into schools, and subsequently over 12 years (and continuing) working with hundreds of schools, Trusts and thousands of leaders, including a stint as programme lead for Ambition Institute's 'Building a Sustainable MAT' programme.
The foundations that enabled me to do all this came from the training and development in my time as a graduate trainee - this set me up to lead people and build highly effective teams and organisations. The level of support I received is something that is sadly not commonly available in education, where many leaders are self-taught or copy what they see from others.
I was very lucky to have a fantastic boss on my first appointment as a branch manager, and this has undoubtedly had a big impact on everything that followed. I was coached, supported, challenged and allowed to make mistakes. As a result my skills built rapidly.
Yet even before this and among the many development courses I attended, one stands out. It had the snappy title, 'Managing by Walking About (MBWA)' - also called Managing by Wandering Around or Managing by Walking Around. This was over 35 years ago, so I am showing my age. It also means this is not some new idea or training, but something that should be a cornerstone competency for every leader - and the good news is that it is a learnable competency.
The challenges
Let's get some of the challenges out of the way first as there are some in the education sector that other sectors do not experience.
- Teaching staff are spread around classrooms and much of the work schools do is timetabled. The opportunity to drop in on people is harder.
- Leaders continue to undertake much of their previous role, particularly teaching middle leaders, reducing their capacity to undertake those things leaders are likely to do in other sectors.
- Training opportunities are limited and when provided are not always delivered in the most ideal way, for example through Inset days or twilight sessions after a busy day. There tends to be little focus on embedding learning, again due to limited capacity, with a quick move to the next task.
- Leaders often remain subject matter experts, when they also need to be people experts - yet there is little focus on how to lead people in much of the training that is available.
I am sure you can add more barriers to this, including workload and the available time to get core work done. Yet the impact of finding time to walk about, to engage with team members and other staff, to effectively praise and recognise them, cannot be understated. From the results we see from our customers, this is the quickest and most impactful way to improve staff wellbeing and performance.
What do we mean by MBWA?
It means exactly what it says - taking time out, ideally every day, to walk about and interact with team members and with a specific objective. A core one should always be a focus on catching them doing the right things.
MBWA might suggest simply finding time to walk around with little thought and to see what happens. Yet it is a deliberate strategy, to ask how people are, keep on top of their work situation, and to understand their interests and ideas. Those doing it effectively need to have and deploy a range of skills, including being able to effectively observe, ask questions, actively listen, show empathy, appraise, hold to account and recognise people.
They also need to be authentic, and I know speaking to many leaders, that they often feel awkward saying well done and are unsure of the words to use or the likely reaction of staff. They are wary of upsetting people too and it is why training and practice is so important.
I have an open door policy!
Many leaders tell me about their open door policy and how staff can drop in and see them whenever needed. There are significant challenges with this.
- Not all staff will drop in and leaders miss the opportunity to engage more fully.
- Staff may see how busy the leader is and not disturb them.
- When they do drop in, if the leader was busy with work, it is likely they may not find it easy to quickly tune in to the staff member and this may come over.
- If the leader is doing important work, then the interruption could add significantly to the time it takes, and frequent interruptions will actually reduce the time a leader has available to be with staff.
Rather than an open door policy, help leaders advertise when they are available, and when they are not and to adopt MBWA as a behaviour and to work to be come good at it.
It maybe a leader can only find 10 minutes in a day, and speak to a couple of their team and over a week this will add up. Add to this being visible in different places, including the staff room and at key times (again it only needs to be for a short period) and staff will start to see them around the school. Encourage them to start and build the skills needed through practise, rather than waiting until they have all the skills in place before they start.
How do Leaders MBWA?
First they need to overcome that feeling they are too busy and plan for it. Carve out time and ring-fence this in the calendar and treat it as if it were a lesson and non-negotiable. The impact it will have means it should be a priority.
Think about key topics and things that might be going on and think through conversation starters you can use. Keep it simple and treat it as you would any casual conversation. Ask questions and be curious, but make sure you are not interrogating or being intrusive. You can ask them how they are, about work and what they have on and also what might be going on for them out of work.
After asking, remember to listen and follow up on what they say. While you can work out a range of questions before starting, don't try and think of what to say next while they are talking - it is OK to have a gap after they finish. When they see you are interested in what they are doing or have to say, they are likely to open up and be more receptive. This builds rapport.
To do it even more effectively leaders can plan their route and the people they intend to speak with and ensure this changes. They don't want staff to say, 'here they come again', as they take the same route or do the same thing. They can also use a spreadsheet or checklist to cover all their staff and to check who they have checked in with over a week, month, half-term or term. Often people spend more time with those who work near them or who they feel more comfortable talking with, and this provides a sense check to make sure their time is effectively spread.

One key part of MBWA is catching people doing the right things. This goes beyond the plan and covers anytime a leader is outside their place of work, whether that is an office, classroom or elsewhere. It is what the video tip above is about. It means being present and in the moment and not thinking about all the tasks that need doing, while walking through the school.
Instead, just as teachers do in the classroom, be on the look out for anything that you can praise. It has to be authentic and specific, yet so many great things happen everyday in and across your MAT and schools, that finding them will not be difficult, if leaders are looking for them. Doing this, not only shows staff you value them, it reinforces the behaviours and actions you want to see.
For many leaders it will require a change in behaviour, and in some cases these have been embedded for some time. What can you do to support developing this approach?
- Provide support and training, even if it is simply creating time to talk about it and share experiences. As part of this encourage leaders to set themselves a trigger at the end of each day to remind them that they were to catch someone doing something right that day. For example a post-it on the steering wheel, a calendar notice or alarm on the phone.
- Build discussing MBWA and catching people doing things right into senior team meetings - every two or three weeks. Not to ask people to bring a list of who they have praised as this will simply make it a chore and add stress. Rather create a psychologically safe place (same for the training in 1 above) where they can talk about how they are finding it, including admitting difficulties. By continuing to share you will help it become a leadership habit and others are likely to copy across the MAT.
- Include it as an objective in the appraisals of leaders and make how they deliver as important as what they deliver.
- As a senior team, make sure you are role models and that you coach other leaders on developing this important skill.
Managing by Walking about is not new - it has been with us since the 1970s. Yet for many leaders in MATs and schools it will be new. Developing this as an organisational competency will give you a competitive advantage as part of your people strategy - it will develop skills, build your reputation, improve retention, reduce absences, lead to better financial performance and further raise student attainment.
While it will take time and practise for it to become a habit, it is a relatively simple and non-costly way of improving the wellbeing of staff, when compared to other options.
MBWA is likely to be one of the suggested actions that come from within our comprehensive post survey reports that start our systemised approach to improving staff wellbeing. If you are tempted to give us 25 minutes of your time to find out more, click the button below and I hope to meet you, virtually at least.
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“Welbee provides an amazing foundation to our wellbeing strategy. It's cost-effective, easy to use and provides excellent support, making the complex job of managing multiple pieces of data from 1300 employees, easy. Welbee is a highly effective staff wellbeing evaluation and improvement tool, making staff wellbeing simply part of what happens every day.”

Debbie Duggan
Operational Resources Director
It's OK if you are still not sure and would like more information first - just email support@welbee.co.uk and we will share the features and benefits of Welbee and how these help deliver the evidence proven benefits of higher staff retention, lower staff absences, better financial performance and further raise student outcomes. All starting with DfE Staff Wellbeing Charter recognised measurement.