Olabide Ikastola - Euskalit

people
3 PEOPLE EFQM Excellence Award 2010 27
Strategic Reflection and subsequently managed through the Communication
Plan Process. In this respect, the Process for Drawing
Up the Technology Plan has contributed greatly in recent years to
improving our approach in this area of management, providing
technological support in our effort to improve communication
throughout the school.
The objectives of the communication plan are:
• to align individual and team objectives with Olabide objectives,
3b;
• to secure the commitment and integration of all our people;
• to create a relaxed, united atmosphere among our people; and
• through constant system review activities, to generate ideas to
improve the communication system itself.
The plan provides for a series of actions covering top-down,
bottom-up and horizontal communication, thus ensuring and
facilitating the correct flow of feedback and information to and
from our people and, in the case of horizontal communication,
teamwork and participation. The different communication channels
covered in the plan and progressively deployed and improved
over time in the school include:
• meetings;
• e-mail, website and intranet;
• suggestions box;
• pigeon holes, notice boards and blackboards;
• in-house publications and internal documents; and
• presentations and celebratory events.
Informal communication channels in the school, designed to
promote everyday contact and information exchange among our
people and to improve the general working atmosphere, include
teachers’ rooms and administration areas equipped with coffee
machines. Similarly, informal lunches and dinners are organised
regularly, and informal meetings to discuss day-to-day matters
bring to light issues which do not commonly arise in more formal
meetings.
Both an internal and an external communication plan have been
drawn up. The Communication Plan Process involves defining the
different communication channels to be used in each case, what
type of communication is most suited to each channel, how often
the information in question is to be communicated, who will communicate
it and to whom. The communication plan also covers the
communication needs of Olabide processes. Each process informs
on its communication needs through a specific instruction requesting
the process number and name, what needs to be communicated,
how, when, by who, to whom and if a report is required.
All new process communication needs are compiled by the person
responsible for managing the communication plan and then
processed within the Communication Plan Process. In Olabide, the
priority channel for communication is meetings, as they are used
for taking important decisions and for consolidating agreements.
Additionally, meetings enable direct contact between our people,
thus enriching feedback.
The end purpose of improving communication in the school is to
optimise how we share and communicate the Olabide MVV to all
our people, so that all our people take active part in delivering the
Vision of the school. Considerable effort has been made in recent
years to equip the school with the technology required to maximise
the effectiveness of communication. However, we also believe that
close relations among our people are essential for sharing objectives,
and it is for this reason that we still give great importance to
direct communication through meetings. This can be seen through
the number of meetings systematically planned and held at the
different education stages, as shown below.
Meeting Participants Frequency Report
GB GB members,
Every 3 Yes
School Director and Head
of Teaching
weeks
SC
MT with certain members Every 3 Yes
of the GB
weeks
MT MT members Weekly Yes
Meeting Participants Frequency Report
Education
Yes
stage
Teachers, Heads of
Education Stages and
occasionally the School
Director, Head of
Teaching or even GB
members
IE; weekly.
PE;
fortnightly
CSE and
USE;
fortnightly
Department Department members Weekly No
School year Those involved in class or
school year
IE, PE
and CSE;
weekly
No
Assessment
Inter-stage
(end of one
education
stage and
beginning of
next)
Department
Heads
Guidance
Area
Admin. and
Services
Start of
academic
year
Canteen
coordinators
Extracurricular
activities
coordinators
Transport
coordinators
Tutor, specific teachers,
Head of Education Stage
and Head of Guidance
Area
Heads of Education
Stages and Head of
Guidance and Counselling
Area
Dept. Heads and
Management
Management and
department members
Head of Admin Area,
administrative staff,
maintenance, school
caretaker and School
Director
GB representative,
Management and staff
Management and canteen
coordinators
Coordinators and their
team
Head of Admin. Area and
coordinators
IE, PE and
USE; once a
term. CSE;
weekly.
Once a year
Fortnightly
Weekly
Weekly
Once a year
(Sept. 1)
Monthly
Once a term
Once a term
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
These and all other meetings held in Olabide are included in the
communication plan. Since 2004-05, all Olabide people in the
meeting at the start of the academic year are given a personal
folder containing all the documentation they need on the BP,
training plan, annual plan to develop the Olabide approach to
language teaching-learning, a report on the previous year’s BP
and documents on proposed actions for the forthcoming academic
year. Any suggestions they may have on this information
can subsequently be put forward.
In 2007-08, as a result of MT reflection the previous year on how
to present the BP in a more educational, dynamic and attractive
way, the decision was taken to involve all members of the MT in
the presentation event. This improvement action was designed
to make the BP easier to understand and to involve more people
in the process.
The Olabide IT network has been systematically used by all our
people for many years. In 2007-08, as a result of MT reflection on
changing our approach to knowledge sharing, a cross-functional
project team was formed to pilot the use of a moodle platform
as a communication channel. This new tool led to more effective
and efficient meetings, as all meeting agenda items could be
worked on prior to the meeting through this platform. In relation
to this, the objectives of the knowledge management plan,
3b, are:
• to generate an appropriate working atmosphere and the required
basic support tools for the effective management of
knowledge, 4e;
No