what i’m noticing
Writing on culture, leadership, and the things organisations avoid.
Most of what I do happens in rooms - workshops, leadership conversations, post-incident rebuilding. This is where I write some of it down. Pieces on the eight things that shape culture, the conversations leaders are avoiding, and what staying human under pressure actually looks like.
The Problem Isn’t Communication. It’s Trust Wearing a Communication Costume.
Ask any leadership team in FE what’s holding their culture back and someone will say ‘communication.’ More cascades, a tighter newsletter, a clearer intranet. I’ve sat in enough of those rooms to say this plainly: it’s almost never communication. It’s trust — and communication is just the safer word people reach for
The Culture You Build For Ofsted Isn’t The Culture You Actually Have
If the only evidence of your culture is the evidence you’d show an inspector, you don’t have a culture, you have a performance.
Amy Fowles on why compliance and care so often get confused in FE, and the one question that tells you which one you’re actually running.
Your Staff Survey Isn’t Listening. It’s Waiting.
Most “you said, we did” plans should be called “you said, we noted.” The fix isn’t a better survey – it’s closing the gap between feedback and action to weeks, not months.
There is only one family
For ten years I heard one word used to keep people loyal: family. This is the real story of what it cost me to stop believing it and why ELEV8 exists because of what I lost, not despite it.
You Don’t Know Your Culture. You Know Its Highlight Reel.
I don’t think you know what your culture is like. I think you know what it looks like when it knows you’re watching.
Pay Is a Culture Signal and FE’s Crisis Is Telling Us Something
The Association of Colleges has warned that a zero pay award may be the only affordable option for 2026-27. That’s a financial headline. But it lands as a culture message and culture doesn’t wait for the funding settlement.
What Does “Suitable” Leadership Actually Mean?
The government wants to legislate against unsuitable FE leaders. But Gallup’s 2026 data shows manager engagement has hit a five-year low worldwide. Amy Fowles asks: are we solving the right end of the problem?
What You Do Is the Culture
Leadership behaviours are the most powerful — and most overlooked — lever for culture change. Leaders in FE and skills providers spend a lot of time talking about culture. They write vision statements, run away days, commission surveys. But when I sit with teams and...
What healthy cultures actually feel like
After the last piece, the question that kept coming back was: “what does the other version look like?” This is it.