Written by SDN Mesma Group Co-Founder and Director, Lou Doyle.
Each year, Chartered Quality Institute’s World Quality Week gives us a reason to pause and reflect on what we do well across the further education and skills sector and why it matters. The theme this year, Thinking Differently, feels particularly fitting as we enter yet another period of significant change. So much of what defines a strong quality culture is about perspective: the willingness to see things from another angle, to listen with curiosity, and to create the conditions where people can speak honestly about what they see.
Across the sector, we see fantastic examples of this in practice. Providers that have built cultures of trust, where conversations about quality are genuinely open. Teams who can discuss what’s working and what’s not, without fear of blame, are the ones who learn fastest and improve most deeply. That we are able to play a role in facilitating this is a source of pride for our team.
Truth as a Shared Responsibility
Thinking differently about quality means recognising that speaking truth to power isn’t an act of defiance; it’s an act of commitment. It takes confidence to voice a concern, to question an assumption, or to share a small but significant observation that could change something for the better. It also takes leadership that welcomes that honesty and understands it as a sign of professional maturity, not dissent.
When courage and curiosity meet, something powerful happens. Conversations shift from “what went wrong?” to “what can we learn?” allowing improvement to take root.
What We See Working Well
In our work with providers, a few patterns stand out where speaking truth to power has become part of everyday life rather than a moment of rare bravery:
- Leaders who model openness. They don’t claim to have all the answers. They invite questions and are visible in responding to them — not defensively, but with genuine interest.
- Quality teams that listen more than they audit. They still challenge, but in a way that builds shared understanding. Their feedback lands because it’s grounded in respect for the professional craft of teaching and learning.
- Governing boards that hear multiple truths. They balance data with narrative, metrics with lived experience. They ask not just “What are the outcomes?” but “What’s the story behind them?”
Quality as Everyone’s Business
One of the most encouraging shifts (although I confess it is early days) we’ve seen is the growing recognition that quality isn’t confined to teaching and learning. It’s the sum of every interaction a learner experiences — from the moment they enquire, to how they’re supported with wellbeing, careers advice, and beyond. It is as rigorous in its challenge of engaging with employers and other external stakeholders as it is with learners.
When curriculum teams, business support staff, employers, and senior leaders all see themselves as part of that same improvement story, the culture changes. Conversations about quality are not confined to the classroom. That’s when quality becomes not a function, but a shared mindset.
Rewriting the Stories We Tell
As Michael Hynes reflects in The Myth-Guided Mind, our organisations are shaped by the stories we tell — about what success looks like, who has permission to speak, and how truth is received. Thinking differently, in this sense, means noticing those stories and consciously choosing to tell new ones.
When a colleague challenges the status quo, they’re not disrupting the system, they’re helping to rewrite its narrative. They’re choosing authenticity over silence, honesty over comfort. Hynes might call that the “inner work” of change: surfacing what matters most, even when it’s inconvenient. In quality terms, it’s the moment when learning becomes collective rather than individual, resulting in organisational capacity to drive change.
The Quiet Strength in Speaking Up
The courage to speak truth to power isn’t always loud or dramatic. More often, it’s quiet and thoughtful: a team member raising a question in a review meeting, a manager sharing what they’ve learned from their own mistake, or an external partner offering a different perspective that prompts reflection rather than resistance. I saw all of these in practice recently when working with a college group who have, by their own admittance, struggled to create a culture of challenge without blame in the past. There is a bravery to responding to a cultural problem and leaders making the choice to change the story.
In a quality-driven culture, these moments of change aren’t risky, they’re welcomed. They tell us that people care enough to notice, to think differently, and to want better for their learners and their colleagues.
A Shared Invitation
As we celebrate World Quality Week, perhaps the challenge for all of us is to keep creating that space; for honesty, for curiosity, and for trust. To celebrate the people who speak truth to power, and the leaders who make it possible to have the collective courage to keep learning, together.