1: ding e m tan u l Vo ders ship Un der k o lea bo nd d an w a rs h A r ne de fo g lea irin p as
Jim
r ty a g Fo
AMiE is a partnership between ACM and ATL
Contents 1 3 5 8 11 13 17 18 19 21 22 26 33 33 35 36 37 40 41 43 44 44
Acknowledgements Introduction Being new to leadership Models of leadership Styles of leadership Understanding yourself: emotional intelligence 360-degree appraisal Leading teams, leading people Be a positive leader Be a reflective leader Know your team Use coaching Create winning teams Be a good team leader Create the right climate Leading learning – getting the best for your students Make students the focus Make learning the priority Establish the vision Encourage teachers as learners Lead learning Don’t tolerate underperformance Be open to new ideas Conclusion Select bibliography Useful websites
Published by the AMiE www.amie.uk.com Feedback should be sent to: AMiE 35 The Point Market Harborough Leicestershire LE16 7QU Tel 01858 461 110 Fax 01858 461 366
AMiE is the union and professional association for leaders and managers in schools and colleges. Project editor: Yvonne Fleming Edited and designed by thingswedo Printer: Blackmore Ltd, Shaftesbury, Dorset © Association of Managers in Education 2009. All rights reserved. Colleagues are most welcome to use the materials in this book in training sessions, however we would ask that you register your use with AMiE on 01858 461 110.
Acknowledgements Thanks are due to my colleagues from Promoting Excellence, namely Peter Rushton, Pauline Morris and Ray Begley, for their continuous help and wise advice. We also acknowledge all the schools, colleges and individual participants in Promoting Excellence programmes whose open and honest views have formed such an integral part of this booklet. Finally, we must thank the management consulting ďŹ rm Hay Group, whose work drew us to our original understanding of the importance of emotional intelligence in leadership. Jim Fogarty Promoting Excellence Ltd
Introduction
It has been said of Christopher Columbus that he didn’t know where he was going and when he got there, he didn’t know where he was. Even when he got home, he didn’t know where he had been! Starting off in leadership can also be a bit like that: a real journey into the unknown. This is a paradox, as leadership is a subject about which so much has been written. For someone contemplating applying for a first leadership position, or for someone who has recently been appointed, it can often seem as if there is far too much information. This handbook for new and aspiring leaders may point you towards some wider reading, but its main purpose is to support you in the practicalities of understanding and developing your own leadership skills. Theory is included only when unavoidable. The handbook is designed to help you develop your own leadership skills by:
1 understanding emotional intelligence 1 getting to know more about leadership 1 focusing on leading learning. You can dip into the handbook as you wish. But please don’t treat it like your car handbook – to be consulted only in the event of a breakdown in the rain! We acknowledge your already heavy workload, which is why How to survive at the top: A handbook for new and aspiring leaders is divided into readable, bite-size volumes, starting with this one: Understanding leadership. All the volumes could be critically important to developing your leadership skills. Link them to your own experience, and your confidence and skills should grow. Becoming an outstanding leader is possible – with a little help from your friends! Welcome to the ‘New World’ of leadership.
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Being new to leadership
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Models of leadership When asked to give an example of a leader, participants on training programmes invariably opt for a limited range of well-known world leaders: Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi or Winston Churchill often top the list, although Barack Obama has recently become popular as well. Even though they are very different personalities, these leaders have all achieved amazing feats in a variety of ways. Despite their differences, they do share some things in common – not least a clear vision and the ability to communicate, inspire and influence others towards their goals.
Leadership is influence If we focus exclusively on world leaders as our models of excellence, then we are in danger of limiting leadership to meaning only the very top jobs and to inspiring, charismatic individuals who change the world. But leadership also exists at every level of an organisation, and includes all types of people, not just charismatic ones. Leaders can only be judged on the performance they elicit from their teams. This is true of leaders in school or college teams, just as much as in the White House. Many people find it helpful to read biographies of famous leaders, but for those at the start of their journey this can be off-putting. I suspect few of us dream of leading the world, let alone changing it. So, practising long speeches in a commanding tone is perhaps not the best way to begin. Self-reflection leading to self-awareness should be your starting point. So begin by reflecting on your own leadership attributes. think about
However undeveloped they may be at the moment, what leadership strengths do you think you have?
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Since leaders, by definition, must have followers, try to see your leadership potential from the point of view of your colleagues. Think of reasons why others would follow your lead and jot them down in the list below. think about
Why would others follow my leadership? Others would follow my lead because I’m … 1 2 3 4 5 Some, but certainly not all, of the words listed below might help you make up your mind, or you could just choose your own. (I’m an independent leader!) Others would follow my lead because I’m … co-operative
helpful
kind
forceful
friendly
clear
tall
sociable
enthusiastic
energetic
empathetic
sensitive
influential
scary
persistent
loud
confident
aggressive
assertive
impulsive
challenging
efficient
respectful
proactive
fair
calm
independent
honest
hardworking
optimistic
articulate
helpless
caring
the life and soul of the staff ‘do’
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Styles of leadership Understanding two key concepts will help drive your leadership development onwards and upwards:
1 Leaders are not born; they learn. 1 There is no one effective leadership style, but several. The more you reflect upon your own and other people’s leadership styles, the more you will come to understand that the perfect leader does not exist. Some people might appear to be blessed with a range of skills, but no-one has them all, which is why the most successful leaders have undoubtedly had to learn new skills along the way. The same applies to you. If you want to improve your leadership behaviours, you can. There are several styles of leadership, all of which are highly effective in particular situations – at the ‘right’ time and with the ‘right’ people. However, each style can be equally ineffective when used at the ‘wrong’ time. Good leaders know not only how but just as importantly when, to use a particular style. Indeed, knowing when to do this is not just about tact and diplomacy. It is about the often hard-nosed strategy of getting the best results. No two situations will be exactly the same, so there is no rigid formula for success. think about
Look at the table on pages 6–7. Which of these six styles of leadership best describes the way you normally work? Which of these styles is furthest from the way you normally work? So, if there is no one style of leadership that will always produce the desired outcomes, how do we find the appropriate style for a specific situation?
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Six styles of leadership1
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2
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Visionary: Come with me because …
Affiliative: People come first
Participative: What do you think?
Creates harmony and boosts morale and avoids conflicts. Heals disharmony in a team. Motivates despite stressful times.
A listener, a team worker, a collaborator and an influencer. Values people’s input and gets commitment via participation.
Inspires: explains how and why people’s efforts contribute to the vision. Empathy and clarity can take people towards a shared vision. The Hay Group (www.haygroup.com)
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Choosing the right style Consider two different scenarios: a fire in your teaching block nd a meeting to consider change. Common sense would indicate that the fire will require a different style of leadership to the one used in the meeting: ‘Get out!’, as opposed to, ‘Before we decide upon a new course of action, I would like to hear everyone’s views’. Imagine reversing those two styles in our two scenarios. What likely impact would it have on the people and outcomes? top tip
Right style but wrong situation = disaster = wrong style Styles of leadership are like the implements in a toolbox. A real craftsman is skilled at using a full range of tools and knows just which ones to select for particular jobs. The best leaders get into the habit of thinking through the appropriate leadership style before setting off on a course of action, and then reflecting upon it afterwards.
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4
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Coaching: What can you contribute?
Pacesetting: Do it the way I’ve shown you. Now!
Directive: Do what I tell you!
By listening and helping people identify their own strengths and weaknesses, the coaching leader encourages, delegates and improves performance by building long-term capabilities.
With a strong drive to achieve, high personal standards and initiative, pacesetters get results from a competent team. It can cause your team to feel stifled with little room to grow if overused.
The directive leader is inclined to say, ‘Do it’. Demands compliance and is most effective in crisis situations. Much less effective when used with capable and self-motivated staff.
Questions they would consider include:
1 What works? 1 What doesn’t work? 1 When does it work? 1 When doesn’t it work? The new leader therefore needs to become proficient in using a range of styles and knowing when to select the right one from the ‘style-box’. If all this seems a bit mechanical, it is not. The more you understand the different styles and develop the sensitivity to recognise the ones you use repeatedly, the more you will be able to adapt and behave accordingly. Effective management of others starts with understanding and managing yourself. top tips
Look for opportunities to practise and improve your ‘weakest’ style, but don’t neglect your strengths. Get feedback from others about your leadership style. Use a self-assessment questionnaire to determine your preferred styles. 7
Understanding yourself: emotional intelligence An effective leader understands that leadership is not about mechanical processes, but is a series of interactions between people. The best leaders have good people skills. In order to develop these skills, they need to understand themselves and how their behaviours impact upon others. This is known as ‘emotional intelligence’. A great deal of current management and leadership research supports the critical role of emotional intelligence in the development of effective leaders and managers. It starts with understanding yourself. Put simply, if you understand your own leadership behaviours, you will be in a better position to inuence the behaviours of others. For all leaders, not just new leaders, this presupposes a self-aware and self-critical approach to your own leadership. According to Goleman, Boyatzais and McKee (2002), in order to manage yourself, you need to understand your own:
1 self-awareness 1 self-control 1 courage 1 positivity and resilience 1 transparency 1 objectivity and fairness 1 intuitiveness and insight.
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The management consulting firm Hay Group (www.haygroup.com) defines emotional intelligence as: Self-awareness Knowing your emotions and their effects. Confident in your strengths, knowing your limitations. 2 The Hay Group (www.haygroup.com)
Selfmanagement
Social awareness
Relationship management
Knowing how to manage your emotions, how to stay calm and positive even in difficult situations.
Being sensitive and responsive to other people’s feelings and needs. Reading the mood of a group, having a social ‘radar’.
An ability to work with and develop others. Being able to handle conflict, lead and influence others.
Developing critical self-awareness means that you have the insight to get to know your own strengths and build upon them. You routinely identify where and when you have been successful in leadership situations and try to analyse why this is so. Critical self-awareness means you also have the confidence and courage to acknowledge where things have not gone well, to recognise when you are uncomfortable in your role and to identify the skills you need in order to overcome this. Every leader needs to develop a reflective and self-critical approach. When you have developed a robust self-critical approach, you should be able to take this leadership self-evaluation to a higher level and identify your preferred style, your default mode of leadership: the style you adopt without thinking, perhaps when under pressure. think about
When the going gets tough, how do you react? Which style are you inclined to adopt in difficult circumstances?
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The Basil Fawlty/David Brent test Take two well known TV sitcoms: in The Office, David Brent has no self-awareness; in Fawlty Towers, Basil Fawlty has zero self-control. In both cases, the comedy is built on the interactions with and impact on their colleagues. However in real life, these leadership traits are not at all funny! When Basil Fawlty is under pressure, he rants and raves, is sarcastic, usually abuses his staff and totally loses control. You of course couldn’t possibly have any of this in your stylebox, could you? Of critical importance: do you really know? think about
Have you ever known a ‘David Brent’ (no self-awareness) or a ‘Basil Fawlty’ (little self-control)? What was their impact on the team?
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360-degree appraisal One way of ďŹ nding out more about your emotional intelligence is to undergo a 360-degree appraisal, where you complete a questionnaire about your own leadership and compare it with the results of questionnaires completed by your boss, people you line-manage and your peers. It’s not as intimidating as it sounds and the vast majority of managers come out of it feeling very positive about their strengths and with a newly discovered clarity about their areas for improvement. The most reassuring aspect of emotional intelligence is that it is not an innate characteristic, but rather a learned capability. The message that we will repeat throughout this handbook is: If you want to improve your leadership behaviours, you can. top tips
Get a 360-degree appraisal done as soon as possible. It will almost certainly help your leadership development. Discuss your feedback with a mentor. Use a personal development plan to build on your strengths and address areas for development. Repeat the 360-degree appraisal every two years and compare your progress.
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Leading teams, leading people
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Be a positive leader Working with others: ‘Together we can’ In the previous section, we discussed how emotionally intelligent leaders are able to manage themselves. The essential qualities include self-awareness and self-control. Emotionally intelligent leadership starts with understanding yourself. This helps you to focus on how you work with others. Leadership is not a solitary process conducted in isolation. Excellent leaders need to be aware of how their leadership behaviours impact upon the people with whom they work. They need to become positive leaders. During the 2008 US presidential election campaign, Barack Obama’s constant theme was: ‘Together we can make things better’. Once enough people believe this positive message, improvements can begin. think about
Are you generally a positive team leader? The positive leader:
1 has a clear vision 1 looks towards the future 1 concentrates on strengths 1 sees opportunities 1 plans short-term gains 1 creates ‘win-win’ situations 1 develops a problem-solving approach 1 swiftly moves from analysis to action 1 has a good work–life balance 1 is not deterred by setbacks 1 smiles.
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top tips
Regularly reflect upon your successes. Start each meeting, briefing or communication with a positive message. Smile. Think of some positive examples from your own experience of how the behaviour of a manager – supportive, enthusiastic, challenging or focused – rubbed off on individuals and the team. Even when the challenge is huge, which is sometimes an incentive in itself, the excellent leader can engender feelings of high motivation and positivity in individuals and the team.
Avoid being a negative manager Nothing is more dispiriting than when your manager is constantly negative or cynical. think about
Are you all too often a negative leader? All leaders need to be positive and, most importantly, must behave in a positive manner. This does not mean that every morning you should put on a false smile, so beloved of the worst American salesperson: ‘Y’all have a great day now’. However, it does mean that occasionally, for example when you are very anxious about the success of a project, you must behave more positively than you feel.
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think about
Are you negative about change? Do you frequently moan in front of members of your team about paperwork, senior leaders or the decline in standards? Do you create an ‘us-and-them’ culture between your team and senior managers? Are you an inveterate cynic? Can you often be heard complaining about your excessive workload? Do you tell your team how impossible your job is? Does your team know that you interpret calls for improvement as ‘just more work’? Do you look tired and disinterested? Do you look as if you don’t enjoy your work?
top tip
Eradicate the following phrases from your vocabulary:
1 Ah, but … 1 The only trouble is … 1 You’ll never guess what they’ve asked for now. The need for you to be positive cannot be overstated. If you frequently display your negativity, how can you expect the people you lead to behave in anything other than a negative fashion? Are they likely to approach change with enthusiasm and energy, raise their performance and make significant improvement? The negative manager creates the conditions for poor performance in others, by unconsciously justifying their resistance to change.
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Humour Humour is an often undervalued tool. A sense of humour can be helpful in developing a positive climate. This does not mean that an effective leader must become a comedian. Perish the thought! What it does mean is that you appreciate that morale can be lifted – and stress often avoided – by a lighter touch. However, avoid the danger of oversimplification. The most productive teams are almost always happy teams – but happy teams are not always the most productive. Humour can also be a negative and destructive force if it constantly reinforces the resistance to change. The new leader needs to strike the right balance. Very importantly, humour at the expense of individuals or particular groups must never be tolerated. top tip
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Be brave about refusing to accept cruel jokes about individuals or groups.
Be a reflective leader Think of a critical leadership incident that has occurred in the last six months. As a leader: think about
How calm did you appear? How clearly did you express yourself? How much did you involve others? How did you deal with individuals? How successful were you?
The reflective journal Now extend the reflective process from one particular incident to how you normally behave in leadership situations. Get used to this process of continuously checking how you work with others. You could even find ways of getting to know your colleagues’ perceptions of how you lead. Reflective leaders find that a 360-degree appraisal, conducted every couple of years, can be a major influence on continually developing their ability to work with others. But don’t always wait two years. You do need regular reviews. Get into the habit of keeping a reflective journal – a diary of what happens on your leadership journey. top tip
Start your reflections by logging all the key issues you deal with in the next week, what you do, how you feel, and how effective you are.
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Know your team We have repeatedly stressed the need for effective leaders to understand themselves, their strengths and weaknesses. Yet you cannot be an effective leader without also having an understanding of the people in your team. It seems blindingly obvious to state that a team is made up of individuals, but it is important for leaders to constantly remind themselves that people have differing characteristics and will often respond to situations in a variety of ways. What energises one individual will not necessarily motivate another; indeed, it could leave some indifferent and could even de-motivate others. So the prerequisite for leading people is: know your team as individuals and get to know how each one ‘ticks’. Analyse up to six different individuals in your team. Identify what drives each individual. Areas to contemplate might be:
1 financial reward 1 praise 1 status 1 power 1 affiliation. think about
top tip
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Now you know what drives them, how can you utilise this in your leadership style?
Start by identifying what enthuses you.
Use coaching The best way to really get to know your team is through one-to-one conversations. Having good interpersonal skills can be helpful in improving contact and communication with colleagues. Group meetings, e-mails and written reports all have their place in leadership, but undoubtedly the most effective means of communication is via regular one-to-one meetings.
1 One-to-one meetings should involve listening as well as speaking.
1 Learn coaching skills to ensure more effective conversations. Regular interactions with people will provide you with a deeper knowledge of individuals, but remember that a better understanding is not sufďŹ cient on its own. You must then be prepared to adapt your leadership style to the needs of the people in your team. Understand the individuals, then plan and act accordingly. top tips
Get involved in a coaching skills programme and build coaching into your leadership methods. Get feedback on your effectiveness as a coach.
Develop leadership in others Developing the people in your team begins with getting to know them and then building on their strengths. Developing their potential for leadership enables it to be shared and extended. Distributed leadership is a common denominator in schools that have sustained improvement over ďŹ ve years. It can also improve your own team.
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One function of leadership is therefore to produce more leaders, not more followers. Involve more people in:
1 setting goals 1 strategic decision-making 1 shaping actions 1 sharing responsibility 1 supporting each other. This will not only help their individual leadership development, but will also create better teams. top tips
Identify the potential leaders in your team and give them practical opportunities to grow. Work hard to develop others in your team. Spend time in casual conversation with team members. Regularly reect upon how each individual is progressing. Be available as a coach and mentor. Time spent in activities such as these is time well spent.
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Create winning teams As a new leader, or a potential one, you will already have worked in a team. The best teams produce outstanding performance, but if your team isn’t yet an excellent team, it’s worth reflecting on what would make it outstanding. An excellent team produces outstanding results by:
1 talking to each other rather than about each other 1 respecting each other’s viewpoints 1 supporting each other to achieve shared goals 1 seeing team success as more important than personal recognition.
Top teams achieve outstanding performances by getting the best out of individuals and the team. It is well known that great teams in sport are often better than the sum of their individual parts – the same applies to your team.
T E A M
O V C O
G E H R
E T H E R R Y B O D Y I E V E S E
But how do you develop a top team? You become a top team leader. think about
Can you identify two realistic and attainable changes that would help develop your team towards excellence?
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Be a good team leader Outstanding team leadership starts with the difficult process of getting the maximum performance out of everybody. As we have seen, this is complicated enough, since they are all individuals needing often different leadership styles. Good team leadership also needs the leader to:
1 organise, integrate and monitor group 1 1 1
performance effectively be aware of, and relentlessly communicate, ‘the big picture’ display appropriate values be involved and stay involved. Research indicates that team members often want the leader to:
1 be committed to people as well as to the task 1 lead from the front and from within the team 1 support and serve the team 1 inspire, enthuse and motivate 1 take responsibility 1 really want the team to succeed. It is not enough that you really want the team to succeed. You must make everybody aware of it, not just by what you say, but also by what you do and how you do it. top tip
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You will say more by what you do than what you say – actions speak louder than words.
Teamwork Teamwork starts with everyone knowing the team goals, their own role in the team and the roles of other people. Teambuilding exercises can be useful, but the most effective teambuilding comes from working on real tasks. The more everyone works together, the more opportunities emerge to become a better team by:
1 recognising each others’ talents 1 appreciating their interdependence 1 overcoming challenges as a group. Good results can build good teams Support for each other develops individuals and team morale, but sometimes the best contribution to a team feeling good about itself is a ‘win’ or good result. The new leader should:
1 encourage co-operation and collaboration 1 engineer some quick ‘wins’ 1 celebrate small – as well as big – steps forward. think about
Do team members feel some pride in the team and its achievements? Do you, as the leader, feel pride in your team?
top tips
List the greatest achievements by your team this year. Ask individuals what they think. Compare the two.
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Recruit the best You will never get 80 million euros to play the football transfer market, but as team leader you should expect to have a role in the recruitment of new staff to your team. Play an active role pre-interview. Give yourself as much time as possible to think about what sort of person will best contribute to the team. Think about the specific job, but also about the wider needs of the team. Most importantly, be the key person in:
1 drawing up the person specification as well as the job specification
1 ensuring that the literature which accompanies the role
specification accurately describes the person you want.
Play an active role at interview. Don’t just ask stock questions. Probe the candidates’ answers and really get to know them. Although other colleagues will have an important role in the interview process, you will probably be the one who will be working most closely with the person appointed. top tip
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Never appoint someone whose only attribute is that they are the best of a bad bunch. Re-advertise if necessary. You will have a long time to regret making a poor appointment and the impact will be on you, your team and your students.
Get on the ‘team bus’ In simple terms, the role of team leader is:
1 getting the right people 1 on the right ‘team bus’ 1 in the right seats 1 and heading in the right direction. think about
How would you evaluate the individuals in your present team against those four criteria? Is your ‘team bus’ going in the right direction? Is it going at the right speed? How many of your present team would feel they are on the right bus in the right seat?
top tips
Make a list of all the things you could do to change things for the better in your team. Then update your list every two weeks. Consider how you can develop the skills and unlock the potential of members of your team.
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Create the right climate The climate of an organisation or a team is simply what it feels like to work there right now. Climate is not permanent, and as a new leader you will have an impact on team climate. The team climate you help to create will affect your team’s performance. A positive climate will influence motivation. Increased motivation will enhance performance. The Hay Group (www.haygroup.com) classifies climate into six ‘dimensions of climate’:
1 clarity 1 standards 1 rewards 1 flexibility 1 teamwork 1 responsibility. Clarity The purpose of the team needs to be understood by all its members. A critical role of the leader is to make this clear and simple to everybody. An effective new leader will not assume that everyone knows where the team is going, but will constantly underline the ‘big picture’ and ensure that individuals know how their role contributes to it. Seize as many opportunities as you can find to influence every individual. Key to your success will be the ability to avoid overcomplicating the message. The best way to get people to be clear about the vision is to involve as many as possible in its creation. top tip
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Keep it simple. Make it clear.
Standards The climate of your team is influenced by the extent to which you promote outstanding performance. think about
Is excellence pursued or are the expected standards no better than ‘satisfactory’? Remember, an individual cannot underperform if they don’t know what is expected in the first place, so you have to constantly promote the standards. Few leaders find tackling underperformance easy, and many less effective ones (including senior leaders) leave it too long so that the problem becomes chronic. All underperformance needs to be treated individually, but you should treat staff underperformance with the same urgency you give to student underperformance.
1 It is easier to deal with it promptly than to let it become serious: grasp the nettle! Always offer support. 1
As a new leader, you must remember that to achieve high standards in a team, you must consistently model them yourself. For instance, it’s no use promoting punctuality if you are always late for meetings or lessons. top tip
Leaders achieve the standards they model.
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Rewards Individuals in your team need to know how they are doing. How you recognise success and discretionary effort will have a huge impact on this. It is rarely possible to give financial rewards, but pecuniary gain is seldom the critical factor. Feeling valued certainly plays a significant part. The effective new leader:
1 recognises and celebrates success 1 says ‘thank you’ publicly and privately 1 ensures that individuals know how much you appreciate their efforts.
Avoid ‘thank you’ becoming routine and undervalued. Eschew ‘blanket’ praise or criticism. Nothing can be more de-motivating than to be told publicly, ‘You have all done well’, when it is clear that there are individuals in the team who have not! Even worse is avoiding individual confrontations by engaging in group criticisms (such as, ‘Punctuality in this team is not good enough’), when members know that it is one or two individuals who are at fault. top tip
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Never chicken out of dealing with an individual’s poor performance – it is counterproductive.
Flexibility Every organisation struggles with bureaucracy and paperwork, yet some within the same sector seem to cope with it better than others. The key is exibility. Developing a climate of exibility in your team requires that whenever possible you free up your team members to do their core jobs. In particular, take steps to avoid the demands of too many unnecessary and badly run meetings. Ask yourself:
1 Is this meeting really necessary? 1 Are meetings well chaired and are agendas well planned? 1 Do meetings keep strictly to time? Flexibility is also about how new ideas are welcomed and encouraged, as well as consideration of innovative ways of doing things. think about
Are you open to new ways of working?
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Teamwork Some teams become stale and full of the same type of people. Great minds don’t always think alike, so be flexible. Don’t be afraid of the dissenting voice, who questions or says what other people are afraid to say. Though it won’t always feel helpful, a fresh perspective can benefit the whole team. top tips
Become a ‘bureaucracy-buster’. Avoid a team full of clones. Listen to the dissenting voice.
Responsibility New leaders can find difficulty in coming to terms with giving responsibility to others. Often it stems from a feeling that they must prove themselves by doing everything, or that giving responsibility to others is a sign of weakness. Nothing could be further from the truth. An effective leader develops the people in the team by giving them some responsibility and autonomy. Responsibility can:
1 bring out the skills of others 1 get the job done better 1 allow people to grow and become confident 1 create capacity for leaders to reflect and act strategically. However, responsibility should also bring with it accountability. think about
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How are individuals held accountable for their own performance?
Many leaders, looking back on their own development, identify those occasions when they were ďŹ rst given responsibility and were held accountable as key conďŹ dence-building moments. It is important, therefore, that you offer the same opportunities to others. Finally, create within your team a climate where honourable failure is not seen as the end of the world, but as something from which to learn. Current failure can provide the feedback for future success. top tips
Think about the biggest mistake you have made in your professional career so far, then recognise that there will be more. Forget the mistake itself, but always remember what you learned from it. Resilience is a key quality for new leaders: can you learn from setbacks and remain positive? Enthusiasm and positivity are contagious.
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Leading learning – getting the best for your students
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So far, we have focused on how to get a better understanding of yourself and your leadership style, becoming a positive and reflective leader and creating the climate for excellent teams. In this section we will look not at the ‘how?’ of leadership but more at the ‘why?’.
Make students the focus We can easily get so distracted by the hurly-burly of our everyday tasks and processes that we lose our focus. True, we all have particular responsibilities, departments and specialisms, and we all have a range of individual staff to lead or resources to juggle. Too frequently, pressures outside your control, like Ofsted or examination boards, will vie for your attention, so it will become necessary to keep reminding yourself – and your team – of your central purpose. The sole unifying and overarching purpose behind all levels of school and college leadership is the student. The challenge for everybody is to provide the best for students. The task for the new leader is to inspire and develop the team in rising to this challenge.
Make learning the priority As a new leader you will, of course, have to work within the parameters and processes already established by your school or college for, say, lesson observations. But you also have considerable responsibility to establish and develop the culture of learning within the team and its students.
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Your ďŹ rst task is to demonstrate that learning is a priority for you, not just in your own classes but across the board. You can do this by:
1 getting out and about – see and be seen 1 showing interest in the work of students and staff 1 encouraging openness 1 sharing resources that you have developed 1 ensuring that learning has a high priority on the agenda at team meetings
1 welcoming contributions from others 1 looking for opportunities to celebrate learning. Establishing learning as a priority must be ongoing and consistent, to ensure that it’s not perceived as just another short-term initiative. top tips
Make learning the number one priority. Keep it up: a priority is not just for Christmas! Make your organisation or team learner-centred, not institution-centred. Be open about your own classes or meetings. Welcome visits from members of the team and encourage others to do likewise.
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Establish the vision ‘The best for our students’ is a mantra which is so broad and all-encompassing that it could mean many things to many people. The task of the new leader is to:
1 clarify the vision 1 communicate the vision 1 review the vision 1 evaluate the vision. You could start with a series of meetings, with individuals and with the whole team, in which each person is given the opportunity to discuss and agree a ‘vision for learning’, such as: We will establish a culture of lifelong learning which will equip students as independent learners for a rapidly changing society by:
1 encouraging an enthusiasm for learning 1 effective teaching 1 successful learning 1 appropriate support 1 continually improving resources. However, what is clearly missing so far from this admirably clear and simple vision is any formal mention of the staff being part of this learning culture. top tip
We are all learners. Therefore establish a vision for learning that includes staff and students.
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Encourage teachers as learners As learners themselves, teachers need to be:
1 open to new ways of learning 1 creative in the use of developing technologies 1 relentless in identifying and sharing successful approaches 1 passionate in their pursuit of excellence Perhaps the critical factor in developing this vision is in getting everybody involved – and therefore more likely to develop ownership as a prelude to ‘delivering the goods’. The biggest step is always implementing the vision. If you have inherited a team with several individuals who are set in their ways about teaching methodologies, and are resistant to change, then your task will be one of longer-term development. Be aware that for some people, impending change to established ways of doing things brings real fears about becoming de-skilled. The new leader should therefore:
1 1 1 1 top tips
maintain one-to-one contact recognise that progress will be variable build on strengths provide appropriate training and support. Keep communicating. Keep supporting individuals. Keep going and be persistent.
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Lead learning The new leader has a huge responsibility for raising the quality of teaching and learning and student achievement. This implies:
1 setting high expectations 1 monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of learning outcomes.
Leading learning is about sustainable implementation strategies that produce results, including:
1 improved student engagement and achievement 1 energised and transformed teacher practice. The new leader should avoid looking at this challenge as separate issues. It is more of a chicken and egg situation: you will seldom achieve one without the other. Nor will raising the expectations of staff and students happen overnight without continuous support and challenge. top tips
Communicate the vision as a comprehensive whole. Keep the big picture in focus, but recognise the needs of the individual.
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High expectations High expectations will arise from:
1 consistently and regularly communicating the vision 1 setting high standards in large and small things 1 modelling high standards from the top 1 building confidence and ‘can do’ attitudes 1 1 1 1 1 top tips
in more and more people support for individuals being freely available and promoted developing individuals through one-to-one coaching providing appropriate staff development opportunities positive approaches to learning fostering and encouraging creativity and risk-taking.
Make a list of three practical ways in which you could raise expectations. Decide what will be your first step.
Ongoing evaluation and assessment Raising standards for all, demands that you are able to pinpoint just where the team is at any given time in its pursuit of excellence. The better you get to know your team and their work, the more you will get a feel for how the journey is progressing, but you will undoubtedly need more formal methods of assessment. The continued development of self-assessment within the sector has arguably made a significant contribution to quality outcomes, especially when it has been done with and not to the team.
1 Ownership of self-assessment and its judgements comes 1 1
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from a collaborative and co-operative approach. From ownership comes self-directed improvement, as opposed to compliance. Self-directed improvement can energise the drive for excellence.
top tip
Get as many of your team involved in the process of self-assessment as you can.
Lesson observation Similarly, lesson observations can also be made more valuable when all the team is involved in peer observation. Many schools and colleges feel that dispensing with lesson grading signiďŹ cantly helps to create a positive approach. top tip
Whether or not you decide to grade lessons, you cannot abdicate your responsibility for knowing what is going on in all lessons and for driving the culture of continuous improvement.
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Don’t tolerate underperformance While the objective is to develop a positive approach to evaluation, you will be a lucky leader if the data and judgements don’t highlight some underperformance. The new leader must quickly establish that there is zero tolerance of underachievement. You will know that you are succeeding in this when individual staff begin to talk more freely with you about both what is going wrong and what is going right. top tip
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Aim to reach the optimum level: this is when staff recognise their own responsibility for making improvements and take the initiative to instigate the necessary action themselves.
Be open to new ideas A thorough and deepening understanding of teaching and learning will help the new leader grow in conďŹ dence. Don’t worry if you are not an expert in some of the technologies or if there is a particular part of a curriculum that is unfamiliar to you. Effective leaders recognise that in some areas, other people are more expert than themselves. Draw upon this, but never fail to acknowledge the contribution of others. Developing an open approach to learning means that you should not only share within the team, but also across the school and college and beyond.
1 Make use of the expertise around you. 1 Share your expertise with others. 1 Collaborate with other departments. 1 Collaborate with other schools and colleges. 1 Locate established expertise. 1 Look for new ideas everywhere. The use of new and emerging technologies means that learning will change dramatically in your lifetime as a leader and several times in the lifetime of the average student. Developing openness to new ideas will help the team to prepare and plan to meet the inevitable changes. top tips
Ensure that you are a role model: try new things and display a willingness to learn. Encourage creativity and risk-taking. Allow your staff to make mistakes by giving support in learning from them.
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Conclusion
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As a new leader, you will find that no two situations in leadership are ever exactly the same. It is not just that different individuals in different situations react differently; different people in similar situations often behave in a variety of ways too. Leadership is situational, it is about context. Your experience and developing judgement will be critical to your progress as a leader. Regularly reflect upon these skills. Now here is a final reflection for you. When you think of leadership, do you see it as:
1 a role with massive responsibilities, often with public 1
scrutiny, which can be uncomfortable when things go wrong, sometimes with very serious consequences or as an exciting challenge, continuously stretching your skills and expertise, which can give you the immense satisfaction of knowing that you have had a real impact?
Of course both perceptions are correct, but if you lean towards the latter, you are already developing into the positive role model that is so essential to effective leadership. You can do it!
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Select bibliography Cartner N (2009). Reections on Performance: best practice benchmarks for college leaders and managers. AMiE College Managers Series. Collins D (2007). A Survival Guide for College Managers and Leaders. Continuum International Publishing Group. Fogarty J and Rushton P (2008). Conversations about Performance: creating the climate and culture for great performance. ACM College Manager Series. Goleman D, Boyatzais R and McKee A (2002). The New Leaders. Time Warner Books. Harvard Business Review on Leadership (1998). Harvard Business School Press. Kotter JP (1996). Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press.
Useful websites Association of Managers in Education www.amie.uk.com Association of Teachers and Lecturers www.atl.org.uk Hay Group www.haygroup.com Institute for Education www.ioe.ac.uk Institute for Leadership and Management www.i-l-m.com Learning and Skills Improvement Service www.centreforexcellence.org.uk or www.lsis.org.uk National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services www.ncsl.org.uk Teal Trust www.teal.org.uk 44
How to survive at the top is a handbook divided into bite-size volumes starting with Understanding leadership. It is designed to support new and aspiring leaders in the practicalities of developing their own leadership skills. However it also has much to offer the experienced leader as a guide to best practice and a framework to reect on individual development and improvement.