LEADERSHIP
Like it or not, for
every excellent
leader, there are
many nightmare
managers. Deputy head
Paul Ainsworth takes a
light-hearted look at the
circus of bad management
NFORTUNATELY, AT some time
U
in our careers it is likely that we
will have to work with a nightmare
manager. None of us would ever
choose this, but sometimes one
of our existing leaders leaves and
is replaced by someone who you
do not feel is up to the task. The second alternative is
that the person, who interviewed you for the job and The
appeared very pleasant over those one or two days of
selection, proves to be anything but on a daily basis.
It is sad fact of life that for every excellent leader
that you will work with, there will also be one that
seems to make your life unbearable. You may find that
one way of dealing with this issue is to seek solace in
humour, and the Dilbert series by Scott Adams may be
a good place to start.
nightmare
In The Joy of Work, Adams places bosses in four
categories: capable-harmless, incompetent harmless,
incompetent-evil, and capable-evil.
He advises that capable-harmless is a very rare
category and if you are lucky enough to have a boss
like this, you should seek to upwardly delegate as much
as possible!
manager
The incompetent-harmless type is ideal for
entertainment value as their errors can provide a rich
source of humour. Unfortunately, in the world of
education such leaders are likely to cause even more
work for those at chalkface.
Adams jokes that if your boss is incompetent-evil, work longer and longer hours and our home plates start
the best strategy is to hide from them. It is likely that we to fall, or our school plates start to fall.
can all identify one colleague who is excellent at hiding. In such circumstances, one solution is to prioritise
Taking the lead: National College
I’ll let you consider if your boss is incompetent-evil. and consider what can be done to a lesser standard or
Adams continues that the capable-evil bosses are not at all. It is not uncommon to see senior leaders rely
the most dangerous as you can’t hide from them, but on their experience and status in the classroom as a way
instead you need to direct their attention to one of your of buying time to complete other parts of their role.
Facing an unfamiliar challenge
colleagues! Another solution is for us to delegate tasks ourselves;
It is likely that such gallows humour may help just because our line manager has delegated to us does
you get through the odd day, but it is no long-term not mean that we cannot delegate to others. As a senior
Steve Munby, chief executive of the National
solution. leader, you may delegate to other senior leaders or to
Instead, when we work for less effective leaders middle leaders and middle leaders will delegate to the
College, discusses the role of school business
it is likely that we will try and compensate for their teachers they lead.
inadequacies. The problem then can be the behaviours It becomes more difficult when you do not have
that we adopt ourselves to cope. anyone to delegate to. You could ask colleagues for
managers in the recession
Sometimes when working with the nightmare their help but this is not always possible. We are likely
manager it can almost feel like we are working in a to find that when we explain this to our partners or close WE ALL know that there are tougher times ahead Research suggests that, if properly deployed in
circus as we watch one daft decision or one strange friends, they tell us we should just say no! for school funding. After a decade of real growth in this way, SBMs can save their headteachers up to
action after another. This feels impossible. However, one technique that education spending, the likelihood is that budgets will 30 per cent of their time to concentrate on their core
One method of categorising the approaches required you can use is to explain to the leader that you can do be tighter from 2011. For many school leaders this duties.
to work with less effective bosses is to think of three this task but it will mean that another task will become will be unfamiliar territory. The potential savings that these leaders could
circus roles: ring-master, plate-spinner and lion-tamer. delayed and ask them which is more important. The good news is that our schools have never deliver for our schools are impressive. For example,
been better led. The facts are clear: the most recent our school business director (SBD) demonstration
The ring-master The lion-tamer
annual report from Ofsted states that 72 per cent of projects – where 14 areas, comprising 102 schools,
It is likely at some time in your career that you will feel The most dangerous type of leader is the one who all the schools it inspected in 2008/09 had “good” or are trialling a single strategic SBM who works across
that you are not being managed by your boss but you appears as unpredictable as a wild animal and you seem “outstanding” leadership. more than one school – are currently expected to
are managing them. This might not be a bad manager, to spend your time holding a chair to keep them at arm’s However, despite this terrific progress, I think we deliver £1.2 million in savings in 2009/10.
but one who has taken a new task on and has taken their length. Every time they go near other teachers you seem need to carefully consider how school leaders can The schools involved are bringing together their
eye off what should be their core responsibilities. to spend your time picking up the pieces. respond to an unfamiliar challenge. The emphasis administrative and back office functions – creating
A positive example could be the head of department One solution is to try and not to spend too much is moving towards more efficient use of existing economies of scale – while also sharing their
who has been given a senior leadership task and time with them when they are in this mood. If you resources. individual and specialised resources to the benefit of
suddenly you find that you as second in department are are a teacher, do not seek out the inconsistent head of Distributing leadership of business functions, such all schools in the partnership.
actually running the department. department at break or lunch. Many senior leaders will as finance, HR and facilities management, is going to The work of SBD Louise Staunton and her
You may be likely to fill the leadership void patrol the corridors at lunchtimes or offer to look after underpin the effective leadership of schools in such colleagues in Greater Manchester is one example of
either because you have a good relationship with the the exclusion room as a quiet place to hide from their a climate. the impact that SBMs can have on their schools.
individual or you hope their position will become leader. Schools are already embracing professional Louise is now on the senior leadership team at
permanent and you get promoted yourself. If the lion is one who keeps coming with one wild school business management. There are more school Wellacre Business Management Support Partnership,
One of the most challenging situations where this idea after another and it is difficult if not impossible business managers (SBMs) than ever before and they saving upwards of £20,000 in one year across 20
can arise is for senior leaders when they feel they are to say no, there are a number of behaviours you could are better trained than ever before. primary schools and one technology college.
running the school rather than the head. Perhaps the adopt. There are now 8,100 SBMs working in the The Wellacre approach has introduced economies
key thing is to communicate carefully with the head One is not to say no, but to give them a less desirable country’s schools, and seven out of 10 hold one of of scale by increasing buying power. The team
about what you have achieved and also to use reports to alternative: “I could teach more lessons but I would be the professional qualifications in school business has purchased insurance for all the schools as a
governors to show the quality of your work. less available to see those tricky parents who walk in management that we offer at the National College. group, restructured ICT functions at two schools, and
One challenge is when headteachers are blasé about without an appointment.” Together, they are making a vital contribution, developed in-house training of admin staff.
the amount of time that is required to fulfil such a role. Another is to plant an alternative idea in their minds both to the efficiency with which schools’ resources By gaining access to high quality business
In such circumstances, all you can do is be polite and and wait a few days before coming back to it. A third are managed and to the wellbeing and attainment of management and by working in partnership – through
remind them that if you had more time it would make is to develop a mantra to pace change, perhaps: “All pupils. federations and other models of collaboration –
the head’s life easier, or if the time is being taken away, strategic changes must be planned before Christmas.” If But SBMs can do so much more and I believe that schools can achieve better economies of scale in
to tactfully point out the time has been so helpful in the you say it often enough it may become accepted. the role will truly realise its potential in the drive for terms of administration.
past and allowed you to do x, y or z! Probably one of the hardest things to deal with is greater efficiency in the coming years. Tighter budgets will be a significant challenge
when the roars affect others and bring them to you Although finance is at the heart of their role, but will also be an opportunity to think about
The plate-spinner
upset. Whatever you do, you cannot criticise your SBMs can also oversee the effective management of doing things differently and to build sustainable and
In today’s hectic world, we can all feel like life is one leader nor can you take it upon yourself to solve their school administration, HR, facilities, major projects, beneficial partnerships which may well prove to
continual act of plate-spinning as you run from one pole problems or they will become dependent on you. health and safety, as well as relationships with other outlast this time of economic uncertainty.
to another spinning the childcare plate, the relationship Instead it is that impossible thing of either just listening schools and external partners.
with partner plate, fitness, running a house, or any other or trying to give them some practical advice to move And by putting SBMs on school leadership • Steve Munby is chief executive of the National
plate that we may have. them forwards. SecEd teams, the role can move from one that takes the College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s
If we then have a leader who just seems to keep administrative burden from heads, to one that makes Services. For more on its bursar development
delegating one task or another, that can just add to our • Paul Ainsworth is deputy headteacher of Belvoir High a significant contribution to strategic leadership. programme, visit www.nationalcollege.org.uk/sbm
plates. We then feel we only have two alternatives – we School in Leicestershire.
SecEd • January 14 2010 13
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