ADVICE
35
lacking motivation.
There is a saying in yorkshire: ‘everyone’s queer but thee and me, and thou’s a bit strange’. The problem is we are complex creatures with
T TRUST
I think the main issue is trust. working as I do with many groups of middle leaders and trainee headteachers, I see that there is often a lack of trust between senior and middle leadership or within a subject area or a year group. To develop trust, one needs to be trustworthy – worthy of trust – and this takes time. It is achieved in the following ways: respect others – no matter what their status Involve others and seek their input – if you want buy-in
help people to learn skills – continuous professional development
Do the right thing – working with integrity Be consistent – not treating everyone the same but treating everyone fairly
Share information – too many leaders keep secrets as a power tool
Tell the truth – again acting with integrity admit mistakes – one of the best ways to avoid a blame culture
Give and receive constructive feedback – the emphasis is on constructive
Maintain confi dentiality – when appropriate. a friend of mine took over as headteacher in an inner city primary school where there had been a strong blame culture. She said that in order to break that culture she had to show it was Ok to take risks and to get things wrong occasionally. She had to say things like: “I won’t do that assembly again; it didn’t go very well at all.” People gradually learned that it was all right to make mistakes – but it took a long time to build that trust. If trust is in place, then holding others to account becomes less diffi cult because people will know that you are fair, that you have integrity. In his book, The Speed of Trust, Stephen Covey,
explains that lack of trust costs the US economy millions of dollars per year, because where there is no trust all work procedures take much longer. In Changing Teachers, Changing Times: Teachers’ work and Culture in the Post-Modern age, andy hargreaves states that active trust means that teachers ‘feel a stronger obligation towards and responsibility for their colleagues’. In other words, trust creates interdependence.
KNOW THYSELF
Understanding others is complex and the fi rst step in that direction is to know yourself. ask yourself some of these questions: Do you understand and have control over your own emotions?
Do you understand the emotions of others? Do you have empathy? (These questions are about emotional intelligence)
diff erent needs, motivators and background and behaviours. Learning to understand other people is the key to successful leadership.
alk to any headteacher, line manager, or head of department and they will tell you that their biggest challenge is to do with the people they lead or manage: they are resisting change; they are not skilled enough; they are
are you values driven? what are your values? what do you care about?
Do you understand your own moral purpose? Can you articulate these values? Being able to understand where you are coming from is linked to your integrity; if people understand that your decisions are not just arbitrary but are value- driven, then they will respect you. Some leaders worry about articulating their values, fearing confl ict but, as warren Bennis and robert Thomas argue in their book Leading for a Lifetime: ‘when an organisation’s values are clear, participant’s perceptions tend to be more accurate and decision making tends to be simpler and faster. Organisations with clear shared values outperform their peers. and values are less likely to be divisive if everyone remembers that tolerance is a key value in a diverse workplace.’
having clear values gives clarity to your teachers. as Tom Peters and robert waterman comment in their book In search of excellence: ‘People way down the line know what they are supposed to do in most situations because the handful of guiding principles are crystal clear’. Geoff Southworth, in an essay called ‘Primary Leadership Today and Tomorrow’, reminds us of the importance of re examining our values: ‘Leadership is a social activity and professional leadership should be based on sound professional knowledge and judgements, not shallow opinions, or with scant regard to evidence, or experience. The underpinning values should be surfaced, interrogated and challenged from time to time, otherwise they become habitual and remain untested.’
BUILDING ON STRENGTHS
To realise your vision, you need to work with the team you have. In his 2001 book, From Good To Great, Jim Collins talks about ‘getting the right people on the bus’. This is great advice for recruitment – and you are very lucky if you are starting in a new school – but for most of us we have to work with people already on the bus. The most important thing is to get to know the other staff, so find out what makes them tick, what they care about in education and what are their strengths. you might already have a view about what they are good at but ask. Some people hide their lights and others don’t think skills they demonstrated in previous careers are likely to be relevant. work to their
strengths – this is particularly important with blockers, those who are against
change. Use their strengths positively. People are often afraid of change, yet they have years of relevant
experience they can use if they are encouraged. Once you have identified people’s strengths, you can extend and build on them through professional development.
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