How much of your beliefs and leadership behaviours stem from your own experience?
This is my second leadership lesson reflecting on my learning from brilliant headteachers and leaders that I've worked for along the way.
This leadership lesson stems from my time as a literacy consultant. I served as a consultant from 2000 – 2006 across two local authorities. During this period, I was led by both local and national leaders who were implementing the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies (remember them?!), as well as being part of the pilot and subsequent roll out of the Interactive Whiteboard Project. It was an exciting time, with lots of opportunities to work with colleagues across the country.
Here are some of my leadership lessons:
😊 Being human:
The leaders I worked for were humans first and foremost. They had great senses of humour, and their experience ensured that they were down to earth, and understanding of others in their context. They were able to work with subject leaders from across all the schools in their local authority, and quickly assess their starting points. Therefore, the ability to relate well to others was key.
👩🏼🏫 The importance of knowledge:
To lead well, you have to be really knowledgeable in your field. You can’t lead a subject, key stage, department, team or school without the requisite knowledge or you will lack credibility. You need knowledge to be able to identify areas for improvement and decide on a strategy. You need to be able to speak knowledgeably to support others and challenge them to improve. When you find you don’t know enough, then take expert advice to inform your strategy or draw on the expertise in your team to strengthen your approach.
👫🏼 Developing others:
Knowledge isn’t enough to be a great leader. You also need to be able to demonstrate and apply that knowledge through great pedagogy - for both child and adult learning. You need to be able to model what you say, and be prepared to roll your sleeves up to demonstrate. As a literacy consultant, I learnt a lot about developing others through coaching, mentoring, team teaching and leading training – alone and with others. I learnt through trial and error, that the best way to develop others, including leading training, was to engage participants with activities, discussions and group challenges rather than just sharing my expertise. The acquisition of complex knowledge can take time. Expert teachers and trainers will provide time for knowledge to be assimilated and deeply understood using a variety of strategies to develop others.
Please share your thoughts on these leadership lessons. I'd love to hear from you.
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