Leadership on the high wire

A key part of leadership is having an awareness of the directions in which you are constantly being pulled. If you don’t think about it explicitly then it stands a reasonable chance that you will end up facing a “pull” from somewhere you never same coming. Irrespective of your position in a school, from NQT through to Headteacher, this is an exercise worth undertaking. I would suggest that before reading on you do this for yourself. Ask yourself:

·         Who am I answerable to?

·         Who am I answerable for?

·         Who directs the work I do?

I liken this to a tight-rope walker. Maintaining your balance requires you to appreciate the factors pulling you off balance and then adjusting your position to keep you on the wire.

If you understand the factors it will help you balance the time and effort you devote to these as well as the amount of pull you allow these factors to exert. For instance one pull may be the local community but compared to the pull of the Headteacher it doesn’t have too much influence and so isn’t worth too much time. However if the pull is needs of the pupils it may be that the head deserves less attention and you need to tell them so!

The relative effect of the different pulls is also a function of your personality, the people around you, your leadership context and so on, so there is no single right (or wrong answer). I’ve done this reflecting on various roles I’ve held as Head of Department, Assistant Head and Head.

I have included “Own beliefs and values” as a factor. You need to recognise these as they will change the way you see and deal with situations. Your entire job is seen through the lens of your values and will be something which will pull you in a certain direction. For example you may fundamentally disagree with the testing of 11 year olds but legislation requires it, you therefore have to balance these two diametrically opposed factors as you traverse your personal tight rope. Successful leadership sees you balance the factors and understand the multiple perspectives presented by the competing factors. Often a core part of your job is articulating these perspectives to others. A head of department needs to be able to understand the views of the headteacher and articulate these to the staff in his or her department, but conversely the head of department needs to understand the views of his or her staff and articulate these to the head. 

Please also remember that these are just examples for you to start from and are very far from being exhaustive. It is often said that helps to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, this exercise will help you identify whose shoes you need to try on.