So why do you want to lead?

The range of leadership roles in schools are many and varied but they tend to have several things in common, they all involve you being responsible for, and therefore answerable for, an area of school life that has an impact on children. More often than not this also will involve responsibility to a lesser or greater extent for other teachers or support staff. Often the position will come with an additional payment though not always as is experienced by those with subject responsibilities in primary schools. With the responsibility comes added workload and culpability. The more responsibility you acquire the larger the target painted on your back becomes, and be warned that the target is particularly noticeable (and attractive) to senior leaders (especially the headteacher), to parents and governors. Consequently you should be aware that as you gain responsibility the “kick me” sign becomes bigger and more inviting!

I have read dozens of books on leadership, sat through a great deal of INSET and gained plenty of qualifications but I can’t remember being asked the question, the key question, why do you want this? You need two answers to this question, one that you can produce at will in interviews and the other that motivates you every day and keeps you doing the job especially when the going gets rough. The first one merely gets you the job whilst the second is what makes you do it day in and day out, and so it is the second that truly matters. In reality the interview answer will fall out of a proper consideration of the real motivating factors and so we will come back to this only once we have drilled down into the real reason you want to lead. Also as you read through this and reflect on your own personal motivation don’t feel you need to chisel your thoughts into stone. My motivation has changed over time and had it remained unchanged then I would never have aspired to senior leadership as the motivation to do this is very different to that required to be a senior leader.

I would suggest that you actually list the reasons you want leadership responsibilities. These may be many and varied, and you may find that they contradict each other. If they do then that’s OK, this is not an exact science and motivation cannot always be rationalised. Here are a few of the factors that have affected me over my career; judge for yourself those that are laudable and those that are less so!

Challenge

J.F. Kennedy’s famous “Moon Speech” is a particularly good place to start:

We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.

I like being challenged and I like succeeding. Middle and senior leadership constantly poses fresh challenges, both in the broadest terms of developing as a leader and leading a department or school, and in the finer detail of dealing with specific issues. This is probably one motivating factor that has never changed throughout my career and I hope it never does.

Power and Ego

It is a thrill to address your first departmental meeting or your first whole staff meeting. It is thrilling to make decisions that influence not just your class but whole year groups, whole subjects or even whole schools. It is a great feeling to walk around your department or school and know that the buck stops with you. You get the job and you think “damn I’m good!”

In my career I have tended to hold several posts at each level of leadership, each rung I’ve climbed I’ve experienced that buzz, the sense of “power” and the affirmation that I must be pretty good at what I do for someone to think I deserve the job.

Money

We are only human and we have commitments that extend beyond the school. We want nice things and often our responsibilities are expensive! I get paid considerably more than most of my colleagues and it’s because I accept the workload and responsibility that comes with the job. As I’m now passing through the moderate comfort of middle age and a mature career the desire for pecuniary reward has subsided but there have certainly been times in my career when a successful promotion came with a healthy monthly reward.

For the pupils

How many times have you that those who lead you are letting down the children you teach? You want to change things because the children truly matter. The only to do this is to take the helm. My first headship was like this; I had looked on from the wings and desperately wanted to do things differently (not necessarily better) because I believed it would benefit the children, improve their experience of school, improve their attainment and progress and ultimately their life chances. Leadership is a privilege as your influence and impact on the lives of children increases with each step on the leadership ladder.

Novelty

I had been a Head of Science for many years when I had the opportunity to take on a pastoral role. I was curious, I had little experience of pastoral beyond being a form tutor and wanted to know what it was about. It would be something new and as a consequence something that I would throw myself into and reignite my enthusiasm for the job.

The long game

When I first entered teaching I knew what I wanted, I wanted my own science department and then a school. I knew that the journey would be long and hard and that there were key stages to accomplish on the journey. Among the many roles I have held include second in department, subject leader, faculty leader, pastoral leader, exams officer and senior leader. All of these were key pieces in the jigsaw that I needed to complete to give me the chance of headship.

It is not for me to judge your motivating factors, but knowing yourself and what makes you tick will give you a crucial sense of perspective as you work your way towards your goals.