Upskilling Leaders

Principals are juggling many priorities and may find themselves challenged in many different aspects of their own leadership – so a flexible coaching program may best meet your needs.

A few critical leadership mindsets come to the fore in the principalship role. Creating a clear vision for school improvement is important, and you may be unsure of how to sensitively challenge old ways of working and how fast to pace any changes. You may be keen to create a more collaborative culture, sharing leadership with your team and delegating responsibilities. Yet empowering people can be fraught with problems, and it may not be easy to let go and trust others.

Deputy and assistant principals can easily feel sandwiched between the principal and school staff. Getting clear on your core values can help you to navigate these pressures and ensure that you develop a clear leadership style of your own. As you build your self-awareness, you may find it helpful to get clear on your Mindtraps –the limiting beliefs that may impinge on both your leadership effectiveness and your personal resilience. You will also benefit from honing your skills to hold difficult conversations –with staff and parents –as well as learning how to build the capability of key staff members in your school.

Effective heads of department are great people leaders. You need to know how to engage your team, how to hold people to account and how to bring more challenging people on board.

To ensure consistent standards of teaching across your department, you need to have ongoing coaching and feedback conversations with your teachers, building their capability and practice. And throughout all of this, you need to have the self-confidence to assert your leadership when necessary.

Making the move into a leadership role can be daunting, however confident you are as a teacher. We set you up for success by building your personal leadership.

Building your self-awareness and growth mindset are key as you start to imagine yourself as a leader. You need to hone your communication skills so that you can collaborate effectively with a wide range of colleagues and make everyone feel included and valued. You may be naturally proactive but you may need to reflect on how and when to step in and be more leaderful in different situations at school.