Stepping up and keeping your balance on the leadership ladder
by Adam Lamb @senorcordero
Earlier this year, following a previous three years in middle leadership in different roles, I made the step up to lead a faculty of 16 staff at the age of 29 and join my school’s Extended Leadership Team. Having been with the team at that point for 4 years and Second in charge for two of those years, it was the natural next step in my progression. Taking the reins from my predecessor, a very successful Head of Faculty who had built up the faculty to become one of the highest performing in the school (we enter near enough the full cohort for a GCSE in a modern foreign language), was far from easy. It goes without saying, since January I have learned an awful lot, and some of the learning that I’ve picked up on the way I hope to share with you below through my tips for moving into a higher-stakes leadership position.
Tip 1: Make time to listen those in your team
Listening is a skill that is important in leadership for more than one reason. Firstly, it allows us to gain valuable insight into the thoughts, feelings and general state of health of our teams; and secondly, it helps us to be seen as a credible leader by our team. When the team notice we take time to listen, they begin to trust us. This trust is needed when we are required to put into place directives from Senior Leadership that we know may not be well received by our teams.
To ensure I take the time to listen to my team, I regularly pop to the staffroom at breaks and lunchtimes for a chat; I take the time in the morning to greet everyone in the team and if they want to come for a chat or catch up, they know they can. That said, if I am urgently busy, I always write down to catch up with the person that was trying to speak to me and make sure to follow up.
Tip 2: Drop ‘I’; use ‘we’
One of the biggest pieces of advice I was given by my predecessor and my current line manager was to use ‘we’ when sending communications and avoid the use of ‘I’. It was quite an effort at first as when we are talking about ourselves, we naturally want to use the pronoun ‘I’; however, by using the pronouns ‘I’ and ‘you’, we naturally create a division between ourselves as leaders and our teams. We want our teams to be on board with us and our visions; excluding them unconsciously by using ‘I’ and ‘you’ is not going to help onboard our teams in our leadership journeys. ‘We’, however, makes it clear that everyone is united in actions and objectives.
Tip 3: Use ‘so that’ or ‘in order to’ to explain your rationale.
Knowing what the outcome of an action will be is important in making our actions and intentions as leaders transparent - helping our teams understand why we are asking them to do something. This stretches from implementing a mandated action to set targets based upon lesson observation feedback.
Tip 4: Prioritise doing whatever will enable others to do their roles first
This was another concept I struggled to get to grips with at first, but once I got used to it, it preserved a lot of undisturbed thinking/working time. This is especially useful if delegating. If I ask one of my Heads of Key Stage/Heads of Department to plan a moderation session, we take the time (however long it needs) to sit down together before putting together any resources or materials to carefully create a plan and carve out exactly how we want the session to run. We jointly put together a list of steps, resources, and materials needed to create a successful moderation session. Doing it together beforehand means that because I have done this repeatedly before, I can share my experience and add an element of quality assurance at this point, as well as set this person up for success, rather than leaving them blind to what it is they need to do and set them up for failure. Planning this way also banks some time as the careful running of the pre-planning meeting means I will have covered most of the issues/questions the staff member may have and I know at this point that they are able to work independently on the task, before reconvening at a later point to review together.
Tip 5: Tactically ‘park’ using sticky notes to help
When we climb up the ladder – ‘high-stakes admin’ becomes an issue that presses us for time and weighs on our minds. ‘Parking’, or putting things on hold in accordance to priority and deadline, is essential to help us look after ourselves.
Another tip I was given was to use sticky notes on Windows, and divide the sticky note up into the following subheadings and bullet underneath:
Admin and HR
CPD and training
Data and assessment
Behaviour
Line management
This helps me coordinate what I need to do and sort out which tasks need completing more urgently than others. Sticky notes can be easily updated and added to when needed, making them very usable. This has helped take a weight off my mind when I’ve felt overloaded with information and tasks.
Tip 6: Lean on your line manager
My old thinking was that line managers manage; however, I’ve quickly learned thanks to my own line manager that this is not the case. They should be there to support us, fight our corner, challenge us when needed, and help us and our teams thrive. It’s important we keep them in the loop and CC them into emails as needed. They can have our back when we think we are battling alone. I refer to mine as the ‘Microsoft paperclip’ – popping up with snippets of wisdom when needed and who has taught me so much of the above.
Adam is Head of Faculty for Languages in East London. Adam has previously overseen ITT provision in-school, as well as having been a Lead Practitioner covering a range of subjects. Follow him @senorcordero