5 Tips for Reducing the Stress of Headship

You would not have reached where you are today if you didn’t know how to harness the power of hope to help you overcome the stresses of school leadership.

We know that hope can be incredibly elusive. When external demands and pressures mount and crisis follows crisis, the light at the end of the tunnel can appear to be very faint and distant glimmer. In such times, hope is just as essential for your own well-being, as rain is for flowers in the desert.

As you seek to move forward in your endeavour to create brighter futures for our young people, here are five tips for keeping hope alive and reducing feelings of stress when the challenges arise…

Tip 1: Learn to keep one eye backward and another eye forward

In order to live more fully and to make progress in our lives, it is helpful to have a process in place that enables us to develop a greater understanding of our own personal/professional journeys. Such a process enables us to develop a greater understanding of where we have come from and where we are heading and to hopefully move forward with deeper levels of insight and wisdom.

When this becomes a regular pattern of behaviour, it becomes much harder for you to be knocked off course by the challenges of school life – you have a wider perspective for viewing events and understanding how they relate to the bigger picture, both personally and professionally.

Tip 2: Stay Connected

School leadership does not happen in a vacuum. Leaders need people, not only to follow them, but also to help them on their journey. The connections that you make as you move forward will have a great impact on the degree to which you are able to deal successfully with the challenges of school leadership.

Paying attention to the relationships that you invest in and develop outside of school is just as important for your health and mental well-being, as is the amount of time you spend developing relationships in school. Be wise in your affiliations; relationships that drain your energy (although sometimes, if not often, this is unavoidable in a professional context) take great care in your personal relationships, to ensure there is a balance and that you have relationships that give back to you and do not leave you emotionally depleted.

Tip 3: Learn the art of Selfless Leadership

Nelson Mandela’s Biographer, Richard Stengel wrote, “We become our best selves through unselfish interaction with others”. In stating this he was referring to “the African model of leadership, which is better expressed as Ubuntu, the idea that people are empowered by other people.” Quite clearly this can only happen when Ego is put to one side.

The Selfless Leader is one who has outgrown the needs of the Ego for constant external praise and affirmation. The Selfless leader is one who understands that constant seeking of the approval of others only leads to greater stress and an increased distancing from one’s true identity. The Selfless leader understands that when all such things are put to one side, hope prevails, stress is reduced and greater bonds are formed with those you lead.

Tip 4: Bend, do not break

You may be familiar with the phrase ‘bend’ do not break, which some say has its origins in either one of Aesop’s fables, The Olive Tree and the Reed, or an old Chinese proverb that relates to the capacity of the bamboo to bend (and not break) even in the severest of storms. For too many school leaders resilience has meant putting on a brave face while becoming detached from all feeling and emotion, they have become so ‘brittle’, that when the storms come, they have forgotten what it means to ‘bend’.

If you want to be able to withstand the storms of school leadership, you have to be able to bend. You have to be able to allow yourself to feel and in so feeling, to be receptive to what your mind and your body are telling you – and take action that shows you are have understood the message!

Tip 5: Know you have a choice

During everything that the life of a school leader throws at you, it is important to remember that you have a choice as to how you respond. When we understand this, we put our conscious selves back into the driving seat of our lives. We stay in control of ourselves, as opposed to life’s events taking control of us. It is not always easy.

It takes discipline and conscious effort to choose how we respond to life’s calamities. However, when we master the art and become better at taking control of our lives, we experience the peace that comes in no longer letting others unduly influence our experience of school leadership. We also promote hope in ourselves and promote it in those who are close to us.

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Taking Back Control of School Leadership

It is our belief that over the last few years, our education system has lost sight of one of its strongest and most important assets – its humanity.

Values more akin to the business world have seeped into the system with schools encouraged to see children as data, other school leaders as competitors and results as the ultimate goal of education. We have seen  too many school leaders  ‘disappear’ with many being forced out, sometimes on the back of just one disappointing set of results.

Consequently, we’ve noticed a growing culture of fear within in our education system. Increased levels of public scrutiny and personal accountability have only served to intensify this.  As have new structures and roles which have added unnecessary layers of complexity and ambiguity. Many heads now feel they are in a constant battle to prove they know what is being asked of them in this new era and prove that they are “good enough.”

That’s why in October 2020, we will once again host Headteachers & School Leaders from across the country for our very special “Education for the Soul” conference.

This conference will feature a new selection of expert speakers and workshop hosts, who will be sharing their insights into how school leaders can look after their own well-being, get the most out of those they lead and deliver the best outcomes for their pupils.

The conference will aim to build on the outcomes of our previous “Education for the Soul” conferences and seek to explore how school leaders and teachers can learn to lead with integrity, depth and purpose.

As part of this, we will look into how individuals can stay connected to their “why” and their deepest values. Above all, “Education for the Soul” 2020 will aim to help school leaders and teachers:

– Foster a deep sense of vocation and purpose amongst all staff

– Increase their understanding of the relationship between school development and personal development

– Keep hope, joy passion, commitment and creativity at the heart of their school and relationships with self and others

The Hidden Challenges of School Leadership

You read the books, studied the application criteria, and so impressed the interview panel with your strong responses that you’ve been appointed Head Teacher…

If you’re anything like most people, you were convinced that you’re going into this job with open eyes, prepared to face the challenges of school leadership … until you stepped foot into the school on that first day and get blindsided.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me about these hidden challenges before I took up the post?”

I hear this again and again from my clients — while they are amazingly prepared ‘on paper’ for raising and maintaining school standards, challenging under-performance, and guiding the school through its next OFSTED visit, Headship in practice is an entirely different matter.

What leadership programmes, and even other Heads won’t tell you

School development is intrinsically tied to emotional development — yours and that of others. Emotional intelligence only has meaning when you’re in relationships with others, and even more so when these relationships test your emotions.

School leadership is a journey on which each and every day you have to learn how to respond consciously to the stresses of your role instead of simply reacting and putting out fires.

There are going to be times when you’ll feel like a stranger to yourself as you try to find new frames of reference for handling new circumstances, relationships, and challenges.

Admitting your own vulnerabilities when faced with the challenges of school leadership isn’t a form of weakness — it’s what will get you through.

What’s more, if you don’t get the support you need in the role (and most Heads don’t), you’ll end up overwhelmed with the enormity of your role and all that you have to do; emotionally spent from being everything to everyone day after day; and with the growing sense that there must, must be a healthier way to cope with the demands of your job.

So how do you combat these hidden challenges?

1. Make a promise to yourself to lead consciously

Too often, school Heads find themselves leading on automatic pilot, following old habits and modes of thinking, which trigger automated and unconscious responses. But when things get hard, you need to be able to have a reasoned, rational response — and that can only happen when you press pause and allow yourself to respond from a place of greater alignment and authenticity.

2. Learn to better understand your thoughts and emotions

Our thoughts create our reality, but we seldom realise it. Too caught up in the busyness of life and Headship, you may have little time to realise that the thought you woke up with this morning impacted your behaviours and emotions throughout the day. If you can master your mind and your thought processes, you’ll experience greater mental clarity, self-awareness, and a belief in your ability to take control of your circumstances.

3. Take care of your physical health.

It’s easy to live in your head, but there’s no getting away from your body, so you need to consciously take care of it. This is closely tied to your emotional health too, since emotions that aren’t processed get stored in the body. So have a think: do you always have a headache, tension in your shoulders, a pain in your chest? It may be that your body is saying to you “Listen to me and find someone to help you, so that all this pain can stop!”

Meeting the Needs of Others….

Working as a coach with school leaders I’ve witnessed first-hand the emotional cost for school leaders when their emotional needs are not properly met; anxiety, self-doubt, poor decision making and a diminished sense of personal and professional fulfilment.

This can’t continue. Active steps must be taken. Our profession needs to change and show that it knows how to best support our school leaders. So that they can not only survive, but also thrive in their attempts to deliver the best outcomes for our children.

Meanwhile, for their part, our leaders must be supported to take care of themselves!

One of the key elements of this is learning to ask for help, and realising that this is an act of courage, as much as it is an essential act of kindness and compassion towards oneself.

Whatever our goals, whatever our ambitions, we need help to fulfil them. So that when the going gets tough, as it always does, we don’t fall down and remain on the ground, but are supported, so that we can get back up again and, with renewed focus and energy, carry on towards our dream.

So if you want to take charge of your well-being and be supported to best meet the needs of those in your care, I am now offering free “Coaching for The Soul” calls for school leaders to enable you to do just this.

This call will provide you with a confidential, safe, non–judgemental space to spend 30 minutes discussing how you can:

– Achieve a greater sense of clarity about your direction as a school leader

– Gain a clearer perspective on any challenges that you may be facing

– Identify positive steps for moving forward

7 Ways to Succeed as a School Leader

Education consultant and hypnotherapist at Oxford Family Hypnotherapy, Julia Watson.

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The demands on the shoulders of our school leaders has never been greater, with inordinate demands on time and resources distracting from the essence of the role.

Amidst the heightened pressures and challenges, what steps can School Leaders take to succeed in their role?

1. Keep growing

Many SLT members forego training for the sake of saving time and money. But professional and personal development need not cost the earth: sometimes it can be as simple as finding a course that suits you, reading an article or keeping up with inspiring educationalists on social media.

After all, who wants to follow someone whose leadership has gone stale? Keep reading, learning and growing (all things we expect of pupils, lest we forget) and seek out anything that will keep you engaged.

2. Focus on solutions

Find out what is working well, and do more of it. Conversely, if something isn’t working, don’t do it!  Taking a solution-focused approach to challenges and change avoids blame, and promotes a positive culture of problem-solving.

3. Let people do their job

Leadership is not an exercise in writing your colleagues’ to-do lists. Micro-managing is important to a point but can also be demotivating and harbour feelings of resentment. Give staff the means to do their jobs, and seek support when they need to. But there’s enough to do in the day without covering someone else’s work as well as your own!

4. Stay organised

Whether it comes naturally to you or not, keeping on top of admin is key to managing your workload. Grabbing hold of the reins is crucial, lest this particular horse run away with all your precious free time.

Missing data, losing important files or even forgetting you are due to cover break duty… all can cause frustration in the staffroom and waste valuable time. Identify a time of day to answer emails, rather than responding to them as they arrive. Delegate tasks as appropriate. Create a system that works for you – if you’re not adept at time management, find someone who is and shadow them.

5. Be realistic

As a member of the SLT, a certain amount of ‘firefighting’ is natural. There will be plenty of things that arise each day to keep you from the work you had planned. Hence why it’s important, at the beginning of the day, to identify three things you want to get done. Not twenty or even forty, just three.

This will help you stay anchored when other things (inevitably) crop up, and give you a better chance of succeeding. This feeling also releases Serotonin, and the reward of this lovely little chemical boost increases motivation, meaning that you might even achieve more than you set out to do.

6. Be human

Most of us enter this profession because they are interested in other people, and want to help them learn and grow. But it’s easy to lose sight of this core purpose under a mountain of work, and more and more time spent away from the classroom. Human interaction is vital to all people, but as our stress levels rise, social isolation becomes increasingly common.

Good leaders maintain positive relationships with the people they work with and show a genuine interest in them. This isn’t by chance; they purposefully allocate time to keeping in touch with their colleagues. This might be by dropping into classrooms and asking how the day is going, or remembering to ask after a family member. It’s showing your face in the staffroom and remembering to say ‘thank you’ for a job well done. An open door policy for SLT is just one way of fostering an open and supportive culture in schools.

7. Look after yourself

Anyone who has ever travelled by aeroplane will know that you secure your own oxygen mask first and then help the child next to you. Taking care of yourself is not selfish. If you are rested, nurtured and happy, you are better placed to support others.

You cannot reach your full potential as a leader, or, importantly, inspire others to greatness if your basic needs are not being met. These include feeling safe, being nourished with healthful food and hydrated with enough water. You need to Viagra sleep and exercise. You need to spend time with people you like and love and more. These are not luxuries, but necessities.

Taking care of yourself is not selfish!

When humans are not having their basic needs met, they begin to make their decisions leading with the amygdala, the centre of the ‘fight or flight’ responses. In terms of age, these decisions are that of a three to five year-old. It is your ‘toddler’ brain, which will explain why grown adults sometimes behave like children.

An effective school leader knows that to be great at what they do, they need to give themselves a break.

The 5 Qualities of Successful Senior Leadership Teams

 “Nothing Great was ever achieved alone!”
Dennis Griffin

Senior leadership teams are central to the success of every school. No matter the size, no matter the make-up of the team; it is imperative that every team member not only buys into the school vision, but in addition actively works with others to enable the vision to be fulfilled.

Creating a climate in which this is achieved isn’t always easy.  Quite simply because,

“Organisations are more complex because they are made up of people who come with a range of attitudes and motivations, personal goals and ways of interacting with each other.”

                       Louise Stoll, Professor of Education at Bath University

Yet, despite the truth of Stoll’s  statement SLT’s have to find ways to overcome the complexity of differing attitudes, motivations and goals, so that their energies are consistently centred on working together for the common good.

From my own experience working with SLT’s those that are most effective in achieving the above, share these five qualities…

1) Shared purpose

 These teams successfully lay aside ego. No team member elevates themselves above another. They are aware of one another’s strengths and areas for development and work successfully with both. The vision is important to all of them, not just the Head. They understand the role that they each play individually and collectively in seeing the vision fulfilled. As a result, a shared understanding of their ‘Why’ means that when challenges arise, they never lose their way.

 Their shared sense of purpose ensures that the right decisions are made for the right reasons. They hold themselves and one another accountable for the outcomes of their collective decisions. Blame is absent from their interactions, but praise and encouragement are never in short supply. As a result, they continually fan the flames that keep their collective purpose and passion alive.

 2. Learn Together

 Successful teams not only work together they learn together. SLT meetings are not only viewed as opportunities to work on the strategic and operational sides of school life, they are also seen as opportunities to reflect, learn and grow. Where this is the case, these teams consider learning at a number of different levels; organisational, team and individual. As a result, they have a much more holistic sense of what it means to be a leader and to work as part of a team.

Consequently, these teams often have a deep sense of feeling in control, even when faced with external directives and other people’s competing priorities. This is because, they have increased their capacity to not only keep things in perspective, but to also see the bigger picture. A picture which has been shaped by their collective learnings and deepening understanding of what it means to lead in their own school context.

 3. Psychological & Emotional Safety

 In highly successful teams, team members are emotionally and psychologically mature. This doesn’t mean that they never disagree, nor does it mean that they keep their emotions to themselves. Quite the contrary. They have opinions the same as you and I. They have feelings and emotions the same as you and I.

The difference is their meetings have structures and processes that make it safe for individuals to say what they are really thinking and feeling. So, no-one need ever hide behind a fragile veneer of okayness and meetings need never be scuppered because team members don’t have the tools to address the elephant in the room!

All team members have played a part in shaping the team protocols for healthy, open and honest engagement with one another. As a result, psychological and emotional safety preside, conflict is minimised and when it does arise, every team member is well equipped to deal with it effectively.

 4. High Levels of Trust

In these teams there are no ‘information quarantines’. The SLT is a safe place to both be oneself and to share confidential information. The ability to share, in a non-judgemental space means that weight of school leadership is made less heavy to bear. Individuals feel cared for and supported. Trust becomes the glue that holds everyone together. This means that individuals within the team feel able to take risks, knowing that they will be supported no matter the outcome.

5. Celebrate Together

And finally, successful teams celebrate together! They acknowledge team effort and the results of the team’s endeavours. Successful teams understand that celebration can be a constructive way for building resilience and boosting collective esteem. They model good humour, compassion and respect. As a result, not only does it feel good for them to be with one another, it also feels good for others to be led by them!

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How can I build a Successful School Leadership Team?

Every senior leadership team ( SLT’s) has the desire to be able to work effectively for the benefit of every staff member and child in their school.

However, as many an SLT team member will testify, working together for the success of everyone is not always a goal that is easily achieved.

That’s why we offer Coaching for School Leadership Teams designed to support you as you build a resilient, collaborative and solution-focused SLT in your school by helping your team to…

– Establish a process for holding meetings in which all team members feel safe, valued, listened to and understood

– Know how to self-manage and have open, constructive and supportive dialogue with one another

– Understand why conflicts arise and how to positively address for the benefit of all

– Achieve coherence around strategy, implementation of policy and systems that support full commitment and accountability from all team members