Beyond the Titles: Serving the Community through Effective School Leadership

I have worked with and for some incredible leaders throughout my career who have shown me what true leadership means. As my Headteachers, mentors, coaches and friends, the leaders I admire have improved me in significant ways.

What I have learned as a leader now myself is that leadership is not just a title to be held, proud of and used to demonstrate one’s authority but it is, in fact, a responsibility and a trust given to a leader.

As a Muslim, I see leadership as an amanah, a trust, given to me to serve and contribute to the school and wider community. Who do we serve? Ourselves or others?

Having the title of SLT doesn’t mean we will be seen automatically as such. Titles mean nothing without respect or trust in those leaders. As leaders, we need to build that trust not just expect that trust and respect because we have a title.

As leaders across the school, we have a duty to build a culture where we understand, align ourselves to and model the school values for students and staff. We need to live and breathe this in every interaction with everyone in the school community, not just staff in our team.

Everyone is noticing the interactions we have with them, other colleagues, students and families. Do we smile at some and not others depending on people’s roles? How do we speak to colleagues? Think about how you’re communicating through verbal and non verbal cues. It matters.

As leaders, we can also build culture & trust through our line management (LM) meetings. Have LM agendas so everyone is clear about will be discussed. Pre-populate this and ask them to do the same where possible. Clarity is kindness so there should be no surprises.

In the meetings, during/after discussion, make a note of the discussion and specific actions. Have this clear in the formatting of your line management meeting minutes. I use google sheets for LM minutes (taught to me by my former amazing line manager Thahmina Begum). Ensure there is a column for the agenda item, notes of discussion, actions, person responsible for the actions and then the deadline. Ensure each action for the agenda item is on a different row so that it’s easy to RAG (red/amber/green) when reviewing each action even if they link to one agenda item. This makes each action important but also achievable.

Make sure you are both clear about who is responsible for that action by adding the name at the beginning of the action. E.g. YBI to share the punctuality ladder in briefing by 31 March 2024. This is important because then both you and the person you line manage are clear about who is accountable. Set a deadline or completion date and explicitly say why it’s important to meet that specific deadline.

When you review the minutes next LM, it will be easy to see which actions have been completed and which are yet to be completed for each agenda item.

Then, SUPPORT the person you line manage to take action! If you’re asking them to create something, model it for them. Show them a WAGOLL and tell them which parts are desirable and which are necessary. Give them a specific date when you will be asking for an update and QA.

When you monitor and quality assure, ask them what they’ve found easy and what they’ve found challenging/ their barriers to completion. Based on what they say either a) acknowledge and appreciate and let them get on with it or b) support them through the we do/ you do approach.

Sometimes my superhero tendency means I want to do it for them to help them. It’s not helpful. But it’s equally unhelpful to know that someone is struggling and to leave them to it because ‘it’s their job’ and ‘how will they learn?’

We need to support and direct. Scaffold if necessary and then slowly take those scaffolds away. Don’t do it for them and don’t leave them to it without checking in. Care personally and challenge directly.

I like to get regular feedback from those I line manage about what’s working well and what I could do better as a leader and line manager. It’s important as it keeps me humble, learning, growing and replicate what’s going well and improve rapidly. Try it.

I also seek honest and transparent feedback from colleagues across the school about what I need to improve in terms of my leadership presence around the school. It’s really helped me to grow and understand myself deeply as a leader.

Finally, for me, leadership is about service and upholding the trust. Are we serving ourselves or are you truly serving the school community?