HEADTEACHERS AS RESERVOIRS OF HOPE Alan Flintham Education Consultant and National College Research Associate

Management or Leadership? Doing the thing right or Doing the right thing

Sometimes leadership from the front isn’t always the best way!

Headteachers as Reservoirs of Hope spiritual and moral leadership … a lived faith in action

Staying aloft in leadership ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got you!’ ‘You’ve got me… but who’s got you?

Overview so far… Leadership is acting as the external reservoir of hope for your school Spirituality is your own internal reservoir of hope, a lived faith (sacred or secular) Spiritual and moral leadership is your lived faith seen in action day by day Sustainability is how you keep yourself going, when the going gets tough.

Where are we going with all this? If spiritual and moral leadership is a lived faith in action……… What is that faith, the underpinning value system, the personal reservoir of hope, and where does it come from? What happens when it is tested by day to day stressors and critical incidents that threaten to drain it? What sustains and supports it, the strategies and structures that refill the reservoir of hope? What happens when strategies fail, when the dam breaks and reservoirs of hope run dry?

Summary of findings (1): all heads have an individual value system Questions to ponder: What is your own personal value system? Where did it come from? How does it influence your leadership?

Summary of findings (2) Almost all liked the reservoirs metaphor All had a range of sustainability strategies to support them through the stressful times Questions to ponder: What are the stressors which drain your reservoir? What are the sustainers you use to refill it? How effective are they for you?

STRESSORS AND SUSTAINERS STRESSORS SUSTAINERS

STRESSORS: what leadership demand creates the most stress? Comparison with Leadership Survey of US upper/middle executives (source: Center for Creative Leadership, July 2007; 455 responses)

SUSTAINERS: Sustainability Strategies of US executives

When the dam breaks….

Summary of findings (3) All have faced testing in critical incidents All develop leadership capacity over time All value opportunities for strategic reflection and peer support networks Question to ponder: What have you learned about sustaining yourself in headship to pass on to others?

Coping with Critical Incidents Reflect on a critical incident in your leadership (or use one of the scenarios provided) What did you learn from the incident about your own approach to leadership? What sustainability strategies did you have- what kept you going? From where did you draw support? What learning points could be gained from your experience of value to colleagues, both those experienced, new to headship, and aspirant heads, and those responsible for their development?

When Reservoirs Run Dry striding, strolling, stumbling or sprinting from school leadership

Striding, Strolling, Stumbling or Sprinting from Headship? ‘Striders’ have a pro-active exit strategy and move on after successful experience ‘Strollers’ walk away from headship due to work-life balance or change pressures ‘Stumblers’ burn out or drop out through failure of their sustainability strategies ‘Sprinters’ are post-modernist portfolio heads with a fixed-term skill-set approach

Envisioning Journey’s End: Planning your RETIREMENT DO what legacy do you hope to leave behind you? At your Retirement Party… What would you like to be said by your deputy a member of staff a student you taught a member of your family How closely does all this match present reality?

More Questions to ponder Do you identify with the ‘sea-change’ from ‘doing’ headship to ‘being’ the head? Do you recognise the ‘plateau effect’ in headship and how might it be overcome? How should we deal with the emergence of the new breed of the sprinter ‘portfolio’ head? How do we transmit to policymakers the need to support and sustain heads in their spiritual and moral leadership of schools in an age dominated by success criteria and measurable accountabilities?

“It’s not the despair. I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand” John Cleese plays the manic headteacher Brian Stimpson in the film Clockwise (1986)