Teach Secondary Issue 13.4

This can be done via a series of small actions. Make sure informal check-ins take place on neutral ground so that they feel less formal. Ensure your colleagues are going home on time. Set aside times for regular sit downs with a coffee so that you can catch up with them. All this will help build trust and paint a clearer picture of those daily issues you can support themwith. Leaders who succeed in building strong relationships with their teamwill tend to be those who can effectively motivate and inspire others. That’s why it’s so important for leaders to create opportunities to connect with their teammembers and understand their perspectives. Howdoyou fare under pressure? Before you can effectively lead others, however, youmust understand and control yourself. Effective leaders are self-aware and will work hard at boosting their strengths while addressing or compensating for their weaknesses. A leader possessing self-awareness and self-control will understand their own emotions and feelings, pay attention to them and be able to discuss themwith others. We recently collaborated with the headteacher of a thriving sixth form college as part of a leadership development programme. He was a kind and thoughtful man, and well-liked by the college’s staff – but when under pressure, he would become irritable and tended to blame others for any mistakes. By getting to understand his reactions in such instances, he soon learned to control the fear of failure that drove his negative responses to pressure, and through that ultimately change his behaviour. By understanding and better appreciating how you typically respond to pressure, you can better control how you react to it. Positive leadership If positive behaviour leads to positive results, then at the basic level, being kind, decent, patient and caring will help you develop the kind of strong and supportive relationships that any leadership role will require. I’ve previously seen several superb examples of positive leadership fromNigel William– a calm, humorous and gentle man, and one of Scotland’s most experienced mountain leaders. He and I have spent weeks together on skis in Norway. Early one year we were with three inexperienced skiers in a mountainous area. Injury had slowed us down, and we were still out after night had fallen. Temperatures were below zero and dropping fast. We could not find the hut where we were to spend the night, and there was no other accommodation for 20 miles. The mood in the group became uncomfortable. The inexperienced skiers were tired, frustrated and scared at the idea of spending a night outdoors in HOWTOMAKE TRAINING ROUTINE Breakfast briefings Teachers are great collaborators – so why not provide a structure for the professional dialogue in which teachers naturally engage? This could take the form of ‘breakfast briefings’, or breaktime drop-ins where colleagues can pick up a quick strategy (and a biscuit). Putting out flipcharts or Post-it notes on which colleagues can quickly scribble responses to questions and prompts can be a great way of generating ideas. Collate and scan the responses, and you’ll have a ready-made item for your next teaching and learning bulletin. Another option is a termly ‘bring and share’ lunch, where attendees exchange and discuss interesting blogs or articles. More focused meetings Consider also reviewing your use of directed meeting time. Are such sessions used to further staff knowledge and skills, or are they for sharing notices? Meeting time is precious, so look at how operational information can be distributed using email or messaging platforms, allowing staff meetings to focus more on CPD. Be sure to record, share and catalogue your professional learning, so that governors and non- teaching staff can access it too. Keep it in-house Try setting yourself the challenge of keeping all of your school’s CPD internal for one half term. Invest time in collaborative activities, such as joint lesson planning or instructional coaching, allowing extra time to observe. Look at ways of providing staff with personalised pathways or a choice of options. If you’re concerned about accountability, think creatively about how staff can evidence their learning. An end of year celebratory teachmeet, a ‘speed dating’ swap and share session or podcast recording can all be more effective and inspiring than requesting written accounts. Invest carefully We live in a golden age of online professional learning, spanning Twitter to Mastodon and Slack to Instagram. Yet as great as the internet is, don’t forget the brilliant support offer that’s available to you locally, such as Teaching School Hubs and Research Schools. These provide access to high quality, low cost CPD rooted in local context – perfect for when time and money is tight. Membership of professional organisations can also enhance your school offer, be they individual subject bodies or associations such as the Chartered College of Teaching. Teachers are busy people, so promote your offer with a visual display in the staffroom. Providing QR codes for staff to scan and one-page overviews they can take away will boost engagement. Nicola Brooks is a professional development co-ordinator for Reach South Academy Trust, and a founding fellow and network lead for the Chartered College of Teaching 56 teachwire.net/secondary