Laura Webb CPD

Having recently announced my new book Five Steps Ahead, I decided to start a Sunday blog series covering the human elements of departmental leadership.

For context, the book is very much an action-based handbook of systems and processes. I wrote the book that I wanted as an aspiring, new, and even experienced middle leader: tell me what to do, step by step, so that I don’t miss anything. I was lucky enough to have great middle leadership mentors across my time but I recognise not everyone gets this luxury, so the book acts as a no-nonsense guide to the practical habits of leading a strong department.

And whilst of course the human elements of leadership bleed into every element of this, I wanted to use this blog series to focus on more human decisions as a middle leader, what it means to be a middle leader, and how we interact and establish ourselves in schools. So for tonight’s blog I decided to be deliberately provocative – what do middle leaders need to stop doing – what are we doing that is wasting time, diverting attention, or perhaps not developing our teams even if we think it is?

The upcoming blog series will cover things like ’10 uncomfortable truths about middle leadership‘ and ’10 things great middle leaders notice’ and these blogs will run up to the September release of my new book, more information on Amazon here.

1. Stop trying to be the best teacher

I think in the race towards middle leadership people realise that, in the right schools, promotions go to the stronger teachers. And as such, that can become the focus: to be the best teacher in the department. But what does that even mean, really? I think consistency is great teaching, making sure the students are learning is great teaching, and in truth there are many ways to do this within the confines of your school’s systems and structures.

Once you become a middle leader, your success is no longer measured by the quality of what happens in your classroom, but instead across all of the classrooms of the teachers you lead. Therefore whilst of course the students you serve must be your priority, you become someone who is leading the students across the whole department, and so your priorities shift: you have to invest your time in the teaching of others, and sometimes this takes priority over a particularly long lesson plan for your own classes.

Ultimately, a department of 10 great teachers beats a department of one superb teacher and 9 that are struggling. So it is now your responsibility to ensure consistency of excellence, not just one place that excels.

Stop measuring success by your classroom outcomes, start measuring it by the quality of teaching in every classroom you lead.

2. Stop solving individual problems

The first time you solve a problem someone has as a middle leader, you get a ‘Head of Department Rush’ that feels very different to the teacher feeling. It can become addictive, to feel like you are at the epicentre of everyone’s problems and that you can solve them, a human octopus serving 8 different dishes of support – but the real question is, if problems keep occurring, are you really leading?

It took me a long time to realise that middle leaders often need to not focus on the people and their individual issues but instead focus on the systems that serve the people. If something goes wrong within your department, you have to focus on tracing the problem back to its source, and in doing so, you can do the real work of improving department, or even school-wide, issues – and prevent them happening again.

A good middle leader generally is proactive rather than reactive. So deal with the issues in the systems before they trickle down to the teacher at the end of the estuary, hanging on to their driftwood and struggling. Instead, work on deconstructing the systems within your department and ensuring that you have mitigated all the risks that could occur. That way, you will not need to be the person everyone goes to, because fewer problems will occur, and those that do will be far more nuanced and specific to an individual teacher.

So stop solving individual problems, start solving recurring problems.

3. Stop saying yes

I think as a new middle leader trying to set out your stall, it can become easy to sort of agree to anything or offer your time to everyone. But ultimately, your time is finite, and your team should be your priority, so helping out another department with a scheme of work or agreeing to a project with an assistant head can sometimes pull you away from your own team.

It took me far too long to realise this; but eventually my phrase has become “I am not sure I have the capacity for this”. This shifts the conversation away from you not wanting to do something, but instead that your time is not limitless (after all, no doubt you have a home to go to) and that if your time and attention is needed elsewhere then something else needs to come off your already very full plate of things.

I also think it’s worth remembering that integrity in leadership is key, and that agreeing to things that might overwhelm you or slip through the net in the long run can damage how people see you. Effectively, a regretful but committed ‘yes’ is better than an overcommitted and may not happen ‘yes’. You want to consistently deliver, not let people down. Finally, saying no to things that do not move your team or students forward means that you can say yes wholeheartedly to the things that truly matter.

Stop saying yes because you feel guilty, start saying yes because it aligns with your priorities.

4. Stop trying to make everyone happy

The honest truth is that if you are a good leader of people, you can often fall into the trap of being a people pleaser. The main issue with that comes when you need to offer people feedback, or have tricky conversations. The reality is that strong leadership needs you to give feedback that might make people uncomfortable, and this counts for those in your team and also those in senior leadership.

I have learnt the hard way that avoiding a problem only allows it to become a giant snowball travelling at speed down a hillside: it will grow with time. It’s much easier to handle that small lump of snow before it picks up the momentum and gets worse; so is the same for those conversations we want to avoid. Honest feedback is an act of kindness, and you can never hope someone will ‘just realise’. As a middle leader you cannot make everyone happy all of the time. You have to come to terms with this.

As a general rule, difficult conversations protect the standards and identity of your department. In the book there are several sections covering delivering feedback, handling tricky conversations, and handling staff who do not take your feedback. This covers processes and habits. But as a human, you need to be comfortable with making people uncomfortable, as long as in the long run you are improving things for students or your staff, it has to be done.

Stop trying to make everyone happy and start having honest conversations so people can grow and learn.

5. Stop changing things because you can

I think when you become a middle leader, and even years into the job, it feels like enacting change is a key element of the role. A lot of middle leadership books talk about leading and managing change and this becomes like a hurdle that people think they have to keep changing – what’s the next thing to add or change? I think it’s worth remembering that refining and perfecting things is also a form of change, even if it is not overt and obvious to others.

Not everything you will inherit is broken, and not everything broken needs throwing out. What’s more, there will be some things your team members like, or enjoy, or agree with, and if you feel the need to rip everything up this can be destabilising for them. Every change you make has some kind of cost, and not always financial, it could be time, energy, or morale. So it’s worth considering all of this before entering rushed decisions and changes.

For me, change should be designed to resolve a problem, not to leave a legacy of impact. I think that big things can need changes and that can be necessary and have high cost, but thought must go into the process, and credibility can often be built through the precise and specific shifts you make to already working systems, not through the big overhauls. Change often threatens the stability of a team and the members of the team, so it must be done carefully and thoughtfully. Change itself isn’t the actual goal, the improvement created by the change is what matters.

Stop changing things for the sake of it, and start changing because the evidence tells you change is needed

6. Stop treating everyone the same

It is easy to think that your team all deserve equal parts of you, equal support and equal challenge. But when you know your team, you will start to instinctively get to know what they need and what parts of you they require. The book covers ways to get to know your team and what they need, so let’s assume a team of a range of expertise and you lead them and know them well. Not all of them will need constant challenge and new things to work on. But also not all of them will need support with lesson planning.

A strong middle leader is not about one-size-fits-all; instead they regularly measure what people need and respond to those measurements. They also do not treat all people the same – for example you may have two high-performing teachers in your department and one may need a high volume of feedback and the other may require additional challenges and responsibilities. You adapt your approach as you get to know your team.

Of course this does not mean that you have different standards for people; everyone should be held to the same standards of the department and the vision. But some staff may need coaching towards a shift in the department, some may need trust that they will execute it readily. It’s also worth considering that your most experienced staff may not want responsibility, may feel overwhelmed at times, may need praise and reassurance. Your team is a bunch of humans: caring, learning, improving. It is your job to treat them as individuals despite wanting them to feel like a team.

Stop treating everyone the same in the name of fairness, start giving people what they need as individuals.

7. Stop answering immediately

I think something I see quite often in all levels of leadership is the need to have answers. It appears a signal to others: I have all the answers. And yet, often, I find that if someone is asking the right questions, the answers do not always have to be there straight away. It is an easy trap to fall into, to believe that giving an immediate answer makes you look knowledgeable, or in control, but instead, it can often lead you into a dangerous zone.

Often the answers we give straight away are based on our gut instinct, and often we do not play out all the scenarios and consider all the various issues. And so, we can be left having to go back on our word, and that is what actually appears weak. Instead, I use phrases like “It’s important I think about this, let me come back to you by x with a decision” or “Let me go away and think about that” and first I will ask “Do you need an answer right away?” This also works with line management, and ensuring that you are not given rushed decisions and answers. I will often pre-load a question with “I do not need an answer yet…” so that someone else does not rush into a hasty call.

Ultimately, other people will trust you if they think the decisions you make are thoughtful rather than rushed. People will be willing to wait if they know whatever you come back to them with is correct. It is about considered judgement rather than instant answers. If you find yourself constantly changing your mind, then the decisions are being made too quickly. Time to go away and mull it over, do some research, consider different angles and opinions – this is how people make good decisions. We are expected to lead for the quality of our judgement, not the speed of our responses.

Stop answering the moment you are asked, start giving yourself permission to think before you decide

8. Stop speaking first

I think sometimes middle leaders feel the need to speak up for their team regularly, in various forums. I have learnt quickly that sometimes the most powerful voice in the room is the one who waits and listens carefully to others before commenting. This counts both for meetings within your own department, general corridor conversations, moments with multiple members of SLT, and meeting with other middle leaders. My advice is that in any of these scenarios you never want to be the voice that is first, the voice that is loudest, or the voice that feels they have to speak last.

In your own team, try to ensure every voice is heard, creating mechanisms regularly where everyone has to speak or contribute something. You’ll always learn more from hearing others think out loud, or discuss amongst themselves, and allow your team members to form and share their own opinions. When you speak first you end up setting the tone or direction of the conversation, as people often feel they need to follow you. In doing so, you are less likely to unearth the things you need to, and you create an echo chamber where your own ideas are bounced back at you.

Instead, use open questions and time for dialogue and then feedback. Then summarise ideas and offer your own. Here, often the best ideas emerge from the collaboration of your team, not your own brain. In middle leader meetings, avoid over-exerting yourself and being a dominant voice. It is about working with the other middle leaders and not performing to them. We can all learn from each other, but often the loudest voice in these meetings can come across as over-confident and almost egotistical. Instead, let ideas flow around the room and pay attention. As a rule I generally contribute towards the end when I have listened to others and can offer something new. Sometimes, silence is a powerful tool.

Stop speaking first, start allowing others to guide the flow of conversations.

9. Stop trying to be indispensable

It’s really important not to be someone your department needs every minute of the day. If when you’re absent you think everything is going to crumble, a carefully curated house of cards that only requires a breath to tumble down, then your middle leadership is only built to rely on one person. Good systems do not rely on one individual. Your knowledge should not exist within your own head. Your processes should be documented so others can follow them. You need to hand over genuine ownership and control to the members of your team, and their success when you are not in the building is far more powerful than them doing well when you are there, overseeing everything.

Having left a department behind myself, the pull to remain as a leader for your team is one I know too well. The hard fact is that if the house of cards falls once you are gone, then the legacy was never truly built. Instead, we should strive to create departments of multiple leaders, who all know how to do the things you do. No-one is irreplaceable, and so for me it is a selfish act to keep things to myself, it is putting the kids and the team first to say, someone else needs to know how to do this.

For me, the best leaders create more leaders within their teams. But you cannot do that by acting like only you can lead, or only you can do the things you do, or only you are the one that can lead x team. I actually think the role of a good middle leader is to build capacity within their department, not reliance. The test of your leadership is what happens when you are absent, not present – if you go on a course, you are sick, you are pulled away from school for whatever reason, and you are told everything has been fine, that is something to be proud of.

Stop building a department dependent on you, start growing a department that grows because of you.

10. Stop trying to prove yourself

I know this is a tricky one. Once you get any job, you want to show people how and why you got it. But you already got the job, so there is no need trying to spend time proving to people why you got it. Leadership is always about doing the right thing for other people, the right thing to move students and staff forward, not for visibility, but for impact. You do not need to speak in every meeting. You do not need to solve everyone’s problems. You do not need to say yes to everyone. This is not proving yourself. Proving yourself is leading authentically, doing the right things to make the right changes to have the right impact.

I think often the pressure to prove yourself comes from within rather than from how others perceive you. I often say to people “your perception is your reality” but we do not always know how people see us – we imagine, and then try to prove the gaps we have created for ourselves. A confident leader does the right things every time, without question, because they are not thinking about how they look but instead they understand what the people around them need.

Instead, embrace mistakes as part of learning what being a good middle leader is. Leadership needs to be seen as a marathon for your department, not a performance, or worse, some sort of audition. The importance is the difference you are making, not the impression you are creating. Your team, your head, your line manager – these people will not judge you based on one single mistake, or conversation, or unanswered question. But they may judge you if you do not feel authentic, like you are second-guessing every part of yourself you give them. These attributes do not build a team culture, instead they create a divide that the team will feel but not understand. Strong middle leadership is built on consistently trying to make the right call, and sometimes, if we are performing and trying to please everyone to prove ourselves, the difficult decisions and conversations and actions become too hard. You do not need to prove yourself, you just need to do the right thing to develop and improve your team and your students.

Stop leading to prove you deserve middle leadership, start leading to leave your department the strongest it can be