Half term in February is always a good time for reflection: it feels like half way through the year (though it is slightly beyond the midway point) and there are around 100 days to go until the exams (which I’m pleased are back with us this academic year).
Just before the holiday, I gave an assembly with content to inspire our Year 13 students into action. There can be a lull at this point of the year, and it can be hard to rouse oneself into ensuring that an organised approach is in place for the exam run in. These students, however, have UCAS offers coming in, which should do part of that job, and the environment of the College, with Easter exams on the horizon and renewed efforts from all staff to gradually raise the levels of challenge for students to prime them for the final push. My assembly, which focused on the achievements of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his first hundred days in spite of severe problems caused by the Great Depression and his physical condition allowed them to put their own struggles in perspective.
On a wider scale, I wanted to open a consultation with staff to confront a complex question: where are we and where are we going?
I’ve now been Principal at the College for around 18 months and the opening phase of my tenure has come to an end. Having addressed a number of issues in this period, across a number of facets of the running of the College, it is now become clear that Ealing is now in the right place to truly move forward with confidence and stability: the right staff are now ‘on the bus’ and we all agree on the direction of travel; we are working towards a long term plan and the strategy employed in bearing fruit; both the infrastructure of the building and relationship with Bellevue Education have been strongly reinforced.
I asked staff about what they felt should be the priorities for moving forward. I’ve always found such an approach to be an astute one. I've always been a leader who sees the need to consult others. It was one of the first things I did when I took on my current role, and I look back on the initial period of the transition under my leadership as a time of positive and progressive change for the better, done in the right manner.
I asked staff to reflect on both the positives, as they saw them, and the potential areas for development, emphasising the importance of a solution-based approach. I also reiterated to them that such an exercise is only possible because of the hard work of the staff collectively in getting us to where we are now. It has been very much a team effort and everyone has played their part. In a sense, we are in a similar position to President Roosevelt, with his New Deal. Of his ‘Three Rs’, relief and recovery, and getting the College back on its feet, are nearing completion, reform, and the long term building of what the College stands for, is now upon us.
Good leaders don’t dictate the pace all by themselves. They don’t take responsibility for everything. They don’t call the tune and force others to follow. In a sense, this equates to taking away autonomy of professionals - something which I loathe.
On the contrary, good leaders encourage, delegate and empower all staff to grow, and to do so in an environment where they feel valued. It’s important to consider how staff can be given more agency, more opportunities to contribute and more of an attachment to the improvement of the place they work.
Reading the comments in reply to my request have emboldened me personally, and made it clear to me that the approach I adopted when I took leadership has been the right one.
When staff conclude the following, it becomes abundantly clear that we are going in the right direction:
“It is a pleasure to work here. The vast majority of the students and 100% of the staff are fantastic. The staff are all generally competent and capable, and they work hard for the college. The leadership and management style is to trust people to do their job the way they see fit. Teachers are trusted to teach in the way which fits with their subject, the students and their own personality. This makes for a mentally healthy workplace”
“I feel we offer a really excellent 'product' and compared to a number of our competitors that I have a good understanding of, I think we actually do things better.”
“I think we've been moving forward extremely well since you took over, I think you are doing all of the right things (including this exercise!)”
“This is my dream job in many respects, mainly because of the colleagues; I really do think you have the recruitment spot-on. People often say that it doesn’t matter whether or not you like your colleagues, but I would disagree with this. It makes all the difference to be able to say I like everyone in the workplace, without exception. I also feel that your management style as a principal works for me, because you allow us to be autonomous yet we feel the individual care that comes as part of being a small, close team.”
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for your enlightened management of the EIC. Working here is like being part of a family where everyone has the same weight and value, measured by the quality of their work.”
“I would like to reiterate how the college is changing in the right direction since you became Principal. The college is a much better place to work in. I think that you care about the college in a collective way rather than individualistic when it comes to moving forward, and I can assure you that staff feel it this way as well, and notice and appreciate the change.”
“Since you have taken over as Principal, the general mood in the college has gone from strength to strength. We are moving in the right direction and the vast majority of the community agree that there seems to be a sense of purpose, which is tailored to the individual.”
In the blog next week, I’ll discuss the exciting plans which came from the survey from the staff, and how we intend to review the findings to make our shared vision, and then put the processes in place to become a reality.