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The Tim Brighouse view: ldr March 2010

The Tim Brighouse view

The four stages of headship

Which stage are you at, asks Tim Brighouse.

It was my first week in Birmingham. Days are always crammed in a new job but adrenalin, energy and optimism get you by.

That evening I set off for what was expected to be a crowded meeting of Birmingham school governors curious to meet the new Chief Education Officer.

I arrived at Westhill College, but they weren’t there. One frantic hour and countless phone calls later, I gave up: the meeting wasn’t to be found. The next day I discovered that the meeting had been at another college in Westbourne Rd, also with ‘West’ in its title, and that 300 had turned up on a miserable rainy evening.

I tell this story because I was recently reflecting with a group of heads about the four stages of headship and I told it to them to show how not to get off to a good start in what I call the ‘initiation’ stage of leadership. It’s when all your stakeholders – staff, pupils, parents, governors and the local community in the case of headteachers – are trying to match up what you say and what you do with who you are.

The better your homework about people before you arrive, the sooner you’ll form a trusting rapport based on their certainty that you know about and remember their individuality. The more you put yourself about, the quicker the ‘initiation’ phase will be over. Until the initiation stage is over it’s difficult to make energetic progress based on shared commitment.

The second is the ‘developmental’ stage when, after listening to everyone’s hopes, you are privileged to steer the school through the next chapter of its story. You’ll find yourself using a few key defining phrases over and over again – sometimes so often you feel self-conscious about repetition. You need constantly to affirm and reinforce the vital essence, purpose and values of the shared enterprise with all members of the community – pupils, staff, parents and governors. You know you are winning when you hear others using the same language. Another key ingredient of this phase is to focus on staff development so they never run short of intellectual curiosity and energy. Usually the ambitions set out for the school are realised within seven, eight or nine years and a new defining chapter needs to be agreed.

This is a dangerous period for leaders – a third ‘plateau’ stage which can so easily become a ‘stall’. Can they summon the imagination and resolve for another sustained period of development? Or do their colleagues know them so well that they can be resisted? Or are they themselves so exhausted by obligations to so many stakeholders that in that situation they can no longer lead? Should they leave for another school? Certainly taking a break after seven or so years is a good idea – ideally for half a term but even a month study visit will recharge batteries.

Anyway eventually you come to the fourth stage of headship – the ‘decline’ or end phase when you have decided to go. The school goes ‘on hold’ as people pay less attention to you and await your successor. So don’t hang around and allow things to lose momentum.

If you are reading this and are in the first phase, remember that your every word – especially in the first assembly, staff meeting and leadership team, is being analysed and interpreted. If it is the developmental phase enjoy it and be true to your initial high hopes. And if you are thinking of going, tell people at the last moment. Oh, by the way, this is my last column. It’s been fun and a privilege to write them. Goodbye. ldr logo full stop

Professor Tim Brighouse was London Schools Commissioner and Education Officer in Oxfordshire and Birmingham local authorities. He was knighted for his services to school improvement in 2009.