Happy Friday Reader

​

I've been a little getting frustrated with something lately.

Almost every leadership development programme I see treats the principalship as the destination. Middle leadership is a stepping stone. The deputy role is a waiting room. Real leadership only happens at the top.

That's not how leadership actually works in schools.

When I moved into a regional role working across 11 schools, I had one direct report. One. To work with 11 principals and hundreds of teachers, I couldn't rely on position. I had to build relationships, ask questions that unlocked thinking, create value people actually wanted.

Leading from the side taught me more about real influence than any senior role could.

Schools are full of these kinds of roles. The head of year who influences across departments. The curriculum coordinator who organises all the planning but manages no one. The teaching coach who changes practice through conversation, not directive.

These aren't lesser forms of leadership. They're different contexts with the same core work. Building trust. Having difficult conversations. Creating conditions where people do their best work.

That stuff doesn't change whether you're leading five people or 1,500. The context changes, not what's required of you.

I mix levels deliberately in my intensive programme for exactly this reason. Middle leaders working alongside principals. Deputies learning with executive leaders. When people at different levels think through the same challenges in their own contexts, something shifts.

Applications close Monday for the March intensive. Reply to this email if you want to chat about whether it fits.

​

But forget the programme for a second.

Stop treating your current role as temporary. Stop seeing it as a phase you're passing through.

What if you approached it as something to master?

Reply and tell me where you're leading from right now, and what you're working to get better at in that space.

Shane