The Most Valuable Commodity to Give to Your Leaders
What do leaders most want more of? Time.
Time to practice. Time to reflect. Time to implement.
We led some workshops recently for middle leaders in an international school. The senior leaders who hired us asked us to include this question on the feedback form: “What would be helpful to you for your support and growth moving forward?”
“More time to work through more scenarios.”
”A reflection as a group about how we implement the training/next steps.”
”Reflection and discussion with fellow middle leaders.”
”Planned reflection time with senior leaders.”
In the 90-minute workshops we presented, these leaders worked on anonymised scenarios submitted by their group to us in advance. Taking the time to really think through how you would address a tough scenario is hugely useful. There’s no replacement for time to think and reflect.
An example of the thinking done in our workshops is below.
At the end of the workshops, leaders asked for more of this - more time to reflect.
How can schools give middle leaders more time to reflect and plan for scenarios they face?
Plan CPD that is interactive and relevant - actually work on tough scenarios in groups instead of talking about them
Invite senior leaders to work with middle leaders in workshops and in structured reflection times
Plan meetings for middle leaders where they can work in pairs or trios about scenarios they face
Make coaching a part of middle leaders’ development to give them a safe reflection space and sounding board
Senior leaders can have one-to-one meetings with middle leaders that alternate between admin and growth topics
As the middle leaders noted, being prepared is key to meeting many leadership challenges. Effective preparation comes from skills, frameworks, and, importantly, time to reflect on the scenario before facing it.
What would you add as ways of giving leaders more reflection time?
