December 2013

The know zone

  • Health and safety: tread carefully
    Health and safety laws are not as unrealistic as they are often made out to be, says Richard Bird. More
  • Real-life learning
    Karleen Dowden is ASCL’s Apprenticeship, Employability and Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) Specialist More
  • Be prepared
    Laying the groundwork with governors on performance related pay progression is very important if you don’t want to fall foul of Ofsted in the future, says Sara Ford. More
  • The professionals...
    The focus in this Leader is on Council’s Professional Committee, which has a wide-ranging remit that includes accountability and inspection, teacher standards, appraisal, continuing professional development (CPD), teacher supply and quality. More
  • Membership of Council
    ASCL Council members are key in setting the direction for the association, as it is Council that determines ASCL’s position on issues and government policy. More
  • Learning leadership
    Strategic and operational leadership, complementary and combined, provides the strongest form of school leadership, says Sian Carr. More
  • The perfect match
    Arsenal Double Club Languages is an innovative, multi-award winning education programme that uses Arsenal and football as a theme to inspire schoolchildren to learn a language. More
  • ASCL PD events
    Curriculum Structures: Planning, Development, Analysis, Staffing Requirements and Cost, Strategical Behavioural Management that Works, and Using Data Better: Workshops for School Leaders and their Data Managers More
  • Staff shortages?
    The government is increasing bursaries for trainee teachers. Is this enough to avoid a teacher shortage? Can more be done? Are teachers in short supply? Here, ASCL members share their views. More
  • Leaders' surgery
    The antidote to common leadership conundrums... More
  • Stray cat strut
    There’s more than one way for a head to start a relaxing weekend. Jonathan Fawcett goes in search of a less-than-peaceful easy feline. More
  • Adding value
    Cold and flu More
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Strategic and operational leadership, complementary and combined, provides the strongest form of school leadership, says Sian Carr.

Leading leadership

Strategic leadership can be best described as providing the vision and direction for the growth and success of an organisation. However, in order to do this successfully an effective leader must not only be able to develop the overall strategy, but they also need to be able to ensure that the strategy is implemented through strong operational leadership and management. They need to have the ability to see their strategy through and take the course of action required to achieve their overall goals.

So what are the essential skills, qualities and abilities you need in order to be an effective strategic and operational leader?

Understanding the context of your school so that the vision for its future responds to the present and the past is very important. This requires time to listen to staff, parents, students, governors and the local community to find out their aspirations for your school and for their community. These conversations provide the foundations of your strategy and build the relationships to enable you to implement the strategy.

The ability to synthesise what is known and what is perceived about your school and, together with all key stakeholders, formulate a strategic vision setting out what you collectively want the school to look like in three, four or five years’ time is also crucial. This is not about creating a hefty tome that sits on a shelf, never to be read or understood by those working to realise the vision. It is about crafting a clear, unambiguous statement of strategic intent to which all can sign up with enthusiasm and purpose.

Developing alignment across all parties involved in delivering the strategy is important so that staff, students, parents and governors are committed to taking the actions required to achieve the goals set out. Alignment alone, however, is not enough: Capacity and competency need to be supported if implementation is to be successful. Your staff, in particular, need to believe that they are part of a learning community that inspires them to be their very best and gives them opportunities to develop both capacity and competency.

Setting out your annual operational plan so that each aspect of your school’s work is planned in detail and can be monitored and evaluated effectively as to its contribution to the overall strategy is important. This is the true interface for you as the leader of both the strategic and the operational and where sometimes, without this attention to detail, the strategy flounders.

The ability to maintain momentum over time and to revisit and reignite the strategy as required, but to never waver from the core business of the school, is also very important. This is no easy task in the maelstrom that is the UK schools system today. However, a strong and effective leader holds firm to their core values and principles, which are evident in the strategy, in order to build a sustainable and successful future for their school.

Key abilities

  • Understanding the context
  • Synthesising perceptions
  • Developing alignment
  • Annual planning
  • Maintaining momentum

Sian Carr is Principal of The Skinners’ Kent Academy in Tunbridge Wells in Kent and Chair of the ASCL Council Professional Committee

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