ASSESSMENT 2:

Coming out of the pandemic, what can we do make the role of head more
sustainable?
It’s a delicate balancing act for leaders, and implementing sustainable practices is easier said than done.
Leaders face many challenges in their transformation journey, yet these four key steps will ensure that
sustainable leaders thrive:

1) Communicate, learn, and educate, In its recent survey, edie found that the three most important skills
and traits in future sustainable business leaders are the ability to motivate and empower others,
collaboration skills, and genuine passion. At their core, sustainability leaders are great communicators.
Making employees, suppliers, customers, and investors engaged is the name of the game – simplifying
the complexities of sustainability to gain buy-in across the board. They should also be adaptable
learners. Keeping up with changing regulations and external factors, continuously feeding these back
into environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy.

2) Collaborate with everyone – even your competitors because no single organisation can solve the
climate crisis.

3) Be transparent with progress towards ESG goals, organizations must be able to “show their working”.
4) Short-term action, long-term vision, this is one of the biggest challenges businesses face is accessing
investment. Sustainability has become a crucial part of business operations. Sustainable leaders must
work to embody key traits of the role, drive collaboration, be transparent, and balance short and long-
term visions. Ultimately, there is much more work needs to be done. Climate change isn’t going to
disappear overnight, and it’s up to sustainable leaders to push their organisations to make an impact.

How can we move toward true distributed leadership to increase balance and
capacity?
There are three key principles to distributed leadership – autonomy, capacity and accountability.
Each are of equal importance and all are inter-dependent. In a distributed leadership approach,
leaders within a school need to be given the autonomy to make key decisions in their areas of
responsibility. This autonomy is central to achieving the aforementioned objective of
empowering leaders and giving them ownership of their work. They should not be
micromanaged, and for new heads, this can be a hard thing to do. Affording members of your
senior or middle leadership team this level of autonomy requires huge amount of trust and this
is often outside the comfort zone for many headteachers.However, this trust needs to be
earned as it is dangerous to give ineffective leaders full autonomy – therefore the term “earned
autonomy” is common. With this earned autonomy comes accountability. How can you hold
someone to account for delivering impact if they do not have the autonomy to lead the
strategy? These two concepts are tightly interlinked but there is one key caveat that leaders and
especially headteachers need to be acutely aware of: as the headteacher you hold ultimate
responsibility for standards across the school and if you truly buy into distributed leadership
then you have to accept a degree of shared accountability.
Most of the key improvement strategies across the school are not actually being delivered by
the headteacher themselves. It is the head’s job to ensure they are being led well by others and
they are having impact.By empowering others to lead and by investing in your staff by
developing them as leaders, there is the inherent risk that sometimes things will go wrong, or
they won’t work. Here, the most effective headteachers enable their staff to reflect, develop
and grow so that any mistakes are learned from and that next time success will be achieved.
This is a big responsibility and a hard balance to strike. Often, there is insufficient time in
schools to allow this failure to occur; students only get one shot at their education and it is our
job to ensure they get the best possible deal. Therefore headteachers need to tread a fine line
between developing their leadership teams and delivering results. The final part of the Venn
diagram is capacity. If we give our leaders the autonomy to make key decisions without being
micromanaged and if they understand they are accountable for the impact of their strategies,
then we must give them to tools they need to be successful. For this approach to be genuine
and for it to have the best chance of succeeding, then coaching is central. All schools have an
organisational hierarchy with an “appraisal tree”, however if leaders coach those who are
accountable to them then we can begin to create an environment where authentic growth of
leadership capacity can occur.

What can we learn from hiring and turnover trend in other industries?
Studying hiring and turnover trends in other industries can provide valuable insights and lessons
that can be applied to one's own industry or organization. Here are some key learnings that can
be gained from analyzing hiring and turnover trends in other industries:

1. Recruitment strategies: By examining how other industries attract and hire talent,
organizations can learn about effective recruitment strategies. This includes understanding
where to find qualified candidates, utilizing innovative hiring methods, and implementing
successful onboarding processes.
2. Retention practices: Analyzing turnover trends in other industries can shed light on the
factors that contribute to employee retention. This can help organizations identify best practices
for creating a positive work environment, fostering employee engagement, and implementing
effective retention strategies.
3. Talent management: Studying how other industries manage their talent can provide insights
into effective talent development and succession planning. This includes identifying strategies
for employee growth and development, creating career pathways, and implementing
performance management systems.
4. Workforce diversity and inclusion: Examining hiring trends in industries that prioritize
diversity and inclusion can provide valuable lessons on how to create a more inclusive and
diverse workforce. Organizations can learn about successful strategies for attracting and
retaining diverse talent, promoting equal opportunities, and fostering an inclusive workplace
culture.
5. Adaptability and innovation: Industries that experience rapid changes and technological
advancements often have unique hiring and turnover trends. By studying these industries,
organizations can learn how to adapt to new technologies, embrace innovation, and attract
employees with the necessary skills to thrive in a dynamic environment.
6. Employee engagement and satisfaction: Analyzing turnover rates and job satisfaction levels in
other industries can provide insights into what motivates and engages employees. This can help
organizations identify strategies for improving employee satisfaction, promoting work-life
balance, and enhancing overall employee well-being.
It's important to note that while there are valuable lessons to be learned from other industries,
each industry and organization is unique. Therefore, it's crucial to adapt and tailor these
learnings to fit the specific needs and context of your own industry and organization.

How can we regain the balance heads need between their personal and
professional lives?
Prioritize your time – It is necessary to complete the work assigned, but on the other hand you
have to prioritize your tasks. At the end of the day, you are being paid to complete your work
not to make someone happy.
Do what you love – when it feels like pressure, just take a break and do what you love. How is a
person expected to put in the most productive hours of his day and of his life into doing things
not required by him from nature?So, take a break asit will help in revitalizing.
Manage your mind –Spending time with someone whom you love will support you and lift you
up. Man is not a machine, he is a living being with emotional as well as physical needs.
Take a vacation–When work stress or pressure crosses the limits, go for a vacation with family or
friends, it will make you feel relaxed and joyful. After all, work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy.
Maintain space between work and family – We have to set some space between work and
family, so when family is in need, you can stand beside them. Think of it this way, both water as
well as salt is required by the body. But put those together, suddenly neither is being sought out
by the body.
Allow others to help you –There are two types of people in the corporate world - one kind who
supports you and others who do not support you. I call them the BMW employees. Bitching,
Moaning and Whining employees. However, you are lucky if you get one or two people who
always stand beside you because they know your weaknesses and understand you.

How can we address heads feelings of isolation?

1. Recognise and acknowledge feelings of isolation. Sometimes the feelings of isolation can be
subconsciously blocked in the belief that it is an expected part of the role and doesn’t affect
performance. Addressing it may also be regarded as a sign of weakness or inadequacy by the
individual. However, recognising the feeling is the first step to making a difference. Sometimes,
even normalising the issue can help. Knowing that you’re not alone in feeling alone can help in
taking action.
2. Communicate any concerns. Once the issue of isolation has been recognised, the next
challenge is what to do with it. There are a number of options:
Join an external support group - Global set ups such as Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO)
and Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) are great for networking and support.
Speak with an Executive Coach – A coach will listen, engage and help tailor a plan that works
specifically for you, in a confidential setting.
Engage your team – Presenting a vulnerability is a strength and offers a human element to your
character and your team may feel more comfortable engaging with you. By helping employees
understand the business challenges can often allow them to become part of the solution thus
improving employee engagement and team morale.
3. Visibility. Sitting in a corner office out of sight can become too comfortable and there can be a
tendency to want to appear consistently calm and controlled by limiting relationships to
strategic ones alone. The avoidance of interpersonal relationships can become normal
behaviour causing the onset of isolation.
4. Self-care. Balancing work and home life is key to self-care. Getting away from the office will
give you a break from the natural stresses of a high-performance role and help to overcome the
pressures of such a role.
5. Engage in leadership assessment. Self-awareness and awareness of others not only improves
emotional intelligence, but it can also highlight areas of strength and development. Leadership
assessment capabilities can identify the areas within a persons’ leadership style which may be
more affected by feelings of loneliness and support the solutions that may encourage the
development of a more balanced leader.
How can we nurture the leadership pipeline? identify and encourage interest?
Grow internal talent? Improve hiring process?
1. Teach the power of storytelling
The ability to connect with the hearts and minds of people through storytelling is a critical skill
for tomorrow’s leaders to develop. It can help translate the complex, build trust, and inspire
action. Whether you’re looking to engage your organization, inspire virtual employees, or just
connect with someone one-on-one to build the relationship, you can use storytelling. Check out
this recent Adweek article to learn more about how to empower people at every level of your
organization to better leverage this universal language.
2. Give them a challenge
While it can be difficult to find the balance between pushing too far and bringing out the best
possible performance, your future leaders need adequate space to succeed. Setting high, yet
achievable standards can give your high potentials a chance to step up to the occasion while
developing the confidence they need to grow. If they misstep, remember that failure can be a
necessary step to cultivating true leadership potential.
3. Start a mentorship program
Did you know that 63% of millennials feel that their leadership skills are not being fully
developed by their employers? A quality mentorship program can boost an organization’s
leadership development while fostering engagement at every level of the leadership pipeline.
This type of hands-on guidance from those who have ample experience within your
organization is one of the best ways to nurture your high potentials.
4. Develop the skills that matter
According to Harvard Business Review, “the qualities that leaders in today’s world need are
intuitive, dynamic, collaborative, and grounded in here-and-now emotional intelligence.” While
technical skills are important, study after study shows that organizations that prioritize soft skills
like these will see the highest return on their investment. To eventually lead a team towards
transformation, your high potentials will need to prioritize inner transformation first and
foremost. Learn more about the skills that leaders most need to succeed here.
5. Offer cross-training opportunities
There is no better way to help your future leaders understand the full scope of a business than
to encourage exploration of other departments. By stepping outside of their comfort zones,
your future leaders will gain firsthand knowledge into each working part of the business engine.
This kind of exposure to other aspects of the business can also spark innovative and creative
thinking for future leaders.
6. Help them embrace change
Change is constant. To succeed, your future leaders must learn to adjust to the ever-evolving
conditions around them. The best way to help them prepare to thrive under these uncertain
conditions is to provide opportunities to apply their skills through learning experiences. Learn
more about what it takes to help your leaders embrace a rapidly shifting business environment
here.
A sustainable leadership pipeline is critical for any organization looking to prosper long term.
Ariel helps people develop the skills and confidence to make a true impact at every level of an
organization.

How can we enhance mentorship and sponsorship opportunities, particularly for

heads and administrators whose identities and traditionally marginalized?
Mentorship and sponsorship are both valuable forms of professional development, but they
have some key differences. Mentorship focuses on learning and development, while
sponsorship focuses on promotion and advancement. Mentors help you grow, while sponsors
help you climb. Mentors talk with you, while sponsors talk about you. Mentors are easier to
find, while sponsors are harder to earn.
Mentorship can be extremely beneficial in many aspects of life, from enhancing your skills and
knowledge to expanding your perspective and developing your confidence. It can also help you
build relationships with other professionals, receive constructive feedback and guidance,
explore career goals and options, and find new opportunities and resources. Mentorship is a
great way to further your professional development and open up new possibilities.
Sponsorship can be a powerful tool to increase visibility and recognition, gain access to
influential people, secure more challenging and rewarding assignments, advance to higher
levels of leadership and responsibility, negotiate better compensation and benefits, overcome
barriers and biases, and create a lasting impact. All of these benefits can help you reach your
full potential in your organization or industry.

How can we support new heads in their first year?

1. Plan an Induction
Every new employee, whether a leader or not, should receive an induction. It’s easy to think of
induction as a formality, but it can be a very powerful way of motivating your new leader.
2. Connect Them With Other Leaders
If you have a team of managers, introduce them to the new leader. This should be a given for all
new leaders/managers. But meeting some faces of those who are in the same position can help
with feeling overwhelmed.
3. Effective Management Training
98% of new managers feel they need more training. Those who are new to management will be
faced with issues they’ve never had to deal with before.
4. Assign a Mentor
New leaders need somebody to teach them, help them fix issues, and be supportive. A mentor
should have experience within the company, and be able to help the new leader.
5. Talk to New Leaders Regularly
In order for a new manager to become a great leader, communication is key. Communication is
important for all roles, but if you want your leader to progress and be the best they can be, you
need to talk to them.

How can we make the board/head relationship a true partnership that sustains
over time?
Pay attention to people. Check in with people when you need to. This may take
only a few minutes a week, but those few minutes can make the difference in
helping your friend or co-worker remember the importance of the work you are
doing together. Communicate openly. People need to communicate. It's a good
idea to set aside some time just to talk about the way things are going. When
people don't have a chance to talk about important issues, misunderstandings can
occur and tensions often build up. Communication is a discipline that has to be
practiced regularly; it's like taking vitamins or doing push-ups. Appreciate each
other. Everyone needs to be appreciated in order to keep relationships going. If
you notice that someone did a stellar job of collecting the necessary data for the
committee, say so. If you enjoy working with someone, let them know. We are all
human beings and appreciation helps us thrive. Extend yourself. Go a little out of
your way, at least once in a while. If your co-worker needs to spend some extra
time with his daughter, you might tell him go home early and you'll finish up the
grant proposal. Volunteer to do some work for their organization (if they are not
already in yours). If you lend them a hand, they are likely to think well of you and
give something back in return. Challenge each other to do better. We all need a
buddy to help us stretch ourselves beyond what we think we can do. We can also
build stronger relationships by challenging our work partners to take on bigger
challenges. Back each other when things get tough. Loyalty is essential to keeping
relationships healthy. We may not agree with a co-worker or friend, but we can
stand by him or her when they are in a jam.