I picked this up from Doug Belshaw’s blog, which I’ve read in various forms for a few years.
I was going to send this to all of SLT, but thought some might receive it better than others – and then couldn’t decide who to send it to. There is an important message within it, to me, on not shirking confrontation. I think this is something I’ve learned as a Senior Leader, but am still in the process of managing to do. I do think that, unlike five years ago when I became a senior leader, being “liked” is far far less important to me. And though I claim that the students have always been at the centre of whatever decisions I make, the reduced emphasis on “being liked” (particularly by colleagues) has meant that I feel like I’m performing better for them.
I think I am going to send this to SLT though –
“9) Consensus is Overrated
Twenty percent of people will be against anything. When you realize this, you avoid compromising what really should be done because you stop watering things down. If you always try to reach consensus, you are being led by the 20 percent. ”
I think this needs to apply more in my school, but I don’t want to write about why publically! It’s nothing to do with the other school leaders, but more to do with how I want to (more often) deal with one or two or the “staff-room mouthpieces”.
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