![Page 1: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Stepping up to Executive Headship
Inspiring Leadership 2017
Birmingham
James Toop
Chief Executive
![Page 2: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
About us
2
• Merger of Teaching Leaders and The Future Leaders Trust• Mission is to transform the lives of children in
disadvantaged areas by growing exceptional school leaders at all levels
• Develop leaders through our three flagship programmes:o Teaching Leaders (for middle leaders)o Future Leaders (for aspiring heads)o Executive Educators (for exec heads and CEOs)
![Page 3: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
• Research project with NFER and NGA• Relatively new and evolving role
o with no ‘legal’ definition, multiple sector-led interpretations
o a range of accountability arrangements, role and responsibilities
Background
3
• Role requiring ‘a new and different mix of skills and experience’ (White Paper)o as yet no comprehensive guidance on the skill-set
they needo limited and largely outdated research
![Page 4: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
School leadership journey 2017
4
Senior leader
Headteacher
Executive head
CEO
![Page 6: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
• Role and identity• Skills and behaviours • Preparation and transition
Agenda
6
![Page 7: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Start with why
7
How
What
Simon Sinek, ‘Start With Why’
Why
• Why do you want to step up to executive headship?
• How will you do it?
• What will you do differently in the new role?
![Page 8: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
What is an Executive Headteacher?
8
• Improvement: HT asked to support another school to rapidly improve. HT becomes EHT with formal accountability across more than one school
• Expansion: EHT provides additional management capacity for growth – for example, EHT / regional director below MAT CEO –to manage school performance or provide extra oversight across different sites or phases
• Partnership growth: More outward-facing, build new collaborations or partnerships to create strategic responsibility beyond a single school, such as Teaching School Alliance, but without formal accountability for the other schools in their collaboration
![Page 9: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Core EHT roles
9
![Page 10: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Leadership identity
10
• What is my professional identity?
• Who do I belong to?
• What am I accountable for?
![Page 11: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Core EHT skills
11
![Page 12: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Vertical development
12
![Page 13: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
• Conceptual – manage complexity and ability to create new models of thinking
• Personal – ability to respond to and cope with pressure, developed sense of self
• Interpersonal – capacity to hold different, and contradictory, perspectives and navigate them
Vertical leadership mindsets
13
![Page 14: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Spotting talent: a common language
14
![Page 15: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
• Role and identity
• Skills and behaviours
• Preparation and transition
Agenda
15
![Page 16: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
1. Intense stretch experiences (the what)
2. New ways of thinking (the how)
3. Strong development networks (the who)
Breaking linearity
16
![Page 17: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Types of development activity
17
![Page 18: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
“The fact is that giving people bigger jobs with fancier titles and larger salaries won’t make them better. More complex assignments will.”
Claudio Fernandez-Araoz (Egon Zehnder), HBR, 2016
Stretch development
18
![Page 19: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
1. What are your development challenges stepping up from headship to executive headship?
2. What would a stretch assignment need to entail to learn those new skills?
Example stretch assignments
19
![Page 20: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Why do nearly half of all new appointments fail in the first year?
• Politics• Culture• Complexities• Lack of clarity on performance objectives
Solution = transition management vs. induction
Transition management
20
![Page 21: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Case study: Mark Thompson
21
• Transition: BBC to New York Times Company, 2012
• Context: Three-month gap, two-weeks agenda meetings
• Key lessons:o Successful transition starts
during the interviewso Demeanour during on-boarding
is criticalo Good EA is cultural translatoro Participate in early decisionso Get out of the officeo Eat, meet and greeto Find the balance between impulsive and slow-moving
![Page 22: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
1. Overlapping roles – new leader in place during last three months of outgoing leader
2. Shadowing/co-working – six month joint working period
3. Phased transition – gradual handover of responsibilities over 12-18 month period
Approach to new role is critical – listen, observe, question
How can you increase the chances of success?
22
![Page 23: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
New Executive Headship cohort starts September 2017
Two x three-day residentials with new programme design
Benefits:
• Bespoke, evidence-informed training delivered by experts from across the sector and beyond
• Identifying strengths and areas for development through a review at the beginning of the programme
• Sharing insight and learning within a close-knit cohort of current or aspiring executive headteachers
• Access to our network (4,000 leaders,1,500 schools)
Executive Educators
23
![Page 25: Stepping up to Executive Headship - Inspiring Leadershipinspiringleadership.org/.../James-Toop-Stepping-up... · 1. Overlapping roles –new leader in place during last three months](https://reader034.vdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022042803/5f4b3ae65baa6e7a7f6d6510/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
25