One of the fascinating features of the work I do supporting schools with implementing their professional development programmes is the opportunity this offers for exploring the dynamics between senior leadership teams and the middle leaders. This applies to all schools but is especially noticeable in secondary schools and FE colleges.
Quite often, despite everyone having noble intentions, there is a gap between the way ideas, strategies and messages are perceived and intended by the senior leaders and the way they are received and interpreted by middle leaders alongside variation across those middle leader interpretations.
Our work allows us to compare and reconcile these differences and to establish ways forward. It’s worth saying that the issues that arise are generally a product of the structural roles people have; it’s not about blame or performance – it’s more about the inherent differences in how a central leadership team and a middle leader, with their own sub-team, conceive and manage their priorities. Where I see mistakes made, I know for sure I’ve made them all myself in the past too.
