Outward Facing
To paraphrase, a Head once said to me “head teachers can be like sovereign rulers of their own kingdoms”

In other words it is so easy to become insular which is understandable as enough goes on internally to keep the focus being inward.

From my travels, I have found the most innovative schools are outward facing and admit the best approaches are not necessarily self generated but could be external.

Forward thinking
One of the best leaders I have worked with was more focused on the outcome that needed to be achieved than the methodology used to achieve it. This offered his team great creative freedom, motivation to innovate and much bandwidth to do things outside of the box.

Risk takers
To try things that have never been done before is usually accompanied by some level of risk because it may or may not work. So some instead of taking risks may continue to do the status quo. The most innovative leaders change the rules, over step demarcation and take wise risks.

Never Arrogant
One of the most off putting things is to meet professionals who think because their method has worked think it is the only way it should be done. The most dynamic schools I found were those with humble and grounded leadership, teachable and willing to learn from even their children. Arrogance is unattractive regardless if the person with it is really good at what they do.

Open to change
The game is changing whether people want to accept it or not. With policy, society and the generation we are serving and the needs that schools plug. So the need to be open is important and the best leaders are open to do things different if the rationale and business case makes sense.

Have a focus to serve
A Head once said to me that they were in their role “to serve” which really put a new slant on things. This displayed they were established in their leadership, were not ego driven plus were comfortable enough to allow others in their team to shine via a distributive leadership model.
So the best schools I have witnessed flowed via a strong moral compass and their mantra was more than words on a letterhead or mini bus. So to serve the students is key.

Conclusion:
I hope this has helped, these are just my thoughts and observations from having the privilege of working with some of the most innovative, thoughtful and visionary leaders in education and I just thought it would be nice to share some of the commonalities I found in my experience.

Happy mentoring

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