Stepping Up – A Reflection

As a leader there will be times when you just can’t predict the future and there will be times when you may be asked to act in a position or  be thrown a ‘gift’ (or two).

Think back to the time when you started a new role.  It doesn’t matter how clearly your job description is written, how fantastic your line manager is, how supportive your team is, how detailed the Annual Implementation Plan (AIP), you only listen when you are ready and each day, you are presented with a new task that you realize is in your job description or portfolio, be it the blurb for the Term Ahead newsletter, the assessment calendar, a new student, an excursion planner (who knew the complexities of a VSR). I call these tasks as today’s ‘gift’.

Earlier this year,  I was asked to step into the acting Deputy Principal Engagement role. Initially it was going to be three weeks with a ‘not to worry was, it will all be under control and planned’; however, I found myself walking into a role a few weeks earlier than anticipated and continue to this day.

Do what does the Deputy Principal Engagement do? It’s a very different role to Head of Department; in fact, it could not be more different. The following is a list of the ‘gifts’ that I have unpacked as best as I can and what I have learned from this experience,

Firstly the list of some gifts – not exhaustive and in no particular order – that I have lead and/or supported:

1. Day 1 commenced with a Year 7 ban on mobile phones outside of the classroom. That was an unexpected huge gift that required careful messaging to a range of stakeholders: students, parents and staff and and the inevitable kickback.
2. 180+ Year 7 admissions interviews
3. Year 10 (2020) engagement day at UQ for 180 students
4. Year 7 Engagement evening and day for over 200+ students
5. Ordering t-shirts for two cohorts of new students (and guessing the sizes!)
6. Hosting the Kids METRO STEM event including being recruited to step up as a judge.
7. Organising an international tour to Supercomputing (SC19) in Denver; alas I had to stay behind this time;
8. Organising student leadership applications and being quite brave sending out an email to over 400 students – that’s what happens when you haven’t got time to hack into SurveyMonkey;
9. More international trips; this time for ISSF – International Schools Science Foundation –  one to Japan, one to Melbourne and one to Thailand in January;
10. New line management – from a large team of 12 teachers to a handful of middle managers.
11. Awards Night with the challenge to give out awards to 250+ students, with all faculty in Academic gowns, over 500 parents attending, live streaming
12. The Valedictory Dinner for our exiting 152 year 12 students
13. The 2020 school Diary
14. And alongside, teaching a class, parent teacher interviews and supporting the MYP curriculum writing for Design and I&S.

As you will see, it’s a varied list and very different to my Head of Department curriculum leadership role. So, in stepping up, what have I learned?

Here are my takeaways/reflections:

1. Learn how to lead in a new situation – your leadership skills are transferrable. So just to be be clear – these gifts listed above were not individual endeavours. As a leader, you need to find out what the task is, the vision and purpose and the people/teams that will support you. As you will see from the diverse gift list, this includes a vast range of stakeholders that you may not know even existed/or have dealt with in your current role – both internally and more challenging, externally (such as finding an inspirational speaker for Awards Night – we did well!). As a leader, you need to invoke all of those appreciative leadership strategies: inspiration, illumination, inquiry, inclusion. Your team is a moveable feast – it is not fixed – you need to be agile, flexible, ask questions and develop solid negotiation skills.
2. And very importantly, and this is super important: You need to have your current position organized, planned and communicated so that you can ‘step up’ or ‘step away’ if needed. A good AIP is an invaluable road to map your annual project plan which you must create, consult and communicate with your teams as it’s as much their plan as yours otherwise it will just be laminated and not lived.
3. Invest in the teams that you are part of because it is those important relationships that you build as a leader and develop trust within those teams. It is these relationships that allow you to step up without the wheels falling off.

So to summarise:

Should you find yourself in a new position that requires you to step up and hit the ground running.

1. know your strengths and areas for growth as a leader – it’s a work in progress;
2. be prepared & organised in your current role;
3. and, above all, build teams and invest in relationships.