Changing the Mindset of Leadership

On Thursday 25 January, The Blue Coat School Birmingham hosted a dynamic leadership conference for Heads and Bursars of both independent and state schools. The conference offered a unique opportunity for educational leaders to network, collaborate and stretch their leadership comfort zone at a crucial time for the education sector.

The conference featured two prominent speakers: Russell Speirs, Founder and Chairman of RSAcademics, and Brad Waldron, an award-winning speaker, author, and business provocateur. Over 30 schools from our Midlands neighbours to coastal institutions were represented by the attendees.

Mr. Noel Neeson, the Headmaster of The Blue Coat School, warmly welcomed delegates. He set the stage for a day dedicated to expanding horizons and fostering new connections.

Brad began by posing the question: would you rather be an effective leader or an efficient leader? As a room, we deduced that effectiveness was more desirable. Brad relayed that the secret to being effective was making excellent leadership habitual because habits don’t take brain power, they are instinctual. 

Because life is 20% what happens and 80% is how you deal with it. Brad then took the delegates through the process of developing seven habits which would transform the effectiveness of that 80%. 

Each of the seven habits were explored and Brad encouraged the leaders in the room to reflect on what was in their circle of influence and what are factors outside of their control. Managing the gap between life’s events and the proactive choices you make to deal with those events is a key skill for an effective leader. 

Independent schools are competitive by nature so the fourth habit – ‘think win-win’ – was a refreshing reset. Encouraging leaders to think about working effectively with others to achieve optimal results, seeking mutually beneficial solutions to build stronger relationships and create an atmosphere of trust and collaboration. 

Brad also related the seven habits of an effective leader back to the children we teach. He claimed that the two most important habits to instil in children at a young age are: 

• Be proactive – this is about taking responsibility for your choices in life, feelings, thoughts, responses and actions.
• Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Listening is at the core of this habit, importantly, empathetic listening and seeking to understand others before trying to make oneself understood. By doing so, individuals can better build communication and establish meaningful connections with others. 

Everyone is Getting an ‘A’

Another fascinating concept Brad spoke about was Benjamin Zander’s ‘A grades’. Zander is a conductor in the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and faculty member at the New England Conservatory. He awards a grade ‘A’ to all of his students at the very beginning of the academic year. 

The condition is that his students write a letter to him within the first 2 weeks of starting the course, but the letter must be dated next May. In this letter he asks his students to state what they did to achieve the ‘A’ grade, and to write about the person they will have become by the end of the course.

Whilst we aren’t planning on filing in the grade cards and BCS Blue for the rest of the academic year, this exercise has a powerful impact. 

The whole point of this approach is to challenge people to start a journey that is as important as the destination. This encourages people to think about their unfulfilled potential and who they could be, and consciously identify the specific actions they need to take. This is a challenge to start working towards a courageous goal with the belief that anything is possible.

School leaders and pupils could benefit enormously from this approach to achievement. Imagining how you want to feel 12 months from now is a powerful means of motivation. 

Speaking after the conference, Headmaster, Noel Neeson said: