Stephen Morales discusses the importance of transparent leadership in the education sector, emphasising effective decision-making and trust-building within the educational community
CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on ISBL
ISBL talks to CEO Stephen Morales talks about demonstrating leadership in today’s challenging climate, and how we can support each other to unlock the full potential of leadership.
Why is it important to demonstrate good leadership to other senior leaders in education, as well as your staff?
“It’s enormously important to be able to demonstrate good leadership, and that you’re making big decisions for the right reasons. You want to make sure that this underpins your approach to leadership – making the right decisions at the right time to benefit the most people. Being able to clearly articulate the drivers and motivations for your actions is going to be the difference between getting the support you need and not.
So, the question is how do you provide other leaders, other colleagues and stakeholders with that assurance? You need to be clear. On the surface, it might appear that you’re taking a particular course of action or you’re advocating for an approach or even a policy because it serves your particular interest. You’ve got to take the time to demonstrate how that is not the case!
If you’re confident you’re making decisions for the right reasons, you need to be able to demonstrate that and build transparency into your leadership. For example, if you’re embarking on the growth of your trust and you’re telling your community that this is because you believe this action will deliver better outcomes for your pupils, it’s up to you to make that case and make it with transparency.”
A key part of leadership is communication. When it comes to demonstrating leadership externally, do you think there are particular communication skills you need to be comfortable with?
“Absolutely – I think while the core principle remains the same, the style and the detail you provide different stakeholders may differ. The people closest to the problem you’re solving will understand the context much more intimately than, say, a wider stakeholder group who are more detached on a day-to-day basis.
Let’s say, for instance, you’re the chief executive for a multi-academy trust of 40 schools –you’re an important hub in the community. When it comes to discussing changes and putting together improvement strategies, how you talk about your plans with different groups is going to differ, quite significantly in some cases. You’ll need to discuss things with parents, staff, students, and the wider community, potentially including politicians and other school leaders who could be impacted by the decisions you make. The language you use, the tone and the emphasis will change according to the audience. As a leader, you need to be able to adapt and empathise with your audience.”
How do you think the education sector can start to address this and begin to build more collaborative leadership between senior leaders?
“There are several initiatives ongoing across education at the moment. For instance, we’ve been involved in the School Resource Management Adviser programme for quite some time, and the focus is to reflect on the approach to school resource management and, in particular, financial health and governance.
We also piloted a CFO mentoring initiative that went really well and involved very capable CFOs talking to aspiring or new-in-post CFOs to create a learning journey over a period of six months. The feedback has been excellent, so we’ll be looking to roll that out in the coming weeks or months.
The ‘Academies regulatory and commissioning review’ was also published earlier this month, and that has set out three broad ambitions: to reform the regulatory system, to embed a clear definition of a quality trust, and to strengthen departmental support. Emerging from this, there’s a CEO development framework that will soon be out to tender, and providers will be encouraged to develop a curriculum and training programme against the development framework.
I think as a result of three key initiatives – the CFO pilot, the new CEO development framework, and the School Resource Management programme – we’re in a much better place to be able to respond to the growing complexity of our school system.”
From Stephen’s insights, we can see how effective leadership in education is pivotal for making decisions that benefit schools and students, with transparency playing a key role in articulating motivations and building trust. These insights emphasise the importance of effective communication and highlight how resource management and regulatory reforms are driving integration in the educational system.
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