Liz Scott Coaching and Training

Leadership coaching with head teachers

by Liz Scott

It’s lonely at the top. It doesn’t matter whether you’re leading a school or a business or a football team. When you’re at the top it can be an isolating and solitary experience. The pressures, expectations and challenges are enormous and more often than not leaders are left to ‘get on with it’.

As a Life, Business and Executive Coach I have coached many leaders from a variety of backgrounds – all of them people with vision, commitment and drive. The common denominator with all of these clients is that they use coaching to excel in their field.

Many people mistake coaching as another word for counselling or mentoring. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is not about ‘fixing’ or ‘changing bad performance’ it is about working with someone who is keen to move on to the next level.

A coach doesn’t want the client to accept mediocrity – the coach wants them to embrace and master excellence. In the same way that a personal fitness trainer will work with a client to help them towards peak fitness – so a coach works to help a client flex and strengthen their leadership muscles.

Liz Scott Coaching was delighted to be involved with a pilot project, sponsored by Devon Curriculum Services, to coach a group of Head teachers. These Heads all embraced the opportunity to discuss, share and test out their ideas and thoughts on someone, outside of education, who had no hidden agenda or judgment. The energy and drive after just four 45 minute sessions was palpable. The coaching had enabled all the participants to reflect on their role as leaders – with a clear distinction between management and leadership.

As Stephen Covey puts it, “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.”

Head teachers play a pivotal role in schools – the success of a school is often determined by their ability to inspire and motivate their staff. It’s a pity that so many of them feel a sense of guilt around investing time and money in their own performance and welfare.

There’s a quote from an unknown source that says, “A good leader inspires others with confidence in him; a great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves”. If you want outstanding teachers and staff and motivated students then it’s important to acknowledge and support the school’s leader. Investing in coaching for Head teachers is one way in which this can be achieved.

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