Leading a school can sometimes be one the most isolated jobs there is, with a stream of problems presenting themselves like a queue of rush hour traffic – with no u-turns allowed.
From the crisis in recruitment and retention of teaching staff, to the ever-changing national curriculum and ever-challenging Ofsted inspections, this is not a role for the feint-hearted, and as we at the Education Support Partnership know better than many, it can often be lonely at the top.
However, with the right support it doesn’t have to be this way because there are, in fact, a wide range of solutions available to provide support and guidance to headteachers to help them feel supported and in good company.
But to begin with, let’s explore what it means to be lonely in a professional sense, and what you can do to prevent this.
US-based psychologist, Dr Guy Winch, has said: “What determines someone’s loneliness is not the objective quantity of their relationships nor the extent to which they seem well liked or respected, but rather whether they perceive themselves to be emotionally isolated.
“Leaders, especially those at the top and those who are called upon to make crucial and often brutal decisions that impact the lives of other people, can easily feel as though they have no true peers, because sometimes they don’t.”
Given this, here are a few tips on steps that you can take to make sure being at the top is that bit more bearable.
Keep watch
Make sure you monitor your own health and emotional wellbeing so that if feelings of loneliness persist for more than two weeks, you can quickly take further action.
Be mindful
Keep your emotional state in mind and consider whether it is having an impact on your performance, decision-making, or how you communicate with direct reports.
Reach out
Keep in touch with other top leaders in your network (perhaps through a confidential programme such as our HeadSpace or YourSpace initiatives – see below for more) and develop personal friendships. Having a “peer” who wrestles with similar stresses and feelings can afford you support and help you feel less alone.
Stress management every day
Try to integrate ways of managing stress into your life, especially when the demands of your role become greater, which usually happens at critical junctures or times of transition, such as the end or beginning of the school year. Times like these can exacerbate feelings of loneliness.
Seek the advice of a professional
If you have concerns about confidentiality or your reputation and don’t feel comfortable seeking out friendships with peers, consider seeing a reputable mental health professional to discuss your feelings and to gain support and guidance.
Share the load
It is easy to imagine as a school leader that everything is on you. But try to look into developing a collaborative culture through the adoption of a distributive leadership style. This can garner support for the development of school strategic aims and operational plans and encourage collective ownership and shared accountability, as well as helping to motivate your team.
Does your school prioritise staff wellbeing?
As a leader, however alone you might feel at times, it is impossible to forget that you are at the beating heart of your school. Your job is not just to manage people but to attract, develop and retain them in order to strengthen your school and ensure effective succession-planning.
That is why we have been working for years with school leaders to afford them insights via our workplace satisfaction survey: a confidential in-school survey designed to collect reflections on key factors affecting good working relationships, effectiveness and absence rates.
In essence, we uncover what it is like for all staff to work at a particular school so that leaders can take practical and realistic steps to tackle any problems and do more of what works. Importantly these surveys include the views of school leaders, taking their pulse to understand how they feel about their workplace too.
We recently gave five years of this (anonymised) survey data to a researcher from Birkbeck, University of London’s Department of Organisational Psychology – Candy Whittome – to form the basis of a PhD she is conducting on effective leadership in schools.
Preliminary findings, due for publication later this year, suggest that while giving teachers sufficient control and autonomy is an important factor in reducing job strain, the effect is relatively small unless combined with good leadership and management support. In other words, good management is statistically significantly in reducing job strain in the education sector.
A survey we conducted in July last year revealed that more than a third (34 per cent) of all teachers plan to leave the profession in one to five years’ time (half of these will do so to retire). The two main drivers for departures from the profession were excessive workloads (40 per cent) and unreasonable demands from line managers (24 per cent), further making clear that intervention from school leaders is the most important metaphorical finger in the dyke, stemming an otherwise tidal flow of departures.
But headteachers need support too. In the context of this article, the Birkbeck research also, importantly, concluded that the very same sort of support was required by headteachers as it was for teaching staff – that the support school leaders receive from governors and their local authorities or academy chains makes a huge difference in how they feel about their jobs.
The message is clear, if you are feeling lonely at the top, actually you are probably not on your own. It is a common feeling for many school leaders, but do be aware that these feelings probably mean something is genuinely wrong and you do need (and deserve) help.
So because no (wo)man is an island, don’t be proud and ask for help – either from your board of governors, trustees, your local authority or an independent and confidential service such as that provided by Education Support Partnership’s free 24-hour helpline. Our counsellors can support you directly, or if you prefer, refer you to other expert sources of help that could kick-start your journey back to form.
HeadSpace and YourSpace
HeadSpace and YourSpace are confidential, personal and professional development group programmes specifically designed for headteachers and deputy heads by the Education Support Partnership.
School leaders need the time and space to sustain their own resilience and personal and professional effectiveness, so they can meet the constant demands of the job. HeadSpace and YourSpace offer a safe and confidential environment where headteachers, deputy or assistant heads can explore the most effective leadership behaviours and learn from each other, using action-learning and problem-solving techniques.
The HeadSpace and YourSpace programmes bring together small groups of school leaders in local areas, creating a confidential space with a skilled facilitator to explore and share ideas and reignite their passion for their work. They provide a chance to share your valuable knowledge and experience as a school leader outside the context of your school, where you can also gain insight from others.
- Julian Stanley is the CEO of the Education Support Partnership, a national charity providing a range of services to help support individuals and organisations in the education sector.
Further information
- To access help call the free 24-hour helpline on 08000 562 561 or for more information, visit www.educationsupportpartnership.org.uk
- For more details on the HeadSpace and YourSpace programmes, visit visit www.educationsupportpartnership.org.uk/organisations/headspaceyourspace