There are some days where I as a leader absolutely smash it, endlessly ticking off those big and important jobs on the ‘to do’ list. I am strategic. I am purposeful. There are other days when I achieve literally nothing, have been insanely busy from the moment I arrive until the moment I leave. I’ve done lots of stuff… but when I add up how much of it was useful (in the long-term), it amounts to ‘not a lot’. Chart my productivity from the start of a term until the end and you will see me sprint out of the blocks in September… and crawl over the line in July.

There is something peculiar about our job. Unlike others, we are entirely institutionalised around the timbre of the school year, with its own rhythm, its own beat. And, as school leaders, it keeps us impossibly busy throughout – although not always in things which are the most useful for our institutions.

But, time and time again, I have seen ‘being busy’ kill school improvement, with leaders devoting all their time to the role of chief administrator in the running of the school (as important as this undoubtedly is).

As ‘Head-Teacher’ the clue to our role is quite simply within the title: our job is to improve our schools so that more children leave us able to lead happy and prosperous lives. This demands that we not only commit our time to the ‘now’ but also commit considerable assets in the ‘forever march’ of school improvement. And this is where I have seen a good many (very hard working and committed) school leaders’ flounder.

I have been a Headteacher for 18 years, and an Executive Headteacher now for three. I have supported schools all over the county, many of them facing significant challenges; mentored Headteachers all over the country. I am currently awaiting the publication of my book on the subject (available for pre-sale at all good book sellers – something I intend to mention often, because I am very excited by this prospect)! So (I hope) that I have some perspective as to what makes a school leader effective.

I have rarely met a school leader who wasn’t completely committed to improving their school. And yet I have seen a number struggle with this task and so, afforded some thinking space bestowed by a holiday, here is my advice on how to stay focused on school improvement as a school leader. There is nothing profound within these words. Nothing more than most experienced leaders take for granted (apologies to the many of you who will find my words blindingly obvious). But a leader’s focus (or the lack of it) can be the determining factor in a school’s improvement journey. So, forgive me for these few suggestions…

1. Don’t get lost in the woods.

Our job is enormous.

As Head, as well as actually educating pupils, we have increasingly become the State’s catch-all agency, providing everything from advice on toilet training, to mental health support for children and their families, to food and emergency housing assistance. To make matters worse, we have been asked to do this with limited external support and with less money than I can remember at any point in my 18 years as a school leader.

In short, it’s a lot.

And so, my first piece of advice is simple: don’t get lost in the woods – focus simply on the tree that stands in your way.

To consider all aspects of our role, all of the time, is over-whelming. It prevents focused action and leads to paralysis, as our brains struggle to comprehend and compute the myriad of competing priorities that sit on our desks and within the communities beyond.

Whilst I wouldn’t advocate simply ignoring important and urgent tasks (safeguarding and health and safety trump everything else) I would suggest disciplined thinking, focusing on deliberately chosen priorities which allow you to act with intent – and not to simply react to the beasts of the forest which are forever coming at you. As a new headteacher, I would describe this as the ever-present ‘background white noise’ which aims to distract and confuse.

Whether it be for a year (more on this later), a term, or even a day, chose what you will focus on and try to shut out all this other noise. Ignore the forest and chattering beasts lurking within it – and do the the chosen task in front of you.

2. Plan time away from the whirlwind

In Chris Chesney’s book ‘The four disciplines of execution’ he describes how most of our time can be consumed within the ‘whirlwind’ (similar to my earlier mixed metaphor of ‘ the beasts within the wood’). These are the (very real and time-critical) things which will suck up every minute of every single day if you allow them to do so.

The whirlwind never goes away – it will forever blow around us.

But, as the leaders paid to improve our schools, we cannot allow ourselves to spend every waking hour wthin it. We must carve out time (at least 20% of your time according to Chesney) to think strategically in a space which allows you to shut the whirlwind outside.

This requires delegation and (once again) discipline. In a small primary school, where you are the only member of staff not physically stood in front of children for most of the day, it will undoubedly require planning. But plan we must. If you are lucky enough to have a non-teaching deputy, decide who will be responsible for the whirlwind each day, and who will be shut away being strategic. Make sure the staff know who is ‘on call’ (as someone must be) and who needs to be allowed to get on with other tasks.

And, remember, much of the whirlwind’s force is delivered via email (so switch it off if you are trying to think strategically).

3. Focus on a maximum of three school improvement priorities at a time.

Having led schools in trouble (out of trouble) a number of times, the urge is to try and correct everything all at once. You will dash around sticking plasters on every corner of the school, only for these quick fixes to just as quickly be forgotten as staff themselves experience cognitive overload.

You must ‘slow down to speed up’, and to do this you must, again, be disciplined and strategic in your thinking. This is not a blog about the school improvement process (that’s also in the book… ;). But, all focused leaders are rigourous about selecting 2-3 priorities and then sticking with them until real, impactful change has been achieved. For example, my schools are both looking at improving writing (which lags behind reading and maths). We are spending three years on this task (having previously spent three years improving reading). Approximately half of all staff meetings are about writing, followed up by months of instructional coaching. And whilst there are a great many things we would like to change in other areas, we are taking our time and doing it properly.

4. Make sure you have effective systems to drive school improvement.

James Clear makes this point his excellent book ‘Atomic Habits‘ and it is by far the most common reason why good and hard-working headteachers fail to successfully improve schools.

All too often, when I support schools, I discover that they have few effective systems with which to keep school improvement as the main priority, and then to systematically plan for implementation.

If you don’t have a RAP (described a number of years ago here – but more fully in the book…;) I would argue that school improvement planning is almost impossible without one. At Blackhorse, we keep this as a spreadsheet, linked to the SDP, which drives almost all the SLT’s work.

Likewise, unless you have a clear instructional coaching and monitoring strategy, much of the hard work which you are putting into developing teaching will likely fail.

5. Diarise school improvement activity as though it was a meeting.

‘Doing stuff’ is easy to diarise. Meetings, learning walks etc tend to be given blocks of time and are (hopefully) dutifully honoured.

But, sadly, we are less disciplined with diarising the big, desk-based school improvement tasks. All too often these are completed in the ‘grey expanse’ of our diary – fitted in between actual meetings and ‘stuff’.

We need to be better at guarding this time by booking it in as we would any other meeting – so that it isn’t eaten by the whirlwind.

6. Make sure you are ‘out and about’ practically improving teaching.

Just as the whirlwind can suck up all our stratgic thinking time, it can also do the same for practical school improvement activites.

So this too must be diarised and then protected.

If you have said that you’ll be working with the DT subject leader at 2pm on Tuesday… or doing a learning walk… or support the ECT mentor… then that is what you must do.

The whirlwind will howl – but you must stay steadfast and focus on the school improvement tasks which you have committed to.

7. Keep score.

This is something our Leaf Trust CEO, Ross Newman, and the Trust’s Headteachers’ have been playing with in terms of school improvement over the last couple of months.

Again, taken from Chesney’s ‘Four disciplines of execution’, this is something new to our SLT meetings, but which has certainly gained traction. It involves each of us considering our personal commitment to the school’s goals in the coming week and setting a goal to ‘shift the dial’ on these in the next five days. It take macro goals, which, in turn, become RAP actions, and then turns them into micro goals for the week ahead. The ‘scorecard’ aspect does create a feeling of friendly competition (I’ve been known to be whizzing around the school at 2pm on a Monday making sure my actions are complete in time for the SLT meeting at 3:45pm)!

I don’t know that we’ve fully developed our understanding of this yet, but we have created a foundation on which to build, with it being launched across the wider staff in coming weeks.

8. Audit your diary

Next, it is a good idea to actually look at what you are spending your time doing.

If you have followed the advice above, then this should be simple: look at your diary and tot up how much time is spent actually improving your school. Not doing ‘stuff’ – but doing things which will make your school better in the future.

And whilst you may scoff and assume that ALL your valuable time is already used for such activities – go and look. Like me, you’ll be surprised at how much time is spent on important tasks which may matter greatly in the here and now, and how little time you spend on actual school improvement.

9. Accept that sometimes you’ll be unfocused and so very tired.

Whilst being focused is a good thing, if you try to maintain a laser-like focus every hour of every day of every term you’ll very quickly burn out.

At the end of a long day, I’m very often found putting up a display somewhere in school. This is not an efficient use of an Executive Headteacher’s time. But, at that point in the day, it’s all I’m good for – and I quite enjoy it. So note when you know that you have lost your focus for the day and go do something which is useful and practical.

10. Run

I can’t run anymore, so I cycle – usually about 100 miles a week.

If that’s not your bag, then swim… go to the gym… walk… do some gardening. It doesn’t matter what, but it matters that you do something physical and repetitive. Something which requires no thought or focus whatsoever.

As well as adding years to your life, time in the outdoors will do wonders for your productivity when you next choose to be a fully focused leader. Indeed, Apple now allow employees to take an hour’s exercise time as part of their working day, knowing that their workers will return with higher productivity and will have less time off sick.

And perversely, it is usually in the middle of these mindless physical activities that creative thoughts will solve those thorny problems which won’t shift sat behind a desk.

Have a great term.