S10. Sustain change
Embed improvement into daily practice. Real change lasts when it becomes part of the culture, not a one off initiative.
Resources to support growth in this behaviour
Whether this behaviour has been chosen through Step 1. Diagnose, highlighted through reflection or coaching, or identified as a school or trust priority, you can now follow the steps below to develop and embed it in your daily leadership practice.
Step 2. Learn: Read Everyone Succeeds: 54 Leadership Behaviours to Transform Your School to understand what great leadership looks like in practice. Each behaviour is grounded in research and real examples from schools and businesses.
Step 3. Reflect: Use the Everyone Succeeds Workbook to apply ideas to your own context.
Guided reflection, practical actions, and space for planning turn understanding into improvement.
Step 4. Apply: Work through the Leadership Toolkit for this behaviour. Use the Sustain Change toolkit to embed new practices, build momentum through short-term wins, and ensure change becomes part of your culture rather than a one-off project.
Step 5. Coach and practice: Use the Sustain change Coach and Practise Frameworks to strengthen the behaviour through action steps that protect momentum and coaching questions about drift, practising the reinforcement of routines and expectations so change holds beyond the initial push.
These can be used individually or with colleagues to embed key behaviours.
Step 6. Plan: Set measurable goals using the 90 Day Leadership Planner.
Turn improvement into action by tracking your focus and progress over time, with completed examples for different career stages.
Step 7. Lead: Apply your learning to real situations through the Scenario Finder.
Over fifty scenarios link directly to the behaviours that help you solve the challenges that matter most in your school.
One book suggestion
Leading Change – John Kotter (1996).
This book helps you apply the behaviour by breaking down the steps required to embed change so it lasts, offering a clear structure for leading improvement. Buy the book.
References from the Everyone Succeeds book
Buck, A., (2018). Leadership Matters 3.0: How leaders at all levels can create great schools. Hachette UK.
Collins, J. and Hansen, M.T., (2011). Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos and Luck-Why some thrive despite them all. Random House.
Dweck, C.S., (2019). The New Psychology of Success.
Heath, C. and Heath, D. (2007). Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. New York: Random House.
Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47(2), pp. 263-291.
Knoster, T., Villa, R., and Thousand, J. (2000). A framework for thinking about systems change. In R. Villa and J. Thousands (Eds.) Restructuring for caring and effective education: Piecing the puzzle together (2nd edition). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
Kotter, J.P. (2012). Leading Change. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.
Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9(2), pp. 1-27.