T2. Ask first
Listen before deciding. Curiosity leads to better solutions and stronger relationships.
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 Ask First toolkit to build trust and insight by seeking others’ views before making decisions or giving direction.
Step 5. Coach and practice: Use the Ask first Coach and Practise Frameworks to strengthen the behaviour through action steps that prioritise listening, rehearsing inquiry so solutions emerge collaboratively.
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
Coaching for Performance – John Whitmore (1992).
This text strengthens your practice by offering a clear structure for using questions to build ownership, confidence and clarity. Buy the book.
References from the Everyone Succeeds book
Schein, E.H., (2013). Humble inquiry: The gentle art of asking instead of telling. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Stanier, M.B., (2016). The coaching habit: Say less, ask more & change the way you lead forever. Box of Crayons Press.