Y8. Sharpen Your Tools toolkit
Toolkit
Sustained leadership depends on deliberate growth. This toolkit helps you identify where and how to keep developing, ensuring that your knowledge, habits, and systems remain sharp enough to meet the evolving demands of your role. The goal is not to add more to your plate, but to focus on the learning that has the most significant impact.
| Define your development focus |
| Write down the areas of leadership that would make the most significant difference to your effectiveness over the next year. Be specific. It might be building curriculum expertise, strengthening team culture, improving time management, or enhancing your ability to coach others. Defining this focus helps you avoid scattergun learning and ensures that your development aligns with your school’s priorities. |
| Build protected learning time |
| Identify when and how you will invest in your own development. This could be a weekly reading hour, a monthly coaching session, or a quarterly visit to another school. The key is to treat this time as sacred. Add it to your calendar and treat it like any other essential meeting. |
| Choose your inputs carefully |
| List the high-quality books, courses, or networks that will most stretch your thinking. Focus on fewer, deeper experiences rather than consuming large quantities of surface-level content. Write down two or three resources that you will engage with meaningfully over the next term and reflect on what you hope to gain from each. |
| Find your thought partners |
| Identify the people who help you see things differently. These could be mentors, coaches, or trusted colleagues who challenge your assumptions and refine your ideas. Write their names here and consider how often you want to connect with them. Schedule those conversations intentionally rather than waiting for the opportunity to arise. |
| Reflect and apply |
| Set aside time each month to look back on what you’ve learned. How has it influenced your practice? What impact can you see, and what next step will build on it? Reflection turns knowledge into insight, ensuring that professional learning becomes an integral part of your leadership DNA rather than a one-off activity. |
| Reflection prompts |
| Which areas of my leadership need sharpening most urgently? How regularly do I make time to learn, think, or seek feedback? Who challenges my thinking and helps me grow? What new practice or idea will I apply this month to lead more effectively? |
Y8. Sharpen Your Tools: example toolkit
Role: Deputy Headteacher
| Define your development focus |
| I will write down the specific areas of leadership that would make the biggest difference to my effectiveness this year. For me, this includes strengthening my coaching of middle leaders, deepening my understanding of curriculum design, and refining my time management systems to free up space for strategic work. Being clear about these priorities helps me avoid scattergun learning and ensures that my growth aligns directly with the school’s goals. |
| Build protected learning time |
| I will identify when and how I will invest in my own development. Friday mornings before school will become a protected reading slot, and once each term, I will visit another school to observe leadership practice. I will also schedule a termly coaching conversation with my coach. I’ll put these commitments in my calendar and protect them like any other essential meeting. |
| Choose your inputs carefully |
| Rather than collecting endless resources, I’ll choose a small number that truly stretches my thinking. This term, I will read The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni, visit a school, and engage more actively with my professional network to discuss implementation ideas. I’ll focus on deep engagement, taking notes and identifying one action from each source to trial. |
| Find your thought partners |
| I will identify my thought partners, the people who challenge and refine my ideas. My deputy colleague, a coach outside the trust, and a headteacher I admire will form my circle of thinking partners. I’ll schedule regular termly conversations with each of them, ensuring these discussions stay purposeful and reflective rather than reactive. |
| Reflect and apply |
| At the end of each month, I’ll set aside 20 minutes to reflect on what I’ve learned, how I’ve applied it, and what impact I’ve seen so far. I’ll jot these reflections in my leadership journal to track my growth over time. Reflection will be my bridge between learning and doing, ensuring that knowledge translates into meaningful change. |
| Intended Impact |
| Which areas of my leadership need sharpening most urgently? How regularly do I make time to learn, think, or seek feedback? Who challenges my thinking and helps me grow? What new practice or idea will I apply this month to lead more effectively? |