Leadership Challenge Finder
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51 challenges
Behaviour expectations are applied inconsistently by different staff
Expectations for behaviour are being applied differently by different members of staff.
Explore this challenge →Building and Sustaining School CultureBehaviour slips in particular places and at particular times
Behaviour outside lessons has slipped.
Explore this challenge →Building and Sustaining School CultureThe culture is strong but you want to avoid drift and complacency
The school has made real progress.
Explore this challenge →Building and Sustaining School CultureRecently appointed staff are not following established routines and expectations
Several colleagues who joined recently are not consistently following established school routines.
Explore this challenge →Building and Sustaining School CultureLitter, damage and a loss of pride in the school environment
There has been a visible decline in how students treat the school site.
Explore this challenge →Building and Sustaining School CultureParents and carers are not supporting the school expectations
School expectations are being undermined or not supported at home.
Explore this challenge →Leading and Developing PeopleA middle leader is not improving, despite the feedback and support already given
Expectations have been raised and support has been offered, and the leader’s performance has still not changed.
Explore this challenge →Leading and Developing PeopleYou have promoted someone into leadership and want to get their first term right
A capable colleague has moved into a leadership post, and how the first term is handled will shape how they lead from here.
Explore this challenge →Leading and Developing PeopleEveryone is working hard, but they are working separately
Effort is high and relationships are fine, but people are solving the same problems separately and good practice is not spreading.
Explore this challenge →Leading and Developing PeopleIt has been a hard term and people are running on empty
A difficult period has taken its toll. People still care about the work, but the energy has gone out of it.
Explore this challenge →Leading and Developing PeopleTwo colleagues are in conflict and the rest of the team is working around it
A disagreement between particular colleagues has hardened, and the team is adjusting around it rather than working normally.
Explore this challenge →Leading and Developing PeopleOne of your leaders delivers the work and their team is paying for it
A leader who is efficient and reliable is losing their team, and the cost has started to show.
Explore this challenge →Leading and Developing PeopleYou want your team to lead more without losing your grip on what matters
The team could hold more than it does, and the question is how to hand over authority without losing sight of the work.
Explore this challenge →Leading and Developing PeopleA department’s relationships have broken down and unprofessional behaviour has become normal
Poor relationships in a department are no longer between particular people. They have become how the team operates.
Explore this challenge →Strategic Direction and ImplementationThere is too much going on and you need to decide what to stop
The school has more priorities running than it has the capacity to deliver, and something has to be stopped.
Explore this challenge →Strategic Direction and ImplementationStaff are complying with your new initiative without committing to it
The initiative has been accepted and is being followed, but staff are going through the motions rather than owning it.
Explore this challenge →Strategic Direction and ImplementationThe plan keeps losing out to day-to-day pressure
The priorities look sound, but operational demands consistently take precedence and the strategic work does not progress.
Explore this challenge →Strategic Direction and ImplementationYour senior team runs the school well but never gets to the long term
The senior team manages the daily running of the school effectively, but long-term improvement work never reaches the top of anyone’s list.
Explore this challenge →Strategic Direction and ImplementationAn inspection or external review is coming and you want the school ready without panic
An external review is approaching, and the task is to prepare honestly without tipping the school into performance or panic.
Explore this challenge →Strategic Direction and ImplementationThe school’s values are not showing up in everyday decisions and behaviour
The values are clear and agreed, but they are not what anyone would infer from how the school actually behaves.
Explore this challenge →Strategic Direction and ImplementationYou are writing the next school improvement plan and want it to be used all year
A new planning cycle is starting, and the aim is a plan that is focused, owned and still in use in February.
Explore this challenge →Strategic Direction and ImplementationStaff have initiative fatigue and have stopped believing change will stick
Staff are weary of repeated changes and major pushes that felt urgent and then faded.
Explore this challenge →Personal Growth and Self-LeadershipThe job is taking more out of you than you are getting back
You are still doing the job, but the margin has gone, and it is beginning to show in your patience and your judgement.
Explore this challenge →Personal Growth and Self-LeadershipYou find it difficult to switch off from work
The working day ends and the job carries on in your head, so the time away from it does not do what it should.
Explore this challenge →Personal Growth and Self-LeadershipYou never get to the work you came in to do
You know what the important work is. The day fills with other people’s needs before you can start it.
Explore this challenge →Personal Growth and Self-LeadershipThe routines you set up do not survive a normal school week
You know which routines would help and have set them up more than once. They hold for a fortnight, and then the term takes them.
Explore this challenge →Personal Growth and Self-LeadershipYou are entering a new role and want to grow into it well
You have just taken the role. Nothing has gone wrong, and the first term is where the way you lead it gets settled.
Explore this challenge →Personal Growth and Self-LeadershipYou get through a great deal each week but nothing important moves
The work gets done and the week fills, but the things that would actually make a difference are no further on than they were a month ago.
Explore this challenge →Personal Growth and Self-LeadershipYou’re aware of an area you want to improve but haven’t gained traction
You know what you want to get better at. Months later nothing has changed, and you are not certain why.
Explore this challenge →Navigating Difficult Conversations and EmotionsYou need to challenge a colleague without damaging the relationship
Something needs saying to a colleague, and what is delaying it is the thought of what saying it will cost the working relationship.
Explore this challenge →Navigating Difficult Conversations and EmotionsYou feel emotionally drained after repeated tough conversations
Each of the conversations was handled properly. What has accumulated is the residue of handling them.
Explore this challenge →Navigating Difficult Conversations and EmotionsYou are preparing for a difficult meeting with a parent or carer
A meeting is coming that you expect to be tense, and how you prepare will decide more than what you say in it.
Explore this challenge →Navigating Difficult Conversations and EmotionsYou lost your temper or responded poorly and want to rebuild trust
You handled a moment badly, other people saw it, and what happens afterwards will matter more than the apology.
Explore this challenge →Navigating Difficult Conversations and EmotionsThere’s a difficult truth that no one is saying out loud
Several people believe it, nobody has said it, and the cost of being the first to say it is what has kept it unsaid.
Explore this challenge →Navigating Difficult Conversations and EmotionsA colleague is struggling, and you’re unsure how to support them
Something has changed in how a colleague seems, and you do not know what it is or how far it is your place to ask.
Explore this challenge →Preparing for ProgressionYou’re preparing to apply for a leadership role
You know what you have done. Turning that into something a panel who has never seen you work can verify is a different job.
Explore this challenge →Preparing for ProgressionYou applied for a leadership role and did not get it
The decision has been made and you still have a job to do on Monday. What you take from this is not settled yet.
Explore this challenge →Preparing for ProgressionYou’re unsure whether you’re ready for the next step
Wanting the role and being ready for it are different questions, and the second one has an answer you can actually find.
Explore this challenge →Preparing for ProgressionYou’re not sure whether to apply for the next role yet
Being able to do the job and wanting it are different questions. This is the second one, and nobody else can answer it for you.
Explore this challenge →Preparing for ProgressionYour current role does not give you the experience the next one needs
You know what is missing. The problem is that the job you have will never provide it, however well you do it.
Explore this challenge →Preparing for ProgressionYou’re mentoring someone towards promotion and are unsure how honest to be
Encouragement without an honest assessment can leave someone less prepared for the decision ahead.
Explore this challenge →Leading Through Complexity and ChallengeThe school is being criticised publicly and you’re not sure whether to respond
Before deciding how to answer, decide whether the criticism is right and whether answering is yours to do.
Explore this challenge →Leading Through Complexity and ChallengeYou’re running on empty and feel you can’t step back without letting your team down
You could do less. What stops you is a belief about what would happen if you did, and that belief has not been tested.
Explore this challenge →Leading Through Complexity and ChallengeSomething serious has happened and people are looking to you
The procedure tells you what must happen. It does not tell you what to say to the person standing in front of you.
Explore this challenge →Leading Through Complexity and ChallengeSeveral serious problems need your attention at the same time
All of it feels urgent. Only some of it is, and working out which is the first piece of leadership this needs.
Explore this challenge →Leading Through Complexity and ChallengeA member of staff has acted against the school’s values and people are watching what you do
The conversation with the person is one thing. What everybody who saw it learns from your response is another.
Explore this challenge →Leading Through Complexity and ChallengeYou have to tell the school something they won’t want to hear
They will find the difficult sentence whether or not you say it. What you decide is whether they hear it from you.
Explore this challenge →Leading Through Complexity and ChallengeThere’s nobody you can talk to about the things that worry you most
The problem isn’t that you’re alone. It’s that there are specific things you can’t say to the people who are available.
Explore this challenge →Leading Through Complexity and ChallengeYou have to implement something you don’t agree with, and staff want to know where you stand
You can be honest about a decision you didn’t make without inviting your staff to resist it.
Explore this challenge →Leading Through Complexity and ChallengeAn incident involving a student has become public and there’s a lot you can’t say
You know more than you’re allowed to repeat, and people who know far less are saying a great deal.
Explore this challenge →Leading Through Complexity and ChallengeYou’re doing the job well and you’ve stopped knowing why
You can still do this. You have stopped being able to say what it is for, and those are different problems.
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