Too busy to find time to stand back?  Juggling too many priorities?  Want to ensure a sustainable future for your leadership? This workshop is for you.

In his book, Rethinking Educational Leadership,  John West-Burnham uses the metaphor of a reservoir to illustrate the impact of leaders constantly giving of themselves to others. ‘The deeper the reservoir, the more can be given, but eventually even the deepest reservoir will begin to run low’ …   ‘Effective leaders’ he says ‘need strategies to ensure that their reservoirs are regularly filled’.

Many leaders know this, yet find it difficult to prioritise their need for renewal when other issues seem so much more pressing.  The aim of the current workshop is to provide school leaders with an opportunity to invest in themselves so that they have something in reserve when others are flagging and tempers are frayed.

Based on extensive research, summarised here in Susan Young’s NAHT blog the workshop provides opportunities for learning, discussion and reflection in pleasant surroundings at an affordable price.

The day will help you to understand why it is often difficult for leaders to prioritise their own needs, and provide you with strategies to develop habits which build resilience.   In a supportive group of  your peers,  you will have the opportunity to explore:

• What we mean by ‘resilience’ and why it matters
• Models of resilience for leadership
• The connection between emotional resilience, health and well-being
• Habits of thinking and behaviour which may undermine resilience
• The place of values in sustaining or undermining resilience
• Strategies for increasing resilience
• Next steps in sustaining resilience for yourself and your school

What are the benefits?

Increased resilience means more sustainable leadership, a greater capacity for supporting others and increased focus on prioritising the important over the immediate.

Comments from participants on previous resilience programmes

‘Thank you Julia. I have returned to work today with a new vigour and determined to change (nudge) my behaviour to make me more effective’  Primary headteacher, Somerset, following one-day workshop

‘I have very much enjoyed the programme and despite my scepticism, have found it beneficial.  I do believe that resilience can be grown.’ Gloucestershire headteacher, following  year-long team programme ‘Sustaining Resilience for School Leadership’

‘The content couldn’t have been more relevant …a lot of good pertinent and perfectly facilitated discussion and great strategies for self management forthcoming’ Section Leader, Bicton College, following ‘Being the best you can be: building resilience for managers’

The post Sustaining Resilience for School Leadership first appeared on Chrysalis Leadership Development.

At the primary school where I’m chair of governors we are planning to recruit a new headteacher.  As you might expect, governors started by clarifying where we want to take the school in the future.  With thanks to my friend and ex-colleague Jim Laing  who prompted this question, I asked: what is the greatest threat to society today?  There were many, so I asked ‘which of those can we address in school?’ I suspect, given long enough, we would have been able to tick them off one by one.  We talked about self-worth, relationships and respect, breakdown of faith, amongst other things.  We might have added critical faculty, confidence,  love of learning, commitment to values and values-based education.  As governors, we have the privilege and the responsibility of setting the strategic direction of the school. If we fulfil our role effectively, what matters to the school will matter to the children.  We talk about primary schools having a role in putting in place the foundations.  Do we know what happens when our children arrive in and leave secondary school?  Not enough, is my answer.  Governors could and should be asking that question.  As the national education agenda demands that we work more closely with other schools, we have the potential to grow that influence: we could work with other primary and secondary schools, so that children have a consistent message from the age of two to 18.

As is often pointed out, we have the children for a very short time, so we need also to work with parents and families.  More importantly, though ‘No-one spends longer with children than they spend with themselves’ was a chance remark by a friend, which has stayed with me.  The new national standards of excellence for headteachers   describe governors as ‘guardians of the nation’s schools’.  By implication then, we are guardians of the nation’s education.  As a board of governors, have you a corporate view of what education is for?

In every school there will be a different balance between the focus on academic results and the pressure to achieve them.  It’s relatively easy for me: it’s not my job on the line if our academic results are not where we expect them to be.  In holding our headteacher to account, perhaps we should also be holding ourselves to account for the impact we are having, not just on this generation of staff and students, but on their children, and their children’s children.

Last month I visited York Minster.  It took 250 years to build. Perhaps those who laid the foundation-stones feared that their work would be in vain. They could not know what their legacy would be.   All we can know today is that over five or six generations the vision was strong enough to overcome all the barriers they faced so that – despite the more recent challenges  – the building still stands.   If we as governors embrace the opportunity to shape a society based on acceptance of difference, perhaps not in my lifetime, nor in my children’s, nor possibly in their children’s, but before the end of time, love will overcome fear.

The post Terror in Paris: what can schools do? first appeared on Chrysalis Leadership Development.

As a leader, you never finish the job.  Sometimes events overtake you, and you need to work into the small hours.  The point of growing resilience is that you have something in reserve for those times.  But getting insufficient sleep can become a habit.  If you work in a culture that demands you always put others first, you can add to ‘leaving things undone’ a sense of guilt which will also diminish your energy.

We understand about having our cars serviced regularly.  How many of us take the same approach to taking care of our bodies?  The importance of paying attention to our own wellbeing has never been more evident. Growing neuroscience is helping us to understand the connection between wellbeing and resilience. Reading Neuroscience for Coaches* has proved to be a great start for me:

The brain is an incredibly complex web of inter-related structures and systems, some of which are responsible for our automatic functions (like breathing, sleeping, etc), some responsible for functions which we learn, but then become automatic, and some (notably those located in the pre-frontal cortex) responsible for higher-order skills of thinking, decision-making, planning, etc.  Knowing more about the way the brain functions can help us to make decisions about our behaviour which support its effective functioning.

The pre-frontal cortex (PFC) is responsible for executive functions: our ability to plan, to make appropriate decisions, to align thoughts and actions with internal goals and for expressing personality. The PFC doesn’t perform well under stress. Stress can have a dramatic negative effect on our ability to function, e.g. problem solving, being creative and holding things in our short-term memory. The PFC is energy-hungry and gets drained quickly. A bit like the rechargeable battery in your camera when the flash is used, a burst of energy demands recovery time. Stress impairs its ability to use energy.  How much time do you take to recharge your batteries?

When the PFC isn’t working normally, it can lead to us feeling lethargic, uninspired, and overly emotional. We become easily distracted, don’t finish things, become forgetful and may fixate on negative thoughts. It’s easy to see how we can get into a downward spiral when the PFC isn’t working optimally.  When working well, it functions to allow us to focus and pay attention, to plan, and carry things through. The PFC functions best when it is focusing on one thing at a time. Multi-tasking reduces its effectiveness. For optimal achievement, intersperse difficult tasks with easier ones, to help your sense of achievement and allow the PFC to ‘re-charge’.

Neurons are part of the brain’s wiring system. Messages are carried from one neuron to another by neurotransmitters (chemicals in the brain) which communicate across ‘synaptic gaps’. A bit like two people passing a ball between them, they might start slowly, and occasionally drop it, but as they practise, they get faster and faster. In the same way, neural pathways are built by repeating patterns of behaviour.

Cortisol is probably one of the best known chemicals in the brain, because of its association with stress. It is actually a hormone, which is secreted by the adrenal glands and its level increases when we perceive ourselves to be under threat. Its function includes blood pressure regulation, blood sugar level regulation, and it affects the immune function and glucose metabolism. It is implicated in eustress (short-term stress which give us the edge and gets us ready to take action) and distress, which comes from prolonged heightened levels of cortisol, leading to lower immunity, higher blood pressure and increased abdominal fat. Caffeine and sleep deprivation both increase cortisol levels; so if you drink coffee to keep yourself awake, you’re helping to increase cortisol levels twice over.   Physical activity can lower cortisol levels as can social connectivity, laughter, and listening to music.

Oxytocin might be seen as the ‘antidote’ to cortisol in that it reduces blood pressure and cortisol. It is released from the pituitary gland. It has an anti-anxiety affect and has been associated with stimulating positive social interaction, and increasing trust. It suppresses the activity of the amygdala (the brain’s alarm system). It is released through connecting with other people (in the virtual or real world). It is believed that oxytocin helps the processes of learning and memory specifically for social information. Release oxytocin by shaking hands for 6 seconds, or giving someone a hug! It’ll improve your own oxytocin and that of the other person, (as long as you have their permission!)

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in how we think, feelings of motivation, reward, attention and our behaviour. When we get a pleasant surprise dopamine neurons in one part of the brain are activated. When something bad happens dopamine neurons in another part of the brain are activated. Increased dopamine leads to prioritising instant gratification rather than longer-term benefits. ‘Treats’ as a reward, for example, for hard work or a goal achieved, can lead to increased dopamine.  A glass of wine as a reward for getting through a stressful week?  Well, just the one, then.  As we become more used to the pleasure these treats provide, we need more to get the same level of dopamine release. Exercise increases blood calcium levels, which stimulates dopamine production and uptake.

Adrenaline is a neurotransmitter and is activated as part of our emotional response to things. It is most readily observed in response to fear. It acts on nearly every tissue in the body. It regulates heart rate, blood vessel and air passage diameters and in the liver breaking down glycogen to make more glucose to release a burst of energy. It features in fixing of long-term memory of stressful events.  In evolutionary terms, you can see how that might be helpful in keeping us safe.  Being chased by a wild animal is pretty stressful, and if you remember it, you’re unlikely to put yourself in that position again.  If we never ‘come down’ from the adrenaline high, our health may suffer.  While memories of negative events stick like velcro, memories of pleasurable act like teflon.  They don’t fix themselves in our memories in the same way (why should they?  They don’t keep us safe).  Focus on pleasurable events or their memory for 20 seconds in order to store and come back to them and to increase seratonin levels.

Serotonin – a neurotransmitter which links to feelings of happiness. It’s important in mood regulation, appetite, sleep regulation and circadian rhythms, memory and learning. It is made from tryptophan (found in the diet in bananas, dates, yoghurt, milk, chocolate, sesame, sunflower & pumpkins seeds and poultry). Alcohol decreases levels of tryptophan. An average amount of alcohol leads to a decrease in tryptophan of about 25%, which leads to similar reduction in serotonin. Serotonin levels can be raised by getting enough sleep; calling to mind a happy event (similarly, calling to mind a negative event can reduce serotonin levels). Being conscious of your thoughts, such as in the practice of mindfulness meditation, can help you to systematise them and get your biochemistry to a place where you have a greater sense of wellbeing. Exercise has been shown to be important in serotonin production and release. Low serotonin levels make it harder to achieve goals or delay gratification. If you focus on times when goals have been achieved, that in itself will raise levels of serotonin.

There are many experiments which reveal the impact that human beings can have on changing the way their own brains are wired.   However often you have your car serviced, you’ll never turn it from a Lada to a BMW.  You can improve your model of leadership by servicing your brain regularly.

*Most of this information comes from Neuroscience for Coaches, Brann A, 2015, London, Kogan Page.  I have summarised it here primarily for the Chrysalis Developing Emotional Resilience for Leadership programme.  It is intended to raise awareness and prompt discussion and thus simplifies some of the detail of the scientific facts.

The post Developing resilience: begin with the brain first appeared on Chrysalis Leadership Development.

My contribution to the TES’s What keeps me awake at night (10 October 2014) pointing to the potential  impact of leaders on teachers’ stress levels,  is complemented by Tom Bennett’s contribution in the same edition concerning work-life balance (Champion of the world(s)).  Teachers have always worked hard.  Now, he points out, the pace is frenetic (my word, not his).  My experience as a leadership coach and governor tells me that this frenetic lifestyle is now accepted as part of the culture.  Like those in the US survey, teachers can’t see that their lifestyle is unhealthy.  What is ‘normal’ isn’t necessarily desirable or productive.  A recent report from the University of Lancaster’s Work Foundation  reviews the research evidence for a link between teachers’ wellbeing and students’ attainment.  While further work needs to be done, the report points to an earlier study by Briner and Dewberry (2007)  which concluded that

‘ if policy makers want to improve student outcomes, then the health and wellbeing of teachers should be considered.’

With the promise of further budget cuts to come, we have to take this seriously.  Teachers, leaders, and (what a thought!) even the government needs to cut a little slack.  Constant pressure is counter-productive to the conscientious (who already put themselves under pressure) and ineffective in the long term to those few who don’t.

Changing culture takes time and a commitment from everyone to avoid becoming a victim of the system.

Leaders can help by

• Reviewing and, where necessary, adjusting systems: what are the costs (time/energy/finance) against the benefits? And getting staff to do the same
• Creating a coaching culture, which supports individuals in taking responsibility for themselves
• Communicating clearly and consistently, seeking and accepting feedback (which gives you the choice of whether to act on it)
• Investing in and valuing high quality administrative support
• Accepting that sometimes good enough is good enough
• Never using the ‘threat’ of Ofsted as a motivator for change. It creates a climate of fear: people want to feel safe.   It also communicates to staff that Ofsted are in control: you’re not.
• Allowing staff to work at home when appropriate. If you don’t trust them to do so, what does it say about your leadership?
• Modelling the importance protecting time to think through regular sessions with a skilled coach
• Making an effort (and it does require effort) to build and sustain their own resilience and supporting their staff to do the same
• Championing the cause of reducing the pressure in the system

Sometimes, it’s okay to be the only one in step

The post Colluding with an unhealthy culture? first appeared on Chrysalis Leadership Development.

‘Think of  a reservoir high in the mountains of central Wales.  At one end of the long submerged valley is a dam with the technology to control the flow of the water.  The rest of the lake is the most evocative and powerful combination of natural features – rock, trees and water  …  All around the lake are small rivers and streams flowing down from the surrounding hills.  In many ways I see this scene as a metaphor for the inner-life of transformational leaders.

Each working day school leaders have to draw on their personal reservoir – on some days a steady flow will suffice, on other days the floodgates have to be open as energy, compassion, creativity, optimism, courage and hope are called on.  The deeper the reservoir, the more can be given, but eventually even the deepest reservoir will begin to run low.  A period of drought can transform a rich reserve into something arid and barren, incapable of nurturing and sustaining growth … ‘
from Rethinking Educational Leadership, West-Burnham, 2009

I was working with a headteacher.  ‘My resilience is low’ she said.  ‘I know I haven’t been looking after myself as well as I should, but there’s just been so much on’.  I have worked with this headteacher regularly over the past year.  At the heart of all she does are the needs of her pupils and staff.  Perhaps that’s part of the difficulty: they’re in her heart rather than in her head.  We have talked about her taking time out – and to be fair, she has put aside some time to work with her coach (not myself).  In many cases, though, time out of school has been with like-minded colleagues, most of whom ‘know’ that at this stage of the term, it’s ‘normal’  to be flat on the floor with almost no energy to get through the last 2 weeks.  What a year it’s been: at least 2 Ofsted frameworks; changes to the National Curriculum; the sudden and unexpected introduction of free school meals for children in Key Stage 1 (and who saw that one coming?); changes to the special educational needs code of practice; changes to assessment; reduction in staffing in other agencies leading to increased pressure on schools; and increased pressure on school budgets with more to come.   The pressure inevitably builds on the headteacher, particularly in primary schools, where the head may be the only person not in front of a class.

For possibly the past 5 years, at this time of year, headteachers I’ve spoken to have said ‘I’ve never known a year like it; it’s just been so full on’.  How many of them, I wonder, have increased their investment in themselves?

Last week, at the University of Worcester Festival of Leadership Learning we listened to Floyd Woodrow talk about elite leadership.  Given the audience where ‘elite’ often means ‘privileged’ and ‘better resourced’ I wondered how everyone would react.  What I took from his explanation of the term, however, is that we can all work to reach elite status, given  motivation, drive and practice.  The elite perform exceptionally because they practise.   Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers tells a similar story.  Those at the top of their game, whether in the field of sport, music, or battle: all practice.  Gladwell talks about practising for 10,000 hours. Leaders are no different.  Floyd talked about training your mind: drilling it, to prepare for the unexpected.    If you want to move from the transactional to the transformational as a leader, you need to be prepared to invest in yourself.

Headteachers have it tough.  High accountability, high profile, working in a system that expects them to fix society, where (as we discussed afterwards) if you get it wrong, you can quickly forfeit your career.  Floyd held the attention of 50 headteachers for 2 hours.  In the world he referred to, it isn’t just your career you forfeit if you get it wrong, it’s your life – and potentially that of many others.  It doesn’t get tougher than that.

He talked a lot about building resilience.  In a small group conversation afterwards we confronted the reality of what that means.  It means practice.  Practice is what builds new neural pathways; it’s what moves us from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence.

When I was asked to run a 2-hour session which would result in headteachers recognising when they are stressed and doing something about it, I politely (I hope) pointed out that it takes more than 2 hours to effect behavioural change.  You cannot build resilience with the ‘sheep-dip’ approach.  It takes time, commitment and practice.   Next term I shall be working with a headteacher and his senior leaders on developing emotional resilience for school leadership.  It’s a year-long programme.  As a leader of learning, he recognises that embedding learning takes time.  As leaders, we need to listen and attend to our own needs.  The alternative is to project them on to others so that we can take care of them, and risk infantilising our colleagues, and exhausting ourselves at the same time.

I challenge you to finish next school year with something in reserve.  To do that, you need to plan and practise.  Do something each week which will support your resilience.  Resilience is intensely personal.  Only you know for sure what supports and undermines your resilience, so do more of the former and less of the latter.  If only it were that simple…  You have to be prepared to invest in yourself.  More about that anon.  For now, consider some of these behaviours that might help you in building resilience.

The post Topping up your resilience reservoir first appeared on Chrysalis Leadership Development.

 The sun is streaming in the window at the back of the hall.  The school staff are smiling,  suntanned and relaxed,  bearing witness to the long days of summer sun.  What a different energy from the one I felt in this room 3 short months ago.  We are here to look forward to the coming year, determined to hang on to all that is special about this school, in the face of the challenges and opportunities of a new school year which includes the start of a 2-year re-build and whatever new initiatives Mr Gove identifies next.  For me, this is the culmination of 9 months’ work supporting this school to re-define its values.  I had offered the headteacher the use of the Barrett Values Centre’s School Values Assessment (SVA) as a means of helping to address some of the anxieties in the system which she defined as

• conscientious teachers worried about being observed, in case they were found wanting;
• staff feeling intimidated by some parents, so that parents’ evenings were becoming a source of anxiety;
• some negativity and rumblings among the staff behind the scenes, which the head was finding it difficult to flush out.

The Values Centre’s School Values Assessment survey is a disarmingly simple and potentially extremely powerful instrument.  We all know that work is more rewarding when our work allows us to live our values.  It asks 3 simple questions

1.  What are your top 10 personal values?
2. What are the top 10 values you experience in school?
3. What top 10 values should the school now focus on to move forward?

The results provide leaders with a systematic means of evaluating the climate of the school and providing the gateway to a powerful dialogue about things that really matter, which underpin excellence in learning and teaching – and frequently remain hidden.

The first feedback on the results of the diagnostic to the SMT was puzzling. While the leadership team congratulated themselves on the good match across the three categories closer scrutiny revealed some hard messages.  One group of staff was having a different experience of the culture from another, and it wasn’t so positive.  Later I fed back to the whole school.  There was no point in hiding the hard messages: those who experienced the culture most positively were upset to think that their experience wasn’t universal.

We kept focused, knowing that acknowledging that people had different experiences was the first step to understanding and addressing what was happening.  The unspoken negativity had risen to the surface for the first time   The ‘elephants in the room’ had been acknowledged.

In the third session I posed the question ‘what are we NOT talking about?’.  People were encouraged – anonymously – to express the inexpressible and together to talk about how – as a school – they could address such difficulties.  It was as emotionally draining as it was necessary.  While they had had to face difficult issues, they had talked about them. As an outsider,  I could see what wasn’t evident to those who were viewing the picture in close-up: that there were subliminal messages in the culture which could account for the different experience of different groups of staff.  In the SMT we talked about system changes which could help.

The ‘desired culture’ helpfully included a call for ‘shared values’.  Starting with the 10 values which had originally been identified by the whole staff as representing the desired culture (several of which they were already experiencing), we spent the day honing them down to 5 which they felt essential for the coming year.  Most importantly, they spent time agreeing definitions, identifying what that value would look like in practice, and what they individually and collectively, needed to do to grow the value.  I overheard discussions about the difference between teamwork and co-operation; there was a lively debate about what ‘open communication’ means, and evident agreement about ‘passion for learning’.

The dialogue which resulted from the headteacher’s courage in starting this journey has led to a new level of trust and confidence amongst colleagues. They have articulated shared values.  which are beginning to be understood by all.  Next time, I hope they ask children, parents, and governors, too.

The post Values, not rules first appeared on Chrysalis Leadership Development.

So we agreed, and suddenly, here we are, in the City of a Thousand Welcomes. How could I have known it would be so special?

I’d never been to Dublin and we agreed to spend a couple of extra days so that we could enjoy the city. After only a small panic the night before the 8.30 Aer Aran flight (the UK is apparently part of Eire as far as luggage restrictions go) we escaped conspiratorially in the early morning, before the world was awake. I didn’t know my friend is phobic about flying, so I hadn’t realised quite what I was asking. With the help of modern science (the toy plane that really flew and the Diazapan) and my almost non-stop whittering, we reached Dublin without mishap in time for late breakfast.

And here we are. Dublin. The home of so much culture. The air shuttle coach from Dublin airport sets us down right outside Trinity College, which will be our home for the next 4 days. As we walk through the gate in the morning a glittering sea of tourists is ebbing and flowing through the entrance. A friendly Irish voice invites us to join the tour of the College, including the book of Kells, hardly practical while dragging suitcases, but an exciting prospect for later in the week.

At the accommodation office the young man (surely a student ?) seems genuinely pleased to be able to tell us that our rooms are clean so we can check in. He hands us the check-in pack and explains … He listens carefully to our questions and though he can’t immediately tell us the best place to get a late breakfast, he promises to continue to give it consideration as he guides us through the paved and cobbled courtyards to house 49. He’s as good as his word ‘Bewleys’ he says. ‘That’s a good place to go for breakfast. It’s just down the road in Grafton Street. You can’t miss it.’ And he gives us directions. ‘What’s the conference about?’ he asks with genuine interest. ‘It’s the European Mentoring and Coaching Council conference’, says my companion. ‘And it’s a research conference – so about research surrounding mentoring and coaching’. ‘That sounds interesting’ he says – as though he means it. ‘We hope so. At least we’re running a session so we hope that will be’. ‘What’s it on?’ he asks politely. ‘Developing emotional resilience for leadership’ I answer, wondering if that sounds far too pompous. ‘Within education’ adds my friend. He continues to ponder. ‘It’s about how leaders manage to remain resilient even when things get tough’, I volunteer. Negotiating the downward steps in front of us, still showing the way ‘so what would be an example of that?’ ‘Well,’ I explain, ‘supposing you had to make half your workforce redundant for financial reasons and they’d worked with you for a long time and been very loyal to you – that would be a hard thing to do. It would test your emotional resilience.’ We continue walking in the sunshine. There’s a long pause and I wonder whether he’s decided it’s not worth engaging in conversation further. But no – ‘whose decision would that be?’ he asks. ‘Ultimately the leader of the organisation’. He seems a bit puzzled. Maybe inexperience suggests to him that leaders can opt out of what makes them uncomfortable. Then ‘what do you need to do, then, to be emotionally resilient?’ ‘The first step is to look after yourself’, I say. ‘That’s a view I keep hearing’, he says ‘But it’s not quite that simple’, I add. And it’s not.

But that’s for tomorrow. Today, we are enjoying the city. Excellent coffee and scones at Bewleys, a fascinating gracious building with tea dance décor, sculptures (we learn) by the owner and sweeping wooden staircase to tables upstairs. Someone has recommended the open top bus tour. They were right. City Tours hop-on hop-off bus does us proud. Sitting high up in the sunshine listening to the commentary (also available on headphones) we are drawn to the heart of the city. I begin to understand how it inspired so many artists. Passing the top of Gresham Street, slight traffic delay allows us time to see the large crowd which has gathered to watch a fire-eater on stilts. Alongside and across the River Liffey, through Georgian Dublin, where my eyes are drawn to a sign for the Little Museum of Dublin. We resolve to do the whole tour and then decide where we will take time to walk. The buildings are jaw-droppingly beautiful. How, in our ignorance, could we have imagined that the Post Office, home of the Easter uprising of 1916, was such a monument to neo-classical architecture?

We decide to walk through the Georgian quarter and seek out the museum which caught our eye on the tour. It’s not as straightforward as we imagined. It’s hard to keep in your head the route of a bus tour in an unfamiliar city. We know the approximate area, but even the off-duty drivers of the bus tours are stumped as we move from one group to another, asking for directions. Finally, one checks out the bus route and makes a suggestion. It leads us to our destiny – in more ways than one. We arrive at The Little Museum of Dublin in St Stephen’s Green with only 30 minutes to closing time. Today – Wednesday afternoon – it’s free to enter. It is the place we have been unconsciously searching for since we arrived. As we follow Ireland’s history it draws us up the stairs where our attention is arrested by the gentle music of the Irish lilt: ‘My mother always said I could talk for Ireland, and now I’m doing it!’ From a back room we hear a commentary .. ‘do come and join us’ says Trevor, interrupting his oration to the group of 15 or so visitors. ‘Does anyone know who this is?’ he says, pointing to a photograph. ‘Charlie Haughey’ responds a voice. ‘And for the benefit of our visitors, would you like to tell us who Charlie Haughey was?’…

Photographs and artefacts, contributed by the people of Dublin, connect us with Sinead O’Connor, the Lockhards, (you’ll have to visit to find out their story) and the journey from colonialism to independence. My companion picks out a picture of the Irish writer Colm Tóibín and my education continues. Upstairs, we are treated to an exhibition of photographs by Brendan Walsh capturing the heart of the city. One that haunts me is the black-and-white image of a group of pre-pubescent boys seeking an adrenalin rush, leaping from one narrow ledge of a high building to another. Some wait their turn; some have already made it. One is caught in mid-flight, arms outstretched, hands straining for the opposite ledge, caught in a moment in time perhaps symbolic of Ireland’s own struggle to move from colonialism to independence. Will he make it or plunge to his death? I leave feeling anxious about the boy, praying that he did indeed reach his destination.

Tomorrow the conference gets underway. We will focus again on sharing the research into emotional resilience for school leadership. I remember the conversation with the young man who took us to our rooms at Trinity College. ‘It’s important to look after your own wellbeing, and connect with what feels nourishing and meaningful’ I’ve said. First step? You could hardly do better than to book a trip to Dublin with a good friend.

The post The Delights of Dublin – city of a thousand welcomes first appeared on Chrysalis Leadership Development.

That got me thinking. How often do we as leaders miss the obvious cost-effective solution? This week I’ve been looking again at my research on emotional resilience for school leadership. Why emotional resilience? Because managing our emotions is ultimately what allows us to continue without being overwhelmed.

So is emotional resilience something leaders are born with? Does it develop over time? Can it be learned? The answer to all these questions is ‘yes’. One of the headteachers I interviewed talked about having ‘a lucky personality’. There were very few situations in which she’d felt she really couldn’t think of a way out. All interviewees felt that their emotional resilience had developed over time just by doing the job. Are we happy to leave it to chance, or can we pro-actively develop emotional resilience for leadership?

It is possible to learn to be more emotionally resilient and there are ways of behaving and thinking which will help. The difficulty is that many headteachers instinctively put their own needs at the bottom of the list. Even those who know about Stephen Covey’s time management guidance and dealing with the conflicting demands of what’s important and what’s urgent, don’t see their own needs as sufficiently significant to prioritise them. Research suggests that ways of feeding headteachers’ emotional resilience include

• Taking exercise
• Eating a healthy diet: drinking lots of water and alcohol in moderation
• Getting enough sleep
• Networking with other headteachers
• Recognising and celebrating what’s going well
• Recognising that some things are outside my influence
• Re-connecting with what gives me a buzz
• Having regular coaching to ensure the above
• Accepting that sometimes ‘good enough’ has to be good enough

Of course you know all this, but when the pressure’s on, other things seem more important. You miss the obvious: that you can deal with life’s pressures more effectively if you’re feeling more emotionally resilient.
What’s really required to facilitate all the above is deep self-awareness and a belief that it is okay to prioritise your own needs. That’s tricky.

If you’re deeply self aware, you will know why you find it difficult to put yourself first; you’ll listen to and heed your body’s warning signals; you’ll challenge unhelpful patterns of thinking; you’ll recognise that you have a choice concerning whether to absorb others’ stress; you’ll resist colluding with the expectation that you are superman/woman.
and you’ll show compassion for yourself.

Given the climate of high expectations, high public accountability and lack of compassion shown by the press or the government, that’s going to be difficult. But it is possible.

Make a start today – and by the way, it’s okay to ask for help.

The post Supporting emotional resilience first appeared on Chrysalis Leadership Development.