In theory, every school leader should want to be a leader of a school improvement journey. It’s an exciting prospect to turn a school around, and the reward of improving the lives of hundreds of pupils is all the motivation that most leaders would need. But, in reality, school improvement requires a bespoke type of leader - and also a particular type of leadership and teaching team.

Partly, it is about an ability to work within a tight time frame and under pressure to resolve challenging situations quickly. This can be an intense way of working and, quite often, difficult decisions need to be made hour by hour. Not everyone thrives or enjoys working in this way. It’s also about confidence: you need to be able to trust the skills and abilities of yourself and those around you.

Building a school improvement team, therefore, is a tricky undertaking. I know this better than most because, throughout my career, driving improvement has been at the forefront of my journey. What I have gleaned from working with, talking to and being mentored by many great headteachers has been invaluable. What follows are the key lessons I have learned about creating a team best placed to make schools better.

Build from the inside

It’s not always possible to recruit externally - and it’s also not always necessary. As a new leader coming in to drive school improvement, it’s vital to find the shining stars within the existing staff base. They may not present themselves directly to you, as not everyone is an extrovert who is confident about their abilities. Therefore, taking time to uncover these people is vital. Talk to everyone individually and give them opportunities to talk to you about their passions, ambitions and fears. Talk them through the demands of the job ahead and work through their feelings about it: if you are honest, they will be - and you will soon get a sense of who is best suited to lead the transformation with you.

Be careful if recruiting externally

When looking outside your existing staff base for team members, having a rigorous interview process - in which you have the opportunity to learn as much as possible about the individual in front of you - is key. Just as you should be honest with your internal team members, an open and frank conversation with external candidates is important.

It may sound obvious but involve your current team in the process. They will have to work with whoever is selected, and they will need and want to trust this person enough to show their own vulnerabilities and strengths without judgement. By getting the team involved, they are also invested in and accountable for the recruitment and, therefore, should be open to giving any support that the individual may need to hit the ground running when appointed.

Get the numbers right

The size of your setting is an important consideration because, in order to build your leadership structure to support school improvement, you need to know how many pieces of the jigsaw you require. Successful leadership runs throughout various roles within any school and ensures that school culture, ethos and high expectations are consistent and bring about success. Make sure you have leaders in the places and for the topics where they are most needed.

Balance leadership and management

The skills needed for leadership and management are interwoven. It is easy for management tasks to take over when dealing with immediate problems. In school improvement, there are many immediate issues that, while necessary, can feel like firefighting and be a huge distraction. So every team needs people who can pull the focus back to strategic leadership if the pendulum has gone too far in the wrong direction. Make sure you have people in your team to fulfil both roles.

Ensure the non-negotiables

The curriculum is the brain of any school and inclusion is its heart. One cannot thrive without the other and they are equally important. It is imperative to build teams that are collaborative and can drive improvement in both areas with energy, high expectations and strategic focus, while managing day-to-day school life.

Guarantee leadership support

Those new to their leadership role will benefit from being mentored, which prevents burnout and reduces workload. They may have fantastic ideas and energy but lack the experience of handling the demands of line-managing adults. In addition, the “plan, implement, review” cycle, which never ends, can be exhausting.

Couple mentoring with training. It’s easy to forget that we trained and came into education fundamentally to work with children and young people. As individuals move further into leadership, different skills are required that are not taught as part of initial teacher training.

Get the right mix of expectations and nurture

Difficult conversations and accountability are important parts of the school improvement journey. But, equally, taking the time to nurture teams is important, too. What you need to build resilience and commitment is the right balance between high expectations and nurture. Finding that balance is not easy but, with experience, it is possible and constant feedback from your team is required so that you get it right.

I have developed large and small leadership teams throughout my career who have been, and continue to be, highly successful in creating and maintaining great schools where children thrive. Driving school improvement is not an easy task, particularly in settings with substantial historical difficulties, but it is very possible with a strong team whose members have the same goal: to make long-lasting positive change.

Danielle Lewis-Egonu is executive headteacher at the Galaxy Trust

This article originally appeared in the 22 October 2021 issue under the headline “How to build a team to turn your school around”