Updating your Identity

Stepping into leadership changes more than your responsibilities. It starts to change how you see yourself.

I was speaking to a friend recently who is stepping into a new leadership role, and as we talked, I found myself remembering what it felt like when I was a middle leader stepping into new roles of my own. I realised that some of the things I had thought were my struggles weren’t really mine at all. I think they’re part of what happens as we start to see ourselves differently, from teacher to leader, from being part of the team to being responsible for leading it.

There are the expectations we have of ourselves and the expectations we imagine everyone else has of us. There’s the challenge of holding the line on something when, not that long ago, you might have been one of the people grumbling about it in the corner. And there’s that feeling of dread that someone is going to discover you don’t know nearly as much as you think you’re supposed to know.

But there are joys in it too. You start to see the school or organisation differently. You see connections you couldn’t see from where you were before, begin to understand why some decisions are more complicated than they once appeared and find new ways to contribute that simply weren’t available to you before.

Teaching is incredibly action oriented and leadership can be just as busy. There will always be something demanding your attention, a problem to solve, a meeting to attend or another piece of work waiting to be done. The work isn’t going to create the space for you to pause and find your feet in the new role. You have to deliberately make that space yourself.

So, if I could give my earlier self some advice when stepping into a new leadership role, it would be this: Give yourself a moment to breathe. In fact, take a whole week.

Not to work out everything you’re going to change but to notice what has changed for you.

Look around and listen. Pay attention to what you can see from this position that you couldn’t see before. Notice the relationships that are changing and the expectations that come with your new role. Work out what is now yours to be responsible for and where you still need to learn.

Above all give yourself permission not to know everything yet. It's ok not to.

Some things you simply cannot know until you’re in the role. You learn by doing the job, having the difficult conversations, making the decisions, getting things wrong, asking for help and gradually becoming more comfortable with the responsibility you now carry.

You don’t need to spend your first week proving that you have all the answers. Give yourself the time and space to understand the role and yourself within it.