As a leader, handling difficult conversations is a fact of life, but how best to approach them? Deputy Head Academic, Glenn Bezalel, and Deputy Head Pastoral, Alice Martineau, from the City of London School, outline how the school values frame their approach to professional relationships and offer five top tips for navigating challenging conversations.
Every leader has been there. It may be line managing an underperformer we’re particularly fond of; having to deal with a brilliant but abrasive teacher who intimidates other colleagues; or recognising that you can no longer turn a blind eye to a member of staff who consistently turns in their work past the set deadline. Such challenging conversations are part and parcel of leadership and management but make many of us flinch as we grapple with how best to broach the issue – or not.
While there are many inspiring approaches to leadership, we wish to offer the definition given by Bill Bradley, a former US Senator and New York Knicks basketball player: “Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.”…