Working with Me as The Teacher Promotion Coach (non-principal!)

People don't work with me because I'm a principal.

People work with me because they know me, because I make things easy, because I'm knowledgeable and because I know the best ways to make competency-based interviews easier.

What is leadership anyway?

EVERY DAY, I help teachers to see that they are leaders. My motto was that a leader is anyone who can inspire others. And so, I ask you – who have you inspired? With whom are you building great relationships? What have you inspired others to do?

Managers don't inspire. They get things done, but managers often struggle with creating effective relationships. As a teacher, you're a first and foremost a leader in your classroom. leaders create relationships. Leaders are kind leaders are good communicators. Leaders are fair, leaders inspire others to be better versions of themselves.

Identifying what YOU bring to the role

In interview sessions with my clients, I ask them coaching-style questions like “What is teamwork? How do you know you're a good leader? What are the qualities of a leader that you admire?”

At first, teachers can find that difficult to pinpoint and identify, especially when it comes to identifying their own qualities. As we go through the interview session, they find it is easier to pinpoint the qualities in others and then we reflect those qualities back to themselves. And I ask them SO - are YOU a good communicator? Do YOU lead others? Do YOU delegate tasks etc.

When they can see the people that they admire have those qualities and they also have those qualities too – things start to shift for them.

What mentoring and coaching does for my clients

They begin to feel more confident in themselves. In interview confidence coaching sessions, I deal with soft skills (communication, teamwork, relationship building, etc). That's what I do best. Then I take those soft skills and translate them into short phrases - that help teachers communicate effectively using the STAR technique. I show them that less is more impactful when it comes to creating interview answers.

What I don’t do

School Principals doing this job have expert knowledge about policies and procedures and the inner system of education AND as a primary school teacher I know lots of that information too. But I don't know everything. Nobody knows everything. And anything that I don't know. I can look up and my client can look up.

Looking at Our Schools

When I first came across the Looking at Our Schools document and having been a coach for three + years at this stage, I was so excited - because the qualities of leadership are across the board for all humanity. The document made complete sense to me. 

The content in the Looking at Our Schools document is equally relevant, (though the setting is in a different context) to a leader who is working in a large, multinational corporation or a nursing ward in a hospital or in a medium size engineering firm. Leaders manage time effectively. They have to deal with tricky situations. They have to be good at their job and develop a team.

What is my role?

My role is to mentor teachers to communicate effectively in interviews. IF (*and only if) - they already have the necessary qualities from their career - they can then articulate that effectively. I help them to come to grips with what makes them special and explain that in a clear and concise way. They won't get the job if they haven't built up that clarity, confidence and the necessary skills. I trust that with more time and consideration they can work on their internal stuff - to develop those qualities and secure the job that they deserve. Sometimes that might take some time and when we are open to learning and new opportunities amazing things happen!

Do you want to join forces?

So if you two are wondering about how I can lead aspiring school leaders without having had a leadership role myself - my ethos says that leadership comes from the inside. It's a series of qualities to be fostered and developed, and not a title. If you want to work 1-1 with me and pinpoint your own leadership qualities and put them on paper my service Always Ready – Career Accelerator is a great place to show them your leadership qualities. Learn more here.