janine, Author at Coaching Focus

Monday Motivation – Make a Plan and Work Your Plan

Written by janine on October 14, 2024. Posted in Educational Leadership.

Being strategic is about having a plan and working the plan.

You will have heard the expression, If you fail to plan then you plan to fail.

With the term ahead of you and with lots to do, it is worth spending time this week to plan out each week so you smoothly work through everything by the end with less fear of last minute panic and potential burnt out.

There are many ways to plan out the term from a simple spreadsheet or table in word with each week plotted out or use a google calendar.

Look at what is happening each week, deadlines, events, meetings, project or task delivery dates and mark them in.

Then take each one and work backwards through what needs to be done for each. Break each one down into its smaller components and note when is the best time to get started.

Scatter the start times. They don’t all need to be started now even though you may want to. If you scatter the start times you can then concentrate on one or two at a time. You will achieve more if you focus on less at one time.

Then take your planning documents and go to your diary/schedule and block out time each week for your tasks. Yes, block time each week, during the work day, not after hours or the weekend. During the work day. Be strong. You can go this. Then make yourself unavailable during those times so that the time is protected from other things. If you have an assistant, let them know when you are going to be unavailable for each week.

If it helps, do this activity with a colleague and keep each other accountable.

Do this planning in the same way for your team, and share the document so that everyone is “on the same page” and you are all working together towards the same goals.

Doing this gives you your plan, now it is up to you to work the plan.

If you enjoyed this, join me in July or November 2025 at the Leadership Blueprint. Learn more here.

Monday Motivation – Be The Leader Others Want To Follow

Written by janine on October 10, 2024. Posted in Educational Leadership.

Welcome to Monday Motivation. It is the start of a new term. One thing I particularly like about the profession of teaching is we have opportunities to start a new. Each year, each term, and each time we deliver the same lesson to another class, maybe that week or the following semester. So many opportunities for a fresh start. So here we are at one of those opportunities, the new term. It’s the final run down to the end of the year, Term 4.

For some a new term might mean a new role, a permanent or an acting position. For some the new term might mean that there is only a term now between when they start their next role. For many leaders, this term is vital to set the team up for a successful 2025.

Leadership is an interesting thing in education. In many industries actually, because we don’t get taught it before we find ourselves in a position to lead. From there, the only option is to work it out as we go. And sure, mistakes are made and relationships impaired, but these are the things that help us to learn. As a leader, it is so important that you work out the sort of leader you want to be. Remember that you are a leader of people. People have feelings, aspirations, challenges and of course a life, plus pressures, outside of their work. What sort of leader do you want to be for them, your ‘people’, your team, the people who look to you as their leader to know how to conduct themselves, how to negotiate tricky situations, at what intensity to work, when to knock off, when to arrive at work, when to show up for morning Tutor Group, om time or a few minutes late, how to behave in meetings, at assembly, in the staff room. People are learning from you.

I want to give a shout out to Michelle Ironside, Christ Church Grammar School, VIC for sharing the quote below at one of my programs earlier this year.

‘True teachers use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to build bridges of their own’. Nikos Kazantzakis (acclaimed as the best Greek writer of the 20th century, wrote Zorba the Greek and was the Greek Minster of Education in 1945).

A great quote, isn’t it. I want to shift this quote’s subject to leaders. True leaders build the capacity of the people in their team so that they can carry on the work without the leader to guide them anymore. The bridge is the capacity building. Is that the sort of leader you want to be?

I heard on a podcast recently, SAPPA (South Australian Primary Principals Association Inc), an episode sharing content from the Trans-Tasman Principal Conference held in New Zealand recently. Gilbert Enoka, Mental Skills Coach of the All Blacks, said “be the leader others want to follow”. I strongly agree. By the way, here is the link to the podcast led by Adam Wilson.

Be the person your team look to as a role model, someone that makes them feel safe, someone they can trust and someone your team know want them to grow and development to be better. And they will thank you for it.

Here is the new term, the opportunity for a fresh start. What are you going to do to become the leader others want to follow this term, from today?

If you found this useful, you will enjoy the Leadership Blueprint program. You can find out about that HERE.

Monday Motivation – the one thing that will make an impact

Written by janine on September 27, 2024. Posted in Educational Leadership.

Welcome to Monday Motivation. We are at, or nearing, the end of the term. Every term in education is a big one. I often describe my working life in education as 4 ten-week-sprints and in between we rest. There is quite a bit of discussion at the moment around teacher wellbeing and I want to examine this from a leadership perspective about how we work. In business, they talk about two ways of working. One is working IN the business, the day-to-day busy work, delivering the product or service. The other is working ON the business, examining how the business is functioning, its systems, its focus, the array of products and services and value and impact for the customer. I want to take this analogy and switch it to your work, your role in your school and the end of a term is the perfect time to bring this into your focus.

In your role as an educational leader, managing your team and the daily management to ensure classes run smoothly, students are engaged and learning, and curriculum targets are being met is what I am referring to as ‘working IN your work’. It’s the daily, head-down stuff, busy, and task-focused work. This is important work and of course must be done.

‘Working ON your work’ in your role in schools is where you take a big step away from the daily work and examine things like: the direction your team is taking, the systems you use for communication, planning, the sharing and visibility of resources, assessments, their frequency and the learning value each provides to your students, as well as the quality of data each assessment provides. These are big questions. They require a distancing between you and the item you are examining and an emotional disconnection to something that you, or a colleague, may have dedicated considerable time in its creation. But this is important work too and sadly this is the work that gets left off the To Do List because the busy work (‘working IN your work’) gets in the way. Consider this – if you gave more time to working ON your work, to improve assessments, to ensure they are truly providing the learning value and the data needed, and your systems were improved or your communication was more streamlined, how would these things improve your daily work and reduce the time and effort wastage that results in you being so tired at the end of the term? This is even more important work than the busy daily work because it ensures that you are providing value, making an impact and your team is working together towards achieving common goals.

So where am I going here? It’s the end of the term. The first important thing for you is that when the term holidays arrive, you rest, you switch off for a time. Do not think about work. This switching off starts to create the distance you need between the ‘thing’ that you or a colleague may be so invested in, so you can examine it from afar. Then think about one thing that you know is causing a roadblock, or its clunky, or you really don’t know if it is having the impact you want and spend time thinking about just that. Just one thing not many. Do the thinking while walking or go to a café and think about it there. Do something different, go somewhere different, to help you think differently. But stay focused on the one thing. Work on that. Find some options and when the next term starts, take your options back to the team and together find a new way to work in that thing, so it is providing more value, better data, better learning outcomes. Then throughout the next term, set aside time each week for you to refine that one thing, test it, refine it further, then implement it more broadly. This is strategic thinking. It is about thinking ‘big picture’ so that when we are doing the work, the work has purpose, direction and it is achieving what we want it to.

If you found this useful, you will enjoy the Leadership Blueprint program. You can find out about that HERE.

This is my last Monday Motivation for 2 weeks as I too take a break for the end of term and work on my one thing in my business.

If you found this valuable, please share this email with others, so they also gain value.

Beware of the Monkey

Written by janine on August 9, 2023. Posted in Other.

As part of the Elevating Leadership Program, in Module 2, Managing Conflict, there is a segment called Beware of the Monkey. The ‘monkey’ is an analogy for a task and we talk about how the slippery ‘monkey’ can so quickly jump from someone else’s back to yours before you have even noticed.

The term ‘monkey on your back’ was coined back in 1974. Back then other terms we often used such as ‘manager’ and ‘subordinate’. Thankfully we use those terms less now, however, the concept of the ‘monkey’ remains true.

It happens so easily.

It happens so easily. Your team member comes to you to share a problem with you as the team leader, and before you realize you’ve said it, the golden words have been spoken by you. You say….“Leave it with me”. There it is. Job done. The monkey has made the jump from your team member’s back to yours in the blink of an eye. You have successfully just given yourself an extra task to do and your team member now has one less. Congratulations, every time you do this your task list gets bigger and theirs get smaller. Hardly a win-win.

You may have done this for many reasons; not having the answer right away, not feeling your team member can handle the task, perhaps time is running out and you are thinking it is quicker if you just get it done yourself. Whatever the reason, it is worth considering why your task list is growing and those of your teams are not. Your ‘monkeys’ are multiplying. You need to take control of the ‘monkeys’.

Your role as a leader.

Our role as leaders is to lead by influence, to inspire and to empower. The greatest leader you can be is one who builds capacity in others. Taking tasks aka ‘monkeys’ from your team members doesn’t grow capacity or empower. Every time you do a task that one of your team has passed to you, you are depriving them of the opportunity to tackle something new and to grow. So instead, the leader we need you to be is one who sits with the team members and explores the problem together, uses open questions in a coaching style to explore the problem and how the team member can manage through the problem, but keeping it as their problem to solve. They keep the ‘monkey’ and from your conversation, you are empowering them with the tools and resources to manage it. Their capacity is built through the conversation and through completing the task. You have inspired them, helped them to see capabilities they may not have seen before, identified resources and strategies they may not have considered before. In the process, you haven’t added to your task list. Finally, a win-win.

I was recently in Sydney working with the leaders at Masada College, and I shared with them a small set of coaching questions that will help to support the person who has come to you with their ‘monkey’. The questions show your support and willingness to collaborate on the problem, while empowering them to continue to stay with the problem and work through it. The Masada College workshop was about conflict management, and you are probably wondering how this relates to managing conflict, so, allow me to explain. Some leaders feel that because they have the title of leader, they should have all the answers, be the so-called ‘font of all knowledge’ and be able to solve all the problems. This is especially true of younger leaders and those who are keen to prove their worth, perhaps in a new role. There is this internal pressure to be ready with the answers and when they don’t have the answer, to address their sense of responsibility or inadequacy, they quickly take on the problem themselves. They collect ‘monkeys’. The same feeling of anxiety comes up in this situation for them as when they are in a difficult conversation and the quickest way to relieve their discomfort is to take on the task.

Using a coaching approach.

The questions below are a useful resource to use in those moments when someone comes to you with a problem or task. You can work through the problem with them, supporting them through the thinking involved and assist them in finding their next step. They will be empowered and you have helped to build their capacity in the process. They leave the conversation still with the ‘monkey’. Job done. No more ‘monkeys’!

Try the questions below and see how effective they are for you.

What can I help you with?
What have you done so far? or What have you considered so far?
What are your options from here?
What support do you need?
Where can you source that support?
What specifically can I do to support you?
When would you like to meet again to continue this conversation?

By Janine Stratford – Leadership Coach, Coach-Trainer, Career Strategist at Coaching Focus. August 2023 5-minute read, 806 words

Will you give yourself permission?

Written by janine on March 7, 2023. Posted in Leadership Development.

Being a leader is so rewarding, from the influence you can have on the way the team works together, what it achieves and the direction it takes, to developing the capacity and expertise in each member of your team.

It is definitely a busy role. People are constantly asking things of you – complete this, decide that, attend this meeting, write this communication piece, I could go on.

It is decisions and the pace of them that I want to think about today. Decisions are a normal part of leadership. Leaders need to make decisions. In fact, not making a decision is, in effect, making a decision.

In my programs, I talk about your rights as an individual and therefore also as a leader. Here is the list of rights we discuss, and they come up as part of the Elevating Leadership Program that I provide to leaders in schools across Australia and New Zealand.

You have the right to:

Decide for yourself
Make mistakes and learn from them
Refuse requests
Say ‘no’ without feeling guilty ( to things beyond your role responsibilities)
Be yourself
Say “ I don’t know”
Refuse to make a decision NOW

The thing about rights is that you don’t have them if you don’t enact them. I mean, if you don’t live by them, or you don’t exercise them.

In the list above, there are two important points about decisions. One of these is the right to decide for yourself and the other is the right to refuse to make a decision NOW.

Let’s break each one down.

The right to decide for yourself – this right is about not being forced into a particular decision by others. Many leaders, and this is especially true of first-time leaders and leaders new to a role, or new to an organisation, feel they need to take the decision path that is being given to them by others around them. This might be because they think the other person is more experienced, perhaps knows more about the organisation, or its people, or its history, or they don’t want to offend or disappoint. So they go with the decision that is being thrust towards them.

Does that sit well with you? Are you happy to go with a decision made by others for which you are actually responsible? Have you blindly accepted someone else’s opinion? Have you given in to the decision of another?

You have the right to decide for yourself. If you are responsible for the outcome, it needs to be a decision that you are comfortable with, and have wholeheartedly agreed to. If you are going to ask others to come with you on a direction, once a decision has been made, you have to believe in it, you need to know why you took that direction, or made that decision, because it is up to you to convince others to join you on the journey. You can’t do that if you don’t support or believe in the decision that was made.

The right to refuse to make a decision NOW – this right is about not being forced into a quick decision. Leaders are often faced with the situation where someone approaches them and immediately presents them with a challenge that requires sorting out and they demand, albeit often politely, a decision to be made now, on the spot, pronto, so they can leave the conversation, or your office, ready to take their next step. Let’s just slow it down here.

Have you heard the situation from other angles or perspectives?
Have you looked at the facts of the situation rationally, removing the heightened emotions that might come with urgency?
Have you looked at the possible choices for the decision, beyond the one that has been presented to you just now?
Have you considered the available options and the consequences of the decision, on the team, organisation, or course of events?

These things require time. Sometimes not too much time, but they still need time, and as a leader you have the right to take the time to think through all of these things. Remember what I mentioned before, if you don’t support or believe in the decision made, you can’t convince others to join you on the journey.

On the other hand, do you want to be the sort of leader that makes a decision in haste, regrets it, and then changes your decision when already your team may have started taking action based on your previous decision? This is so annoying, and a quick and easy way for you to lose respect from your team.

Take the time to consider facts, choices and consequences before you make the decision. Then you can back up your decision with the reasons why you made it. The evidence behind a decision is what will help you convince others to join you on the journey. Give yourself permission to think, because you already have that right. The right becomes yours when you enact it. So, enact it by giving yourself time to think.

What do you do about those people who are eager, and often impatient, for a quick decision or come to you with their decision already made and want you to rubber-stamp it? These people are fast, they want to maintain their momentum and keep moving things forward. Putting the brakes on these people is quite demotivating for them so we don’t want to do that. We want to keep them energised, and positive, but as the leader, you need to explain to them that you need some time to consider, some time to think, to look at the facts, choices and consequences.

The best way to do this is to negotiate some time to do this and decide on a date/time when you can meet again and come to a decision. Know first in your mind the time you need to look at the facts, choices and consequences. The negotiation is about when, after that time – the time you need to think – you will come back together and come to a decision or perhaps discuss it further. The worst thing you can do is leave things hanging in the air, and your team member or colleague leaves the conversation with uncertainty about when they can continue to move forward. Set a date so they know, and you know.

Permission to think allows decisions to be backed-up, so you have the evidence, the reasoning behind why you made it. This aspect of leadership is vital. As educators, one of the things we pride ourselves on is evidence-based outcomes, so the same goes for your decisions.

I will say it again, you can’t convince others to join you in a course of action, or on a journey, if you don’t believe in it yourself. You will believe in it when you can explain the reason why the decision was made. So have the evidence. Allow yourself time to think. Give yourself permission to think. You have that right.

I am giving you permission to take time to think. Will you give yourself the same permission to think, to take the time you need to make a considered decision? Will you give yourself permission?

By Janine Stratford – Leadership Coach, Coach-Trainer, Career Strategist at Coaching Focus.

March 2023 7-minute read, 1200 words

Determination – happens one step at a time.

Written by janine on January 13, 2022. Posted in Leadership.

I have always been determined. I remember as a teenager, I would take on some big jobs, like painting the old metal outdoor setting that had rusted and the paint had become all crusty. That job took weeks across a school holiday. Another; while a single mum raising two boys, was painting my entire house inside. That job took years. There have been many others. Each one I took step by step, piece by piece, with a consistent effort until its done. You would think raising two boys on my own would also be a big challenge. Yes, that was tough. They are now young adults making their own way in the world. What I am doing now, I think, is actually my biggest challenge.

At the end of 2014, I decided to step away from a secure, well-paying job as a Deputy Principal of a private girls’ school in Melbourne to start my own business. I wanted to give my attention to supporting the leaders of our schools to do their job well. I didn’t have a plan or a starting contract. I was beginning from an idea and with a dream. Many would say I was crazy, even stupid.

I took some time off in 2015, as I hadn’t ever taken long service leave in my career in school leadership, travelled, got married after 20 years of being on my own, and put some plans together. In 2016, the business was born. Now in 2022, I am embarking on year 7 in business. I work at the business every day, some days all day, others just some reading, emails and planning and each day and each year the business grows.

I mentioned earlier that I have a dream. My dream is for school leaders to be great, so great that they can be role models for the people around them, particularly students, but also staff and the parents in our communities who so need people to look to and guide them. I believe that ‘you cannot be what you cannot see’ and that if we do not have great leaders in our schools to show us how to lead well, how to behave and how to build healthy relationships, we will take much longer to work it out and make many mistakes along the way. I have seen too many of those mistakes, resulting in poor decisions, lack of collaboration, aggression, silos, wide voids between the school leadership and staff, and the worst being toxic cultures. A great leader, one that is a role model to others, I have found has four traits and they have worked hard to master them. They are being clear, confident, consistent and considered. I have developed leadership programs, conferences and workshops that provide the training and support for leaders to develop these traits.

I now work with schools right across Australia and New Zealand supporting leaders to do their job well as role model leaders. My dream is becoming a reality and last calendar year the business grew by 57%. I am looking forward to my 7th year in business. I will continue to work at my current challenge every day, tackling each aspect piece by piece, step by step, consistently, and I look forward to one day working with you and your school too.

Keep moving forward – one step at a time.

Don’t ask that question

Written by janine on June 4, 2021. Posted in Career Strategy, Culture, Leadership.

The other day I was talking with a colleague. She had been interviewing recently, knowing my work, she shared with me the applicant’s question near the end of their interview. We all know that you need to have a question, or two, ready for when at the end of the interview they ask, “Do you have any questions?” She was not only surprised by the question but also that two applicants had asked the same question in the same day. The question didn’t sit well with me and I do a lot of career coaching and preparing applicants for interview. She recalled that she responded positively to the question. The interesting thing is that after our discussion, she agreed that the only way anyone could have responded would have been in a positive manner. So was it a good question? Do you want to know the question?

The question didn’t sit well with me. I provide career support and guidance, critique people’s resumes and application documents and prepare them for interview. Interview preparation involves 2 hours of intensive interview questions, crafting clear and concise answers, defining strengths and challenges, ensuring each applicant presents themselves in the strongest light. If I don’t like what I hear, I will have them start again, re-phrase, use a different tone, and possibly choose a different story to share.

At the end of the interview when the panel ask, “Is there anything that you would like to know?” or “Do you have any questions?”, you need to be ready as they are expecting you to ask at least one question, sometimes they will give you time for two. Not having a question to ask may give the impression that you haven’t researched the organization, or role, well or given enough thought to what you don’t know, or should know, in order to help you decide if you actually want the job. The questions shouldn’t be too intense either or make the panel work too hard, as they may have several other interviews, either before or after yours.

Back to the question that was asked. It was;

“Is there anything in my application documents or in my interview that might prevent me from securing this role?”

I’ve come across a fair few questions in the years that I’ve been preparing people for interviews and on interview panels, but I have never come across that question.

You might think, well, that’s a fair question to ask. We say in schools that we are all about feedback and that’s exactly what this question is about. After an interview, so often the feedback doesn’t arrive. But is it appropriate to ask for feedback in the middle of the process? Additionally, how likely is the interview panel to give anything other than a positive, politically correct, superficial response, filled with pleasantries and possibilities.

Realistically, the panel can’t give you anything but that and here’s why.

They may not have seen all the candidates and therefore cannot evaluate your level of success yet.
They may not have been in contact with your referees to substantiate your claims and experience.
If they told you something that was a negative and you ended up getting the job, you would never forget what they said and be constantly working towards improving that aspect, or worse, hold a grudge.
Most people are not good with conflict. 55% of the population are uncomfortable having challenging conversations because they don’t want to damage the relationship and that means, there is a high chance that your panel members fall into this group.
Half the population cannot evaluate on the spot. They need time to process their answer. If you want an answer immediately, you will only get a superficial, overview response that really isn’t quality feedback at all.
A good interview panel should make every candidate feel comfortable and at ease, so they can present themselves confidently and calmly. This question will quickly break any good rapport that may have developed, because it is putting the interview panel on the spot, demanding an indication of success level immediately.
Finally, and this is a big one, the candidate is presenting with a ‘me-me’ attitude and not considering cultural fit for them and the organization, or the behavioural dynamics across the team to which they may eventually join.

I asked my colleague whether either of the candidates, who asked this question, ended up getting the job.

The answer was no.

Why, because they felt they didn’t fit the team!

It wasn’t about their application or their qualifications. The panel sensed there was an urgency to them, a directness, or perhaps a focus on self when they really were looking for a contributor, a team player and someone who would join them on the journey.

And from where do you think they got that impression ….. from the question that was asked at the end of the interview.

The interview is not over until you have left the building, or in the case of schools, the school gates; so I encourage you to give some thought to what you ask at the end of your next interview. It often cements their impression of you.

I can help you with your next interview. How that might work can be found here.

Perception is powerful. Have you got it under control?

Written by janine on March 4, 2021. Posted in Career Strategy, Coaching, Culture, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership.

Leadership is defined as ‘a process of social influence which maximizes the efforts of others toward the achievement of a greater good’.

Notice the key elements of this definition: Leadership stems from social influence, not authority or power. Gone are the days of leadership being about power and control. Those leaders are thankfully, retiring, or realising the new way and making the shift.

So if leadership is about influence, is the way you influence others working for you or against you?

The challenge of leadership is to know the impact of your influence. This insight comes from perception – how you are perceived. How you are perceived colours the thinking of everyone around you and remember perception is reality and it is their reality not yours.

Fortunately, you have the ability to ensure that how you are perceived, is actually how you want to be perceived. If you know how you want to be perceived, you can make the necessary changes in the way you communicate, and behave, to shift perception in the minds of those around you. If we loosely play with McTighe and Wiggins’ model of Understanding by Design; if you know how you want to be perceived, you can design your leadership model to suit.

But you have to know first how you want to be perceived.

You need to know what sort of a leader you want to be, how you want to relate to others and work with them, the types of relationships you want around you and the communication you want in order to achieve that.

It is from here that it is incredibly helpful to know how are you currently perceived as your starting point. So how do you find out?

Well you could conduct a survey. Pick 10 people that you work with, not all your favourites because that would be too biased. The 10 people are mixed up between people you get along well with, as well as those where things are not so great. Design some questions and try your luck with them telling you honestly how they perceive you.

Or, given that surveys are not everyone’s favourite thing to do and your 10 selected people are unlikely to give you an honest response, mainly because your survey wasn’t anonymous, you could get smarter and look at psychology; behavioural psychology.

In the world of leadership development, we have tools that allow us to evaluate your style. The tool reports back to us, clearly mapping how you behave, how you communicate and how you are perceived all from a 15 minute questionnaire, and it is incredibly accurate. I haven’t had one person say they have been evaluated inaccurately yet!

Now you know, you can move forward.

So armed with this knowledge, you can now move forward. You have the information you need to look at how you are perceived and you can ask yourself: “Do I like it?” You have the information that reports on how you behave, how you communicate, and again, if it is impacting how you are perceived, you can work on identifying the changes that need to be made, to change the way you operate, and ultimately change how you are perceived in the minds of those around you. It puts you back in control.

It is only once you are here, in the driver’s seat of how you are perceived, that you can move your leadership forward. Perception matters. Don’t think it doesn’t. Leadership comes from good relationships and if you are perceived as not caring about others, this will negatively impact any chance of good working relationships. If you are thinking relationships are not important, then you are back to the old ‘command and control’ style and I mentioned earlier, those days have gone.

Knowing how you behave and communicate and how you are perceived allows you to find your true leadership style. I call this having clarity, being clear about your leadership and who are as a leader. From here, your authentic leadership begins to shine. It is from here that you can progress, not only in your leadership but in your career.

Now you have clarity! From here you can progress in your leadership and in your career.

Module 1: Clear of the Elevating Leadership Program is a full day workshop focused on being clear about who you are, your leadership style and how you behave and communicate. We use the psychometric profile, the DISC which is backed up with research, is easy to understand, and is incredibly accurate. At the end of the workshop, you will know how you behave and communicate, and how you are perceived. With this knowledge, you can now identify what you want to work on to improve the way you interact with others to improve relationships, communication and ultimately team functioning.

This program is being held every term – Leadership and the DISC. It’s Module 1 of the Elevating Leadership Program.

More details can be found here: https://coachingfocus.com.au/elevatingleadership

____________________________________

Janine Stratford, is a Leadership Coach and Career Strategist, working with teachers and leaders in schools across Australia and New Zealand. A former teacher and school leader, she is passionate about developing great leaders as role models for their schools and their students. You can find out more about Janine at www.coachingfocus.com.au

Dates for the Elevating Leadership Program across 2023

Module 1: Clear

Define your leadership style

Term 2 2023: Wednesday 3 May 9.00am – 3.30pm AEST online

Term 3 2023: Monday 31 July 9.00am – 3.30pm AEST online

Term 4 2023: Friday 27 October 9.00am – 3.30pm AEDT online

Module 2: Confident

Managing Conflict – developing conversational resilience

Term 2 2023: Wednesday 24 May 9.00am – 3.30pm AEST online

Term 3 2023: Friday 11 August 9.00am – 3.30pm AEST online

Term 4 2023: Monday 13 November 9.00am – 3.30pm AEDT online

Module 3: Consistent

Coach Certification Program ( 2 day program)

Term 2 2023: Day 1- Wed 10 May, Day 2-Mon 5 June 9.00am – 3.30pm AEST online

Term 3 2023: Day 1- Fri 4 August, Day 2- Mon 28 August 9.00am – 3.30pm AEST online

Term 4 2023: Day 1- Mon 30 October, Day 2-Wed 29 November 9.00am – 3.30pm AEDT online

Module 4: Considered

The Strategic Leader – defining your focus and managing change

Term 2 2023: Friday 2 June 9.00am – 3.30pm AEST online

Term 3 2023: Wednesday 23 August 9.00am – 3.30pm AEST online

Term 4 2023: Wednesday 22 November 9.00am – 3.30pm AEDT online

To book individual modules – use the hyperlinks above

To register for the full program and receive the discount – use this link

A New Leadership Perspective for Educators

Written by janine on February 4, 2021. Posted in Career Strategy, Coaching, Culture, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership.

Whose problem is it? In educational leadership, taking on team problems leads to ‘Hero Syndrome,’ which causes leader burnout and staff disempowerment. Effective school leaders use a Coaching Mindset to shift from solving to facilitating. This transition is a core pillar of the Leadership Blueprint and Leading by Example programs, designed to build high-accountability school cultures.

Leadership, Ownership, and Responsibility: Why it All Matters in Leadership

The cost of Hero Syndrome is high. As a leadership coach for Australian educators for over a decade, I’ve observed a recurring trap: the Hero Leader. When a team member brings you a problem, and you instinctively say, “Leave it with me,” you aren’t just being helpful – you are accidentally de-skilling your staff.

As a leadership coach working with educators across Australia for more than 10 years, I have seen how important it is for school leaders to develop clarity around responsibility, ownership, and decision-making. In our Leading by Example Intensive, we categorise this as a failure of Active Transport. By taking the problem, you rob your team of the opportunity to build the very resilience your school needs to thrive.

Are You Being Strategically ‘Played?

It is vital to recognise that some team members strategically bring you problems because they know your Hero style. They keep the power by letting you do the work.

The Hero Trap – You feel valued because you’re fixing things.

The Reality – You are stagnant, and your team is becoming dependent.

We use DISC Behavioural Profiling in our programs to help leaders identify these team dynamics. Understanding whether a staff member is genuinely stuck or strategically “dumping” is the difference between a growing school and an overwhelmed principal.

The Risk of Taking on Everyone’s Problems

As a leader, it is so easy to take on someone else’s problem. Any member of your team can come to you with a problem, because you’re the leader, you feel compelled to be there to solve the problem for them. And so after they explain to you the problem, you say, “Leave it with me. I’ll deal with it”. How often have you said those words? They can sneak out so quickly! And you might be thinking you are being so helpful. Perhaps not.

So there is one side of your brain saying I’m the hero here, I’m going to fix the problem for them. I’m making their life easier. They’re busy, I don’t really want to overload them, and after all, I’m the leader, so maybe I should be the one solving the problem; it’s my responsibility.

It may be your responsibility in the long run, but that doesn’t mean you are leading well by dealing with it yourself. But what you’ve done is taken the problem away from them, leaving them without the opportunity to either utilise their skills or learn new skills to solve that problem.

Your leadership might have been more focused on the immediate situation and not the long-term plan of developing each member in your team. Yes, you might be right, that it’s quicker to do it yourself. But that is short-sighted thinking. Then there is the perspective of your team member to consider, and also what they are telling the rest of the team, as a result of your action.

Some may respond to your approach with a viewpoint that you’re not helping them by taking the problem from them and that you are, in effect, controlling the situation and ensuring that you remain holding the power, not allowing them to have the opportunity to step up and solve the problem and learn and grow in the process. They will feel disempowered, not valued, and definitely feel they are not trusted enough to be left with these problems.

There are others in the team who have strategically come to you with a problem, knowing full well that they could solve it, but also knowing that it’s your style to take the problem on, make it your own, and that you do this to ensure your hero status continues. They are the clever ones here, not you. They have worked you out.

We shouldn’t be thinking that any problem is a ‘yours’ or ‘mine’ dichotomy. This is not how a great leader operates. A great leader is consistent. This is key.

A great leader has a particular mindset that regards every member of their team as being full of potential and capable, and just needs the resources necessary for the solution. The great leader’s role then is simply to help them identify the resources they need and help make those resources more accessible. The problem remains with the team member, but they know they have your support to help find the way forward.

How School Leaders Can Clarify Responsibility

In today’s school environments, leaders need to be clear about what sits within their role and what should be owned by others. The boundaries should be clear enough.

Here are some useful questions that can help you clarify your responsibility –

Is this my responsibility, or am I taking this on unnecessarily?
Who is best placed to address this issue?
What support can I provide without removing ownership from others?
How can I guide rather than solve the problem?

I believe developing this clarity becomes a key part of effective leadership coaching for educators. It helps leaders avoid burnout while building capability in their teams.

The coaching mindset is one where you hold great belief in the individual and their ability, and your role is to help them realise that ability and grow. A coaching leader is constantly growing the people around them, not taking things from them from which they could grow, but allowing them to sit with the problems, explore, ruminate, find options, and work through a resulting choice of solution.

So whose problem is it really? If your team member comes to you with a problem, it is incumbent on you, as the leader, to help them deal with that problem, but not for you to solve it, not for you to take it on as yours. Instead, provide the necessary support, be a partner, a solution-facilitator, and work with them to find a way through this problem and the resulting solution choice.

A great leader will make sure they remain accessible if more discussion and support are needed as the team member moves further through the process. They provide a safe space to explore, be a sounding board to unpack thinking, be the provocateur, and challenge thinking with great questions that explore the benefits and obstacles of each option.

By being the support person, you are helping a solution to be found, but you’re not taking it on yourself, you’re not adding to your own workload and in the process, de-skilling and disempowering the members of your team. You will be providing them a safe space to stay with a problem and break it apart. You’re setting them up for a better level of success in the future because you’re teaching them thinking frameworks to work through decisions and to work through challenges.

Initially, the time might be a bit longer, but that time invested is worth it. During this time together, not only will it upskill them, not only will it expand their thinking, not only will it empower them to be more in control of the situation, not only will it ensure they are accountable for the result, but you are also ensuring a far stronger, more collaborative, more trusting relationship develops in the process.

Now you have a true win-win!

Why it Matters in Today’s Schools?

School leadership has become increasingly complex, with greater expectations around communication, wellbeing, and performance. Leaders are often balancing multiple priorities while supporting staff, students, and families. Without clear boundaries around responsibility, leaders can quickly become overwhelmed.

This is where structured leadership development and educational coaching services support educators to lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose.

The 2026 Leadership Mandate

Our Leadership Programs are specifically designed to help you build this “Coaching Culture.” When you stop solving every problem, you finally gain the “white space” needed for strategic school improvement.

A Leadership Coach’s Perspective

In my work with educators and school leaders across Melbourne and all over Australia for all these years, one of the most common challenges is helping leaders step back and recognise what is truly theirs to own.

Stop Solving. Start Scaling.

If your to-do list is filled with other people’s problems, your leadership is hitting a ceiling. It’s time to move from a fixer mindset to a founder mindset. Strong leadership is not about solving every problem. It is about asking the right questions, empowering others, and creating a culture where responsibility is shared effectively.

Choose Your Next Strategic Step

Register for the Leadership Blueprint
Transform your HODs and Middle Leaders into a self-sufficient, high-accountability team. The 2026 program starts on June 1!

Attend the Leading Edge Conference
A dedicated space for women in education to refine their career strategy and boundaries.

Download Conference Brochure

View the 2026 Program Guide
See how our evidence-based frameworks align with your school’s PD goals.

Schedule a Call

Frequently Asked Questions

What does “whose problem is it” mean in leadership?

In leadership, this question helps clarify responsibility, ownership, accountability, and boundaries. Many educators unintentionally take on challenges that may be better addressed by others. By asking this question, leaders can determine whether they need to act directly, guide someone else, or step back. This clarity helps leaders focus on what truly matters and avoid unnecessary overwhelm.

Why do educators often take on too many problems?

Educators are naturally supportive and committed to helping others, which can lead them to take responsibility for issues that may not sit within their role. In leadership positions, this tendency can increase as leaders feel accountable for team performance and well-being. Without clear boundaries, this can impact both leadership effectiveness and personal well-being over time.

How can leadership coaching help with this challenge?

Leadership coaching supports educators in developing self-awareness, reflection skills, and clarity around their leadership role. Through structured conversations and practical frameworks, leaders learn how to ask better questions, delegate effectively, and empower others. This helps them move from solving every problem to building leadership capability within their teams.

How can school leaders build better boundaries in their role?

Building boundaries starts with recognising what is within your control and what should be owned by others. Leaders can support their teams by guiding conversations, asking reflective questions, and encouraging accountability. Over time, this approach builds trust, strengthens team capability, and allows leaders to focus on strategic priorities rather than operational challenges.

Why is clarity of responsibility important in schools today?

Modern school environments are complex, with leaders managing multiple responsibilities across staff, students, and the broader community. Without clarity around responsibility, leaders can become overwhelmed and less effective. Clear ownership helps improve decision-making, strengthen team accountability, and create a more sustainable leadership approach.

Author: janine