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It is easy to believe leaders must be attention-loving creatures these days.  Just look around us; they grace our TV screens, lead the countries of the world, and bombard us with a constant stream of social media posts sharing minute-by-minute commentaries.  Their success is measured by the number of social media followers they attract, and their relevance by the number of likes their postings achieve.

All types of the media are essential elements of any modern business’s marketing tool-kit; as are opportunities to represent a business in person at events, meetings and conferences.  A figure-head is a powerful thing, but it is one of the many organisational functions that can be shared.  Looking back at some of my old bosses, I can see how the limelight was their main concern, over and above the health and wellbeing of the organisation, and the individuals in it.  And it was something they didn’t offer to share, leaving others in the shade.

By being exposed to such behaviours, we are at risk of repeating them and falling into poor leadership traps.  By making positive choices, and taking progressive action we can achieve great leadership within the modern workplace.  I was struck recently by the concept of humble leadership, which seems at odds with this personality-fuelled world.  Humble leadership reminds us we can lead in a different space; one that occupies the wings rather than centre-stage.  The modest, unassuming boss inhabits a place of humility, modesty and inward and outward focus.  This can be viewed by some as weak leadership, but they need to know that external communications is a key element of the leader; it is one slice of their cake, not the whole gateaux.  And it’s a confection that can be shared across teams.

Humble bosses pay good attention to supporting their colleagues, they are quietly confident in the knowledge they can lead effectively, and support teamwork by inspiring their colleagues and coaching them through challenges and areas of development.  This supports not only their own growth and development, but that of everyone around them.  A humble style supports leaders to impart their knowledge and skills, and open up the motivation, willingness, and interest of the team to listen carefully to what is being shared.  One of the most important jobs a leader is to play a part in growing the next generation of leaders, and making way when the time is right.

It reminds me of one of my favourite principles in leadership and management; that leaders have to do a lot of taking on their journeys to the top, and when they get there, they need to stop talking and start listening.  Because great leaders must all have awareness of their own learning needs and are enthusiastic self-improvers; that is definitely something worth sharing, and supporting team members to shine themselves.

This piece was first published in Teach Early Years Magazine.

As a psychotherapist I place great attention on my self-care. This is something strongly encouraged by the counselling profession.  It makes sense; caring for others can take its toll and have profound effects. It is also important one is fit and sufficiently healthy to support clients.  It is the same in early years leadership.  We are charged with looking after children and their parents and families; and of course we hold a key responsibility for the health and safety of staff and volunteer teams we are privileged to lead.  This is a demanding set of tasks, which requires us to be the best we can be.

Often leaders have no-one who looks out for them in the same way line-managers support a team member.  Our needs can seem like the least priority – at the end of a long list of other things to do, which means we can be at risk of not healthily managing our working hours or priorities.  It also risks our work: life balance, and our physical and emotional health at work and at home.  As senior workers, our bodies also change, and we must change our behaviours across all areas to ensure we care for ourselves differently.

I encourage everyone to have self-care plans, like personal business plans.  They should set out goals and actions to achieve self-care. Just like a business plan, it doesn’t need to be a 24-page document sat on a shelf.  A self-care plan can be a set of actions on the fridge door; they needn’t cost a lot – whatever works for you.  And it’s something to return to throughout the year; unlike New Years’ resolutions we make at one of the most difficult times of the year, and then don’t adhere to.

First start with a personal stocktake.  

• Who and where is your support at work and at home?
• What are your working and non-working hours looking like?
• How are you really spending all your time? If you’re not sure, try a diary log for a few days, these can be quite revealing.
• What are your preferred working patterns?  Are you better in the morning, or the afternoon, what gives you satisfaction at different times of the day?
• Are there things you are continually not achieving, is this a problem?
• What is your diet, weight and fitness feeling like?

Then ask questions about the changes you need to make.  

• Are there different things you can do?
• Are you getting enough support at home and at work?
• Should you be working more, or less?
• Could someone else do those things you aren’t managing?  Or how could you change to ensure you do?
• Is your time managed in ways that are supporting who you want to be?
• Should you be planning more time for yourself, personally or professionally?

Then set out your ideas and plans. 

• Who can mentor you, or offer informed support?
• How can you restructure your time?
• What do you need to do more or less of?
• What do you want to learn?
• How can you improve your diet or eating habits?
• How is exercise built into your day, your week, month, or year?
• What can you do to regularly stop, relax and completely switch off?

I guess, some of you will be reading this list and thinking it all sounds ‘well-and-good’, and asking ‘when do I get the time to do such thinking?’  If that’s you, then there really is a need to stop and to be realistic.  Set short, medium and long term actions.  Choose some that are easy, some moderately difficult one, and some that are more challenging.  It’s your plan; own it, and make it work.

This blog is based on an article first published in Teach Early Years Magazine.

At Hempsall’s over recent months we have been doing a lot more work that focuses on children’s speech, language and communication (SLC).  We’ve held seminars on closing the word gap, and we have started coordinating Derby’s Opportunity Area funded TALK Derby programme www.talkderby.org.uk for example.  And whilst we’re busy working out ways to support practitioners, parents, professionals with children’s learning and development through SLC, it got me thinking about using such techniques in the workplace.  With the goal of supporting everyone’s development, learning and relationships.  Surely, the more we integrate practise, the more we build-in better behaviours in all our work.

The phrase ‘word gap’ stemmed from iconic research in the US (Hart and Risley 1995).  They found disadvantaged children heard a massive 30 million words fewer than their more advantaged peers.  A shocking finding, and something supported by a raft of other research since.  And it wasn’t just about quantity either, the quality was also important.  SLC deficits are now proven to be powerful forces; holding back children’s life chances.  Could it be the same in the workplace I wonder?  Well I certainly believe information is power, and communication is the most potent tool of the leader.  Surely there are lessons that can be transferred from our childcare practice to the workplace.

Top of the list for me is ‘shared and sustained thinking’: which has been defined as “an episode in which two or more individuals ‘work together’… to solve a problem” that sounds just like teamwork doesn’t it?  Importantly, “both parties must contribute to the thinking and it must develop and extend” (Siraj-Blatchford et al 2002).  The leader therefore needs to ensure this actually happens and is not a shallow and tokenistic occurrence.

Next, we talk a lot, don’t we, of supporting children to move away from devices and reducing screen time.  I don’t believe this amazing mind-blowing technology we all benefit from in ways past generations could only dream of is always a bad thing.  That said, we all need to think as adults about how attached we are to our ‘phones, PCs and tablets, and how we hide behind them and email.  Because we can miss real opportunities for meaningful interpersonal dialogue and relationships.  Think, should I ‘talk’ about this instead in person or on the telephone?  Even if you receive an email, would your response be better by verbal and in person?  We need to take more time and slow down so we improve the quality and quantity of words we share.  And that is coming from someone who is the master of the briefest of brief emails – I must confess.  We can all try harder, me included.

Finally, I’ve written a lot about questioning and listening techniques in this column, and these are as relevant in this context as in any other.  What’s best here is ensuring we use open-ended questions, and employ proper listening and that this is encouraged across the whole team, at all times.  And one last thought is we must ensure we match up our most experienced staff members to our least experienced or newest ones, so we can share the modelling of the very best practise for the next generation of managers.

This piece first appeared in Teach Early Years Magazine.

Appreciating our own and each other’s transferable skills is something we should all do more of.  Let me tell you why I think that.  First, it helps us to value the things we do every day and increases our job-satisfaction.  This can be helpful for staying in a role, developing a role or job, or securing a new and challenging position.  It supports us to think about how we are growing and developing, and how we can build our careers for the long-term or create new roles – grasping opportunities rather than considering ourselves to be insufficiently experienced or skilled.

It’s important to say this article is not about supporting anyone in early years to leave the sector.  The reverse is true.  Indeed, far too many people, in my view, are leaving because they do not see a secure and fruitful future in their early years roles.  Whether they be blocked by leaders and managers who seem unchangeable and unmovable, or if terms and conditions are not enough.  Early years has changed enormously in recent years, and I cannot see this trend stopping anytime soon.  There are practical challenges, I know there are, I am a realist.  But there are cognitive barriers as well.  So, let’s work together and break all of them.

We can do this by identifying, celebrating and promoting the amazing skills we develop in early years and childcare.  We all need to do this, because many of those around us are not doing it on our behalf.  When we all get this right, then the rewards are more likely to follow.  It will help us to connect in better ways with other professionals, it will help us grow new, exciting and sustainable roles in the sector, and it will empower through greater confidence.

What other jobs can you think of that:

• Deliver a national early years curriculum (EYFS) under the scrutiny of Ofsted
• Deliver a wide-range of ground-breaking and challenging government policies and strategies e.g. tackling disadvantage, social mobility, 30 hours and two-year-old funding
• Identify children’s needs early and coordinate packages of early intervention support
• Ensure child protection and safeguarding, and manage health and safety and other legal duties
• Inclusively engage with children, parents and families
• Develop and design information and marketing strategies
• Lead staff teams of different levels, including apprentices
• Support continuous professional development, training, and staff development
• Juggle multiple tasks in a high-pressure environment
• Work with partnership organisations, agencies, and local authorities
• Manage complex financial arrangements and contracts, accounts, funding and income generation
• Lead and manage organisational change

That is an amazing list.  I cannot think of many comparative roles.  But I wonder, how many of us describe early years and childcare jobs in these terms?  My argument is we should.  We all should.  And those who ask us to deliver, need to value what we can do.  And for that to happen, we need to tell them this is what we do in clearer and more precise and understandable ways.  The best way for that to work, is for us all to recognise all promote our transferable skills.  Now, all I ask is you go and update and rewrite your CV.  Then tell everyone how amazing you are.  Feel that confidence growing.  That way, the change and growth we all want will have a greater chance of happening.

A version of this blog was first published in Teach Early Years Magazine.

We all have to attend meetings.  Some even enjoy them.  They are all tricky in their own ways; each one is different.   One of the trickiest is a meeting with your boss.  And these meetings should be grasped with both hands, not avoided (even though the temptation might be huge), because the potential benefits are much bigger. So, if you are someone often tempted to avoid them, here are some tips.

1. Meet regularly. Make meetings routine. Don’t save them for when disaster strikes, you are angry or complaining, or you need something.  Do that, and you will be perceived as the person with problems and demands.  By regularly meeting, you can build a better relationship – you won’t get too stressed about them, and you will be thought of in more balanced ways.
2. Organise your boss. Busy bosses need managing as much as staff teams do. They need you to put meetings in the diary.  Be clever though, don’t block out too much time.  Think carefully about how much time you need, half-an-hour, an hour, an hour-and-a-half?  Don’t get trapped into the mindset every meeting should last for two-hours.
3. Be positive. It’s a two-way thing. Yes, your boss has a role in motivating you and identifying solutions, but take some responsibility for that yourself.  We all prefer to work with competent and positive people, so make sure your boss views you as one too.  Ask for their feedback, as long as you are ready to cope with it.
4. Have a meeting plan. Make sure there is an agenda, or at least a list, or a clear understanding on both sides of the aim and purpose of the meeting, and items that need discussing.  No one likes surprises, and many perform better if they have a little thinking time ahead of any discussion.  It doesn’t matter whose role it is to develop the agenda, what’s important is you both have input.
5. Be honest. If you need help, are feeling overwhelmed or just can’t make a decision, tell your boss and ask.  Don’t hide important details they should know, because these are likely to be discovered at some point.  Don’t be afraid to ask for anything.  Be prepared for your boss to say no, and do not let that get in the way of you being assertive and ambitious for you and your work.  Help your boss to learn about you and understand what makes you tick.
6. Take care of business. Put a little time into your meeting.  Have a clear summary about what you are working on – including the highs and the lows.  Be one of the first to tell them about your achievements, and ensure you are the first to tell them about what went wrong – before someone else does.  It also helps to have an outline of what is coming up as well – so you can both plan.  If you are bringing a problem to the meeting, have some options for solutions prepared to support your discussions.

That way you will be a happier colleague and will achieve much more at work for you, and for them.

A version of this blog first appeared in Teach Early Years Magazine.