A Guide to Healthy Headship

There is a little secret that no-one warns you about when you first become a Headteacher: you will probably put on weight. This is not due to the increased opportunities to sneak into the staff biscuit and chocolate supply, but due to the increasingly sedentary life you will now be living. 

If you’re not careful then you will find your week filled with back to back meetings. While there will be the odd assembly, duty, presentation and observation thrown in, the majority of your day will now be at a desk. While this in itself is not an immediate concern, it represents a much bigger problem: that is the lack of time in the working week to do the things needed to replenish you, feed your soul and keep you performing at your best. 

It has been said before that the leader of any team sets the weather and the impact of a Headteacher’s internal barometer can send seismic ripples through the school community. Picture this - you on your best day. What are you like? What do others see? How does it make them feel? What is the impact? How does this affect the students? Now repeat the same activity and answer the same questions about you on your worst day. It doesn’t take a genius to see that a tired and stressed leader can negatively impact everyone in the building and undermine days, weeks or even months of good work. For this reason, it is crucial that school leaders look after themselves physically, mentally and spiritually. Stephen Covey calls this sharpening the saw. 

"Renewal is the principle - and the process - that empowers us to move on an upward spiral of growth and change, of continuous improvement." - Dr. Stephen R. Covey

He recommends planning time in your week for physical, mental, spiritual and social/emotional replenishment. I can testify  from experience that the fallout from functioning at a physical, mental or spiritual low can take a long recovery time and is best avoided! Here are suggestions for how: 

Physical

The headlines here are around sleep, exercise and diet. All three are vital in order to keep you functioning at your best. As pressures and time scarcity set in, it can be tempting to opt for all-nighters, forego exercise and default to eating processed foods and snacks but these will have a detrimental effect on your performance in the short run and your physical and mental health in the long run. Let’s take each in turn:

In his TED Talk Sleep is your Superpower, Matt Walker highlights the mental and physical dangers of poor sleep and the huge advantages of getting a good night’s sleep with dire warnings including: “The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life”. Increased quality and quality of sleep has been proven to increase memory function, increase immunity and reduce the likelihood of Alzheimer’s, cancer and cardiac problems in later life. Matt cites the importance of routines, cool rooms and avoiding caffeine and alcohol in order to improve sleep quality.  As he says, “Sleep is your life support system.”

If you are sleeping more and reducing your waking hours then it can be difficult to find the time to exercise properly during the working week. This makes it vital as something to be prioritised and scheduled into your timetable. Some of the most time efficient and healthy leaders manage this by reading each day while on the exercise bike, using a standing desk and treadmill for online meetings and reading or swimming/ running/ cycling while reflecting/ planning for school. Walking, in particular, is a proven mood enhancer and helps to create new neural pathways, which is probably why we are able to subconsciously work through and solve problems when we literally walk them through. In order to prevent becoming too sedentary, try setting an alarm on your phone (or using a heart rate tracking device) to ensure you at the very least get up and stretch frequently. 

Again, as time becomes more scarce it can be easy to slip into poor eating habits and fall victim to the 4pm sugar dip. It’s no use just planning to eat healthily - as James Clear tells us: “You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.” Spend a little time at the weekend preparing for the week ahead by making sure you have plenty of water and healthy snacks in your office and keep treats hidden away! Clear advises us to “Create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible” and to “Prime your environment to make future actions easier” - which is why the chocolate is stored at the back of my fridge and the fruit is out on the counter. It sometimes works!

Mental

I have yet to find a school or institution which does not promote ‘lifelong learning’ and continued professional development. As professionals we owe it to our children, staff and parents to be continually staying abreast of the most recent research, thinking and resources. As we move up through the levels of leadership however, it feels as if time becomes increasingly scarce and there can be the assumption in ‘making it’ to leadership that the learning peak has been met. 

As any experienced climber will tell you, however, all too often we reach one peak only to see another, higher peak ahead and school leadership is no different. Leaders need to be modelling curiosity, humility and a love of learning. By showing an appetite for further developing skills, seeking feedback for improvement and sharing resources and lessons learned, then you are leading your community by example. Covey highlights the importance of reading, visualising, planning and writing during each working week and says that “There's no better way to inform and expand your mind on a regular basis than to get into the habit of reading good literature,” and suggests starting with a minimum of a book a month. If you’re looking for inspiration or somewhere to start, then try looking through my recommendations here.

If time is short and you have a long commute, then I would suggest considering audio books or listening to a good podcast while travelling. Finding these pockets of time is crucial  in order to get you thinking and to keep you fresh, stimulated and excited about leadership. 

Spiritual

While some may consider this connected to religion it is, in short, whatever feeds your soul. When we talk of someone in ‘high spirits’ or describe people as ‘spirited’ we are referring to their energy and it is certainly vital that leaders maintain their energy levels. As Steve Radcliffe writes in Leadership Plain and Simple, “Your first and foremost job as a leader is to manage your own energy, and help manage the energy of those around you”

And so how do you manage your energy in every interaction? My advice would be, where possible, apply the 3 Ps: Pause, Plan and Prepare. Pausing is to give yourself 5 minutes to just stop and breathe. Box Breathing can be a useful technique to use here to increase oxygen and reduce heart rate. Plan what you hope to achieve in the next interaction, thinking about key vocabulary you wish to use. Then prepare yourself in terms of your energy levels. How do you want to be in order to best serve those around you and have a positive outcome? Sometimes high energy is needed and sometimes a calm and dignified presence would be better. By completing these 3 Ps before stepping into a situation, you are setting yourself up to be a strong leader and to take control.  

Social and Emotional

In my first year of headship I relied heavily on a playlist of positive songs to replenish me after particularly difficult days. Singing them loudly while driving home helped me to mentally distance myself from tricky times at work and gave me the distance and perspective I needed to rebuild my (sometimes crushed) spirit.

It can be tempting to avoid social activities during the week in order to spend evenings working and keeping on top of the seemingly never-ending emails and to-do list. You may however, soon find yourself floundering emotionally and needing to spend time with friends and loved ones during the week. By spending time with those outside of the education system you will regain perspective, fully relax and have fun. The following day you will be a more rejuvenated and positive leader as a result. 

Think about the activities, people, places and things that revive you and make you feel most alive. Then actually plan them into your week, schedule them in your calendar and block the time out. Though it may feel counterintuitive, it will support you in being a better version of yourself. Leaders need to focus as much on their ‘being’ as their ‘doing’.

Planning your week

In all reality, working in a school is relentless and the one thing people always complain about is lack of time. Without intentionally making time for these activities they will simply not happen as you turn your attention to seemingly more pressing and important things. Long term survival and success however is built on small habits, which is why Steven Covey recommends spending 30 minutes each Sunday preparing mentally for the week ahead and planning your times to sharpen the saw. Doing this weekly could be the most important habit you build. As James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, tells us: 

“Goals are for people who care about winning once. Systems are for people who care about winning repeatedly.”