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1/13 A v.long thread on leadership burn-out. I have been having lots of conversations with leaders recently. I'm lucky to get to work with many, many brilliant leaders in different settings in our system. This wk I ran some Leading Through Adversity (looking after your own MH,
2/13 & the MH of your team) Masterclasses for Headteachers & school SLTs. We are talking A LOT about system risks. This HAS to be in the top 3 for me. We are seeing people falling over, people resigning, people close to resigning, people on longterm sick, people walking the tight
3/14 rope. I'm not too bad at the moment but frankly it depends on the day or wk. Exhaustion is obviously an underlying issue. We've been at this a LONG time. It is relentless. People seem to forget that individual leaders are also human beings
4/13 Funny how so many think that those is senior positions don a superhero cape & powers of invincibility when they take on these jobs. I've heard a lot of 'well if you apply to do that job... or well if you get paid that much...' We do this to ourselves too. The narrative of
5/13 the heroic leader seems to be pervasive. We wear these these unhealthy badges of honour. Who is the last standing? We perpetuate the myths that vulnerability is weakness when THAT is a super power we should cultivate https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability/up-next
6/13 I for one have been very grateful when I've seen other leaders I look up to put their hand up & say they have been having wobbles or a good old cry. But 1 big pattern I'm noticing is that it is other leaders that are now contributing to the burn out of others.
7/13 I need to check myself on this. I work at a million miles an hr often, I have high expectations. Luckily I have a team who give me a shove occasionally. & OFTEN we DO need to work at this pace, sometimes people DO need a 
but VERY often that is not the case
but VERY often that is not the case
8/13 We are all culprits. You turn to the best staff, the can-do leaders, the ones that make things happen. I think this is worst at the middle manager level, because they are being delegated work (by people like me!) who have little idea of what they are demanding, the time
9/13 will take or the fact that they are already working evenings & weekends, & their brains are so full they cannot sleep. We have hit a situation where we are still trying to manage a pandemic, leading exhausted, demotivated staff AND we are now trying to do BAU & strategic
9/13 planning for a future we are struggling to predict. And we are trying to do it 'at pace' AND with the constant changing messages, demands & restructured from the Government. Everyone has seen the model on the circle of influence. There are many things we can't control.
10/13. Leaders hate being out of control 
infact some of the behaviours we are demonstrating are probably trying to get a grip on some control. But there are some things we can. We can control the empathy we have for our fellow leaders, for the people we manage & for ourselves.
infact some of the behaviours we are demonstrating are probably trying to get a grip on some control. But there are some things we can. We can control the empathy we have for our fellow leaders, for the people we manage & for ourselves.
11/13 We can take a check on when our own stress is leading to communications or demands that fuel the burn out. We can tell people how much we value their work & take time to understand their pressures (inside & outside of work)... and then REALLY consider if that work needs
12/13 to be turned round in 24 hours or a week. You can also seeing how these behaviours cascade down... starts at the top with the demands & the tone of the communication, & is then passed down throughout the organisation.
I write this with many lessons in here for myself too, personally & in terms of those I manage or work with across the system. The thing that makes me good at my job (& will be the same for many leaders) will always be my real Achilles heel that need to reflect & act on often.
