Introduction
The senior leadership team is the most significant and powerful group for managing and leading people in many schools because their decisions usually have implications concerning the organization as well as the students, staff and the entire community.
Senior leadership team refers to a program that is designed for those teachers with management and leadership responsibilities in the schools which they operate so as to help improve the outcomes for students as well as teachers.
The following essay thus explains more about a senior leadership team and in particular the characteristics of a senior leadership team, the structures, cultures and processes that promotes an effective senior leadership team and the influence of a head teacher on the effectiveness of a senior leadership team.
Characteristics of an effective SLT
An effective senior leadership team is capable of achieving strategic as well as operational goals. Operational matters refers to the daily tasks that the schoolteachers should engage into e.g. supervising the pupils.Operational matters enables the leaders to come into touch with the situation on the ground.Stategic matters of SLT on the other hand relates to the long term direction of the school.
An SLT should ensure that the pupil’s standards are raised by setting standards concerning the short term as well as long-term goals. School leaders should thus commit the resources they have i.e. time, finance, space e.t.c.to the attainment of the set objectives (Samson, et al., Key Characteristics of Effective Schools: A review of school effectiveness research, 1995, pp. 23).
An effective SLT ensures that there is an improvement as far as the school’s capacity is concerned. To help improve learning and teaching indirectly school leaders should examine the working conditions and try to improve them where necessary, provide good incentives to the staff as a way of motivating them to perform their duties enthusiastically and also being committed as far as time keeping and discipline is concerned.
An effective SLT is characterized by a broad and balanced team of competent staff who is capable of applying the best leadership practices and demonstrates responsiveness with regards to the scope and contexts in which they are required to undertake. The skills of the team should be evaluated from time to time so as to increase them incase of any deficiency and to ensure that the team is future focused and positive.
In order to meet its set objectives, a SLT should enhance there should be team work in that all members should act cohesively by harmonizing their individual contributions so as to realize a common goal.
The goals of a SLT are sufficiently complex and thus requiring a team that is equipped with numerous skills. Better results are usually as a result of teamwork approach (Samson, et al., Key Characteristics of Effective Schools: A review of school effectiveness research, 1995, pp. 24).
Trust is another critical factor that enhances the success of a SLT.Trust in a team results to increased efficiency because all members attends to their respective duties completely as they trust that each person will perform their responsibilities.
Unity is also enhanced as a result of trust and hence greater strength that facilitate the team’s accomplishment of its purpose. Trust also enhances mutual motivation in that when people trust each other, performance is realized as each one tries to consciously uphold the trust for others.
In order for a SLT to successfully realize its mission, disagreements should be handled openly and in a constructively manner. Handling differences skillfully helps to boost productivity, sparks creativity, reduces stress, and enhances the working relationships as well as building the commitment towards a shared objective (Burrello, & Murray, School leaders building capacity from within: resolving competing agendas creatively, 2005, pp.6).
Conditions which may influence success of a SLT
One of the factors that influence the success of a senior leadership team is the structure of a team i.e. either flat or hierarchical. Hierarchies are common structures in senior leadership teams as they usually reflect natural as well common techniques which are essential in dealing with complexity (Ubben, The principal: creative leadership for excellence in schools, 2007, pp. 11).
Hierarchies depict accountability and relationships among people. It thus shows the reporting mechanism and the authority and responsibilities that one have in the team. There is need therefore to create structures that are essential in promoting a culture of quality teaching and learning, eliminating tracking, building community partnerships as well as parent partnerships and also lowering the ratio of student to that of the teacher.
In a SLT, everyone should be given a task which meets his or her skills well so as to perform effectively and efficiently. There should be division of labor and specialization. Job specification should be done to enable one to understand his or her roles in the team. This will enable the comparison between the personal achievement and the required standards.
Continuous education programs should be introduced in senior leadership teams so as to enhance succsess.These programs are aimed at assisting the members in gaining additional skills needed for proper execution of tasks.
The members thus can enroll in classes during evenings or holidays so as to gain the professional training required depending on their roles in the school’s senior leadership team. Innovation and mentoring programs should also be encouraged (Samson et al., Key Characteristics of Effective Schools: A review of school effectiveness research, 1995, pp.15).
The decision making in the senior leadership team should involve all the members due to the fact that the members in the team are united o accomplish he team’s objectives. The motivation and morale of members could be ruined if decisions are made by only some people without consultation.
Shared decisions allows room for sharing of ideas, views and opinions and this ensures that only informed decisions are made so as to get rid of future challenges arising from poor decisions(Samson et al., Key Characteristics of Effective Schools: A review of school effectiveness research, 1995, pp. 14).
Effective communication is the key behind the success of the school’s senior leadership team. The team’s mission, goals, tasks, responsibilities as well as objectives should be communicated unto members.Any change that affects the teams’ performance ought to be communicated so as to enable each and every member to feel that they are crucial in the ultimate realization of the teams’ objectives.
Rules and regulations that governs the members of a senior leadership team should also be well communicated.Communication ensures that the members of the school leadership team respect one another ,value each others’ differences and are also open to the ideas of one another.
Communication is vital because even when disagreement arises, the members listen and understands one another as they believe that the disagreements are necessary for the school to move forward (Burrello & Murray, School leaders building capacity from within: resolving competing agendas creatively, 2005, pp.12).
Another important factor to consider with regards to the success of a senior leadership team is the school culture. A collaborative culture that has structures which empowers both the administration and the teachers is necessary as it facilitates shared decision and leadership as well as creating teacher teams which are effective.
In building collaborative school culture strong leadership coupled with democracy and regular planning time is necessary. A collaborative culture ensures that all the school members work as a team effectively being for the accomplishment of a specific common purpose.
Thus all the school members i.e. administrators, teaches as well as their families usually are guided by the schools’ vision and in this, they creates a discourse culture in which important matters concerning education are honestly and openly discussed.
Shared decision making and leadership in schools creates an environment whereby parents, teachers and the entire school community becomes leaders in their own capacities for the success of the school rendering the head teachers’ role as the only decision maker to be phased out.
Another factor that enhances success as far as senior leadership team is concerned is the act of addressing the specific challenges that the school experiences so as to devise the solution to the problems and ensure that the challenges don’t hinder the goal achievement in future.
The influence of head teacher on SLT effectiveness
A head teacher has the role of creating an effective senior leadership team that is disciplined and focused, that have a discourse culture and have clearly articulated goals. Head teachers are usually regarded as the main leadership source by the parents, staff and governors and so they maintains an effective SLT through his or her leadership, clarity of direction, skill at delegation, team growing, promoting collaborative working modes and restructuring the team when its appropriate.
Head teachers leadership style have an influence on the STL’s effectiveness in that a head teacher who considers himself or herself as the most experienced or knowledgeable practitioner is likely to undermine the staff’s strength and expertise for improving learning and teaching in school.
On the other hand, a head teacher who works well with the rest of the staff members usually develops a conducive working environment in which the teachers collaborate continuously in an effort to realize the vision of the school (Ubben, The principal: creative leadership for excellence in schools, 2007, pp. 18).
A principal thus should enable the participatory decision making and allow teachers to contribute fully in such significant decisions such as academic teams, study groups among others. This will help the teachers and other stakeholders to understand that they are important as far as the teams ‘organizational goals attainment is concerned.
A school principal must have clarity of direction concerning the direction which the school should take. There should be clear, coherent policies and programs that are aimed at meeting a common agenda.
The tasks that the staff members should undertake should be made clear by the principle so as to avoid ambiguity. Once he or she sets defines the clear set of objectives to be attained, the rest of staff usually are not faced with challenges on what to accomplish at what time.
A head teacher also influences the effectiveness of the senior leadership team during delegation of skills. Delegation of skills refers to the assign tasks authority and responsibility effectively to others i.e. the ability of the school principal to get duties done by using the time and work of the other staff members.
This affects the effectiveness of a SLT in that, the principal may delegate duties to the subordinates who don’t have the necessary skills to undertake the assigned duties and in turn causing confusion and frustration to the other people. On the other hand, good delegation facilitates time saving and motivates people to perform their duties willingly and enthusiastically.
A good principal is capable of growing his or her team so as to enhance the teams’ effectiveness by understanding the individual’s preferences so as to earn their trust and respect. A principle who regards him or herself as a boss is likely to influence people to follow him or herself blindly (Ubben, The principal: creative leadership for excellence in schools, 2007, pp. 16).
A principal should also provide collaborative working modes by encouraging the other staff members to freely air their views and by providing the necessary resources needed for proper learning and teaching.A principle should thus be a team leader and must refrain from being regarded as a boss or overall leader and therefore, he should be willing to share skills so as to realize the set objective.
A principal should also be able to restructure his or her senior leadership team as and when the need arises. The less productive members should be replaced with others while rewards should be provided to the outstanding members so as to enhance efficiency in the attainment of the set goals. Restructuring however can ruin the morale especially if a long serving member who had developed strong ties with his or her colleagues is dropped from the team.
Conclusion
For a senior leadership team to be successful, early set goals which are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely bound goals should be set. The leaders should lead from the front and lead the team towards the achievement of the final objectives. The team members should be valued by engaging them in decision making process.
Reference List
Burrello, L. & Murray, L., 2005. School leaders building capacity from within: resolving competing agendas creatively. California: Corwin Press.
Samson, S. et al., 1995. Key Characteristics of Effective Schools: A review of school effectiveness research. London: Ofsted
Ubben, G., 2007.The principal: creative leadership for excellence in schools. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.