The ‘hero head’ myth and the power of mentoring

“You cannot do this on your own.”

I waited to see the response of the new headteacher I was mentoring to a message he didn’t want to hear, as we held our weekly one-to-one meeting in his school.

In the UK, this sort of meeting, where a headteacher engages in structured reflection on their leadership with a trusted confidante, has become more common over the past decade or so, in a large part due to the multi-academy trust system.

Yet in international schools, while heads or principals have always sat in a form of structured accountability with their school boards and owners, a key “critical friendship” relationship tends to be less frequent or even non-existent.

The myth of the ‘hero head’ -"This myth exists partly because of the perception that this is what the community - from owners to governors and parents - expects."
This can be partly down to logistics - a board may be scattered across time zones and more experienced heads nearby are often in rival schools, so while they may be willing to offer quick help to a specific question, they are less likely to be available for structured mentoring.

But it also speaks to the enduring myth of the “hero head”, or omnipotent head, who can do it all without support or any hint of weakness. This myth exists partly because of the perception that this is what the community - from owners to governors and parents - expects.

Yet things are slowly changing. In my two decades working internationally, I have gone from a principal to a CEO and now serve as an executive headteacher and chair of board in a growing international school group.

This means my role has changed from an operational/strategic headteacher of a single school to supporting and managing school leaders and their teams in different schools, contexts and countries.

The value of mentors
It is high time that headteacher mentoring happened in schools. As the role of school leadership and the demands to deliver high-quality education grow more complex in the international sector, more structured support from the centre is vital.

However, in the international sector, there can be frequent turnover of leaders and this can make it hard to create genuine support networks.

Ideally, though, any support role for a head should sit independently of whoever is in charge, so there is consistency.

This is where being within a group can help. But even a single school could do this by finding someone in the local community who could provide a friendly challenge to the head through regular meetings, or it could even outsource to a mentoring service.

However, it is done, though, it has to involve someone with the mix of authority, experience and understanding to truly engage with a head. The mentoring role has to be about support but also challenge.

It means being able to ask tough questions when required: why a KPI hasn’t been met, such as student numbers or exam results, or why a major project is stalling. Or, as my aforementioned conversation shows, it might be about dispelling the idea that they need to be the hero head.

The team impact - "That hero head issue is very real."
That hero head issue is very real. Too often I see leaders sidelining their senior team because they want to be in control of every action.

It may be understandable, but it will invariably lead to failure.

Every great school and great leader is a product of the talents of a great team. It’s about building trust and capacity and finding the talents that can be put to use, from finance to academics to pastoral, and letting them get on with their job.

This also means that any meetings a head has with a mentor/supervisor have to be regular and sustained to ensure that plans made are followed through. These mentoring meetings can’t be tacked on to the governors’ meeting every five months and last 10 minutes.

They have to be regular to allow development to happen - and a trusted relationship to form so that difficult conversations are taken as support, not criticism, and the head knows that the person in front of them is there to help, not criticise.

This was the outcome of the conversation I referred to at the start of this piece; the head let my comment sink in and recognised it as a chance to create a system of support and strategy.

“What would you suggest I look at and focus on?” he asked.

We went through the long list of priorities he had, and it allowed him to reflect. He knew that it was too ambitious for one semester and why things were not working as well as he hoped.

We then looked at his list within the context of the group’s aims, and how he could bring in those around him to help.

The chat continued, we drank tea, and our professional partnership went up another level, with trust, candour and support at its centre - three things all heads need to be the best they can.