I was genuinely shocked and honoured in equal measure last Friday to win Tes FE leader of the year. Despite being 45 years old, I rushed off to tell my mum, who, as only mothers can do, rattled my hubris and knocked me immediately back into place by asking, “Is that not your job? What did you win that for then?” The call ended and introspection followed. 

As we head towards closing the academic year and into planning and appraisal season, it’s an important time to reflect and ask ourselves questions about how well we might have done in our own leadership this year, without reliance on awards.   

I often wander around college trying to test the temperature by asking leaders, “Are you winning?” It’s important, as leaders, that we know, or at least think about, how we are doing against outcomes set in September. It’s also important for teams to know more than ever that they have done a great job and have “won” the year. Some leaders know the answer straight away. Those that have a clear purpose, vision and objective focus. They keep score and communicate it frequently. A constant reckoning of “wins” and “losses” in a mental league table. 

Background: Stuart Rimmer wins leader of the year at the Tes FE Awards 2021 

More: What I wish I’d known when I first went into leadership

Mental health: ‘Difficult’ to be a leader right now

The ubiquitous SMART targets have a place and outcomes remain important, but if we spend time reflecting on our performance (our thinking, behaviours, holding our values and definitely our feelings) then, as famous American football coach Bill Walsh suggests, the score takes care of itself. Leadership is an evolution and right now better, or at least further, questions might be “how” did we win? How did we conduct ourselves? What did we learn while we were winning (or losing)?

This year has been intense for everyone but I feel that the learning from the heat of the crucible can be invaluable - but it requires a ”forced pause”, a deliberate and structured reflection before we allow ourselves to collapse into the summer for recuperation.

What FE college leaders have learned from the Covid experience

A series of questions might help. You could try: how do I feel about my progress this year? What was I most professionally proud of this year? What was the most impactful thing I achieved? What was my contribution? Is there a specific skill I should develop or develop further? Do you feel you lived the college values? Did you find yourself conflicted at any point? What is exciting or energising about next year? What’s holding you back? What are you going to do about it? What will you stop doing or reduce next year? What drains your energy (and what will you do about it)?

Also we should reflect more widely on what we have learned about leadership in FE over this past crazy year and how this might help us going into next year.

My top five lessons are: 

1. Everyday leadership happens everywhere in colleges - it shouldn’t rely on titles.
   We have witnessed, more than ever, a year of situationally emergent leadership. People have stepped up when needed and displayed leadership of self and others. We could harness this more in future. Many a reluctant leader has thrived this year and found voice. We should celebrate this constantly.
2. It’s all about the team but great teams deserve great leaders.
   Teams that went into Covid strong have emerged stronger. Those that went in with poor teamship, weak leadership or poor quality just got worse. When things got tough people looked to leaders to “be there”.  We need to acknowledge that not everyone wants to be “on the team”, but, going forward, the world is now too tough to carry these non-team players or impoverished leaders. More time spent building teams and leaders will always be a wise investment.
3. Leaders struggle, too.
   Leaders are far from invincible, despite sometimes being expected to be 24/7 superheroes.  There is a place for demonstrating vulnerability but if shown too often, it erodes confidence. This is a careful and deliberate balance. Leadership can be all-consuming and often comes at a personal cost. Getting proactive personal one-to-one support, therefore, is essential. We need to recognise this more next year. 

4. Leadership rarely goes to plan or works in straight lines.
   Good intentions and strong values might produce good decisions but they can be made irrelevant if execution is poor, and this can then generate unpredictable results. Less time spent Zoom chatting and more spent really communicating will help. Perhaps we could be more compassionate and accept that leading teams is rarely neat and sequential.

5. Sometimes you have to abandon the original objective to meet higher purpose.
   Through the year I’ve had to park some college ambitions to slow the pace, focus on emerging issues or go back to basics. When this has happened, it often relates to seeing leadership as a service and answering the question, what do the team/staff need right now? This can be frustrating and conflicting, and it requires acceptance but leads to better longer-term outcomes. The right approach this year, I feel, will be remembered beyond our Covid year.    

Overall, there’s nothing new here - perhaps just new for me. Leadership is human. It’s messy. It’s complex. It’s unpredictable. It’s hard. But it’s also rewarding: a journey of learning and imperfection and service to others remains a great privilege. So, in your moment of a “forced pause”, did you win this year? How did you win? How can you serve better next year? I genuinely think this year anyone in a leadership role deserves an award,

Stuart Rimmer is principal and chief executive at East Coast College and Tes FE leader of the year 2021