As I get ready to lead my very first staff briefing as a headteacher, the eyes of 100 members of staff are on me.

I’ve been thinking about what to say at this moment since I was first appointed in February, and preparing exactly how I would say it.

I know about the importance of eye contact and the need to strike the right balance between making my mark and not promising too much, too soon. I’ve even picked out the perfect suit for the occasion.

But what I had not planned for was the fact that my new school would be closed for an indefinite period, owing to a global pandemic, by the time I was due to deliver my first briefing. Instead of being able to meet my new team face to face, their first impressions of me would come from a video feed appearing on their laptop screens.

This was not the start to my headship that I had in mind. However, becoming a headteacher at this time of crisis has taught me some unexpected lessons about leadership in difficult circumstances, and has paved the way for how I want to lead my school going forwards. Here are some of the most important lessons I have learned.

In a crisis, staff pull together

Staring at the gallery of faces on the screen in front of me during that first briefing, one thing became apparent very quickly. While the staff were all eager to hear my first words, they were even more interested in what they could do to help.

The community spirit that we were already witnessing across the nation was echoed in my virtual staffroom. The fears and anxieties that staff may have had about a new headteacher withered into insignificance in the face of an unprecedented global health emergency; this taught me an important lesson about the supportiveness of my team and their ability to pull together when times are tough.

Ironically, the coronavirus has, in some ways, smoothed the way to getting my staff on board with my approaches. Throughout my first half term as headteacher, they have been overwhelmingly supportive of any measures I have asked them to implement - whether it be the delivery of online learning, welfare checks of every student or distributing meal vouchers.

You’re expected to have all the answers

In times of crisis, all stakeholders need reassurance that the support network is available and working. What I learned early on was that parents, students and staff were looking to the school for answers, at a time when the answers were not always available from government.

For instance, there was genuine concern that students would fall behind in their school work; Year 11 were concerned about missing their GCSEs and their future college places; staff wanted to know if it was safe for them to come into school to offer provision for children of key workers and vulnerable children. As headteacher, my school community was quite rightly looking to me for all the answers - it did not matter that I was only a few weeks into the role.

It was crucial, therefore, that I established effective lines of communication early on and made sure that people’s faith in the process was secure. We started producing a weekly newsletter for parents, students and staff to make everyone feel part of the school community and to keep them informed about a range of issues, including online learning, free school meals and our charity work. Students and parents were also encouraged to participate in regular online surveys, helping us to constantly modify our practice. This reassured them that we were listening and acting on feedback.

Work-life balance will be an ongoing struggle

There is no doubt that a quick email can prevent a lengthy phone call, but it can also mean that you are available 24/7. Yes, we are told to switch off and not to check emails so regularly for our own mental health and work-life balance, as well as to set a good example for the rest of the team. But when a message pops up on your mobile late at night, it’s not easy to wait, especially during a crisis.

I’ve quickly learned that, as a headteacher, everyone wants your time and attention. I have spent many days, all day, either in virtual meetings, face-to-face meetings (adhering to social distancing) or answering the many emails that fill up my inbox on a minute-by-minute basis. I have even held virtual meetings at home with staff in the evenings, while supervising my children, who were catching up with their online learning.

Unfortunately, I am still struggling to learn the meaning of work-life balance, although I recognise that this is an important lesson to grasp. But right now, I am at the start of my journey and focused on making my headship a success, so being constantly on call is a necessary evil for the time being.

You won’t be able to please everyone all the time

It’s human nature to want that reassurance that you’re doing a good job; this is as true for headteachers as it is for anyone else. An initial survey on our online learning platform of how my senior team and I had been managing the school during the crisis gave us a very high approval rating from both students and parents.

Despite this, your attention will inevitably be drawn to the few negative comments, even if they only make up a tiny minority.

A clear lesson from my early days of headship was to acknowledge that, no matter what you do, you will never please everyone. Develop a thick skin and just continue to do the best you can.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help

How many times had I heard that being a headteacher can be a tough, lonely job? Yet since taking up my headship, particularly at this time of crisis, I have found that I have been inundated with offers of help. Leading an academy that’s part of a trust means that help from more experienced leaders is readily available, but for those outside of a trust, there is still a vast community of experience out there that you can easily tap into - you just need to be humble enough to ask.

As a new headteacher, it is my instinct to want to prove that I can stand on my own two feet and make my own decisions, and hide the fact that I sometimes need help. In some ways, it feels as though asking for help might expose flaws in my ability to cope with a crisis. However, these are unprecedented times and it would be foolish for any headteacher, new or experienced, to think they have all the answers - even if some people might expect them to.

Raj Mann is headteacher at Arena Academy in Birmingham, part of the CORE Education Trust

This article originally appeared in the 24 July 2020 issue under the headline “Five lessons from a new head in a time of crisis”