Events of recent weeks in the political sphere will have shocked and disillusioned people in equal measure. We see leaders on both sides of the political divide floundering and making basic mistakes. They could learn quite a lot by studying how effective headteachers lead their schools.

Let’s start with our former prime minister, David Cameron. He was under pressure from Right-wingers in his own party and this led him to promise a referendum on the European Union. Once he had committed to this, he had to follow through. This was clearly not planning ahead for change. He was taking a serious risk with the future of the country for the sake of party unity.

The country as a whole should always matter more than party political advantage. As a headteacher, there will always be those who disagree with the direction of travel but the most effective strategy is to stick to your course and to try and win them over. Mr Cameron would have been well advised to win the argument in his party rather than jeopardising the future of the country with a referendum. Yes/no answers don’t solve complex problems. In my experience, they will respect you far more if you stand up for what you believe.

You have to be pragmatic sometimes and make compromises, but this should never be at the expense of your core values. Sometimes you have to do tough things but you should always be able to explain why you are doing them. If your actions conflict with your core values, that’s when the alarm bells should ring.

Let’s consider Boris Johnson and his leadership approach. Sometimes the educational system has thrown up charismatic hero leaders. Such leaders can make a lot of noise and make a splash nationally but a leader who thinks it’s all about them will come unstuck.

Often when these hero leaders leave their schools they don’t leave a sustainable legacy but a school which quickly goes into decline. They can also make catastrophic mistakes which may seem OK in the short term but in the longer term cause chaos.

Effective leaders are not in it for their ambition alone; there has to be more than that. We are now told that Boris was really a remainer all along. If this is true, then his credibility and reliability is shot to bits. He has bounced back as foreign secretary but it is unlikely that the rest of the world will trust him or feel that he is reliable. John Kerry’s pained expression at their recent meeting said it all. Trust is the most powerful factor in great organisations. An effective headteacher will work hard to build trust and allow people to lead.

Now I come to the hapless Jeremy Corbyn (pictured), perhaps currently the most hopeless leader of the lot. On one level you can agree that he has moral purpose. He is against inequality and poverty and he wants to protect workers’ rights. Many of us wouldn’t quarrel with that. However, we can smell a rat. If you become so driven by a political ideology that you don’t listen to others, then the problems will start.

You only have to look at the way that Corbyn has treated some of the former members of his shadow cabinet to see that the words and the deeds don’t match. Lilian Greenwood’s account of her time as shadow transport minister was very telling. It seems that Corbyn didn’t listen to her and undermined her publicly. She battled on and tried to talk to him. It’s clear that she was passionate about transport and that she wanted to do a good job. His door remained closed and, understandably, she became disillusioned.

Good headteachers know that when people work hard for you they need your support and cooperation. Teamwork is a pillar of effective schools and people need to know that their work is valued and that they will be listened to.

‘Let everyone have their say’

Everyone in an organisation deserves respect and an opportunity to voice their view. You won’t always agree but you should always be willing to listen. There are times too when they may well be right and you should change course. If someone you trust tells you that you are wrong, in my experience, it is usually time to think again.

To be an effective leader it is important to build alliances. A headteacher works with parents, governors, local councillors, trade unions, voluntary organisations, the local MP, faith groups, employers, colleagues in other schools, local universities and many more. You won’t always agree with them or share their political stance but for the good of the pupils it is important to work with all of these people in a constructive way.

If your underlying purpose is to create opportunities for your students and to enable them to flourish, you do it through partnership. Jeremy Corbyn fails spectacularly to do this. He preaches to the converted and fails to see that most people find this grotesque.

This is a very dangerous stance because it demonises those who aren’t in the group. Anybody who doesn’t follow the party line becomes the enemy. If you lead an organisation in this way it creates discord and discontent. In the end it also leads to failure.

Poor leaders also have blind spots and poor judgement. If the people around you are not happy and telling you why, it pays to listen to them. It is always better to try and understand where people are coming from and to do what you can to address the issues they raise.

Of course, there will be those who you can never satisfy but you should always be able to give them a compelling rationale for your decisions. Leadership is about building an effective culture. You need to put forward a compelling vision but also win people over to it. You do this by listening to people, building effective teams and creating a shared purpose.

Most headteachers do this day in, day out. To sum up, an effective leader in any context should:

1. Have a compelling vision and clear moral purpose
2. Win over others to this vision
3. Create trust
4. Build effective teams
5. Support everyone in the organisation
6. Put their hand up when they get it wrong
7. Be prepared to take advice
8. Change course when necessary
9. Be pragmatic when necessary but never at the expense of their core values
10. Be ambitious for the organisation and not just for themselves
11. Reward people
12. Respect people

Following these rules should enable you to create something of value that helps people to thrive. This should be the touchstone of leadership. Perhaps someday our politicians will learn this lesson.

Helen Salmon is a former headteacher of a secondary school in Devon and is currently working as an educational consultant for Future Leaders and supporting a school in special measures

Want to keep up with the latest education news and opinion? Follow TES on Twitter and like TES on Facebook