Future Leaders

High-Performance Teams in Schools: Built for Pressure, Not Routine

luisa.mule@warc.com — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 15:46:54 +0000

Teams make the world go round. It might sound like a cliché, but in the school environment it has never been more true. The reality is that we cannot achieve anything of significance without teams, and no matter how strong some of the individuals within a group may be, the team is only as strong as its weakest link.

This is especially relevant in today’s schools. The work is more complex than ever before, the demands are increasing, and the pressures are intense. In international schools, those pressures multiply. Parents expect results. Corporate owners expect growth. Schools are businesses as well as learning communities, competing for enrolment and reputation. The stakes are high, and the environment is unforgiving.

That is why high-performing teams matter. They are not a nice-to-have; they are a necessity. Without them, schools will struggle to navigate the demands of modern education.

Routine versus Pressure

When everything is calm, when routines are in place and systems are running smoothly, it is difficult to tell the difference between a good team and a great one. Both can look organised. Both can appear effective. Systems can create the illusion of high performance. Everyone is in the right place at the right time, the cogs turn as they should, and the machine appears well oiled.

But the truth is that routines hide as much as they reveal. They tell us very little about the true quality of a team.

The real test comes when pressure is applied. Systems crack. Unexpected problems arise. The workload intensifies. People feel the heat. In those moments, the distinction between good teams and high-performance teams becomes stark.

Average teams stumble. They default to dependency, waiting for the leader to step in. They become paralysed by uncertainty. Systems fail, initiative dries up, and problems snowball.

High-performance teams, on the other hand, adapt. They respond quickly, decisively, and strategically. They solve problems in real time, often without needing direct leadership input. They display independence, but never at the expense of the collective. Every action, every decision, still aligns with the team’s purpose and vision.

That ability to adapt under pressure is what separates high performance from simple competence.

The F1 Pit Stop

For me, one of the best illustrations of this principle comes from Formula One. Think of a pit stop during a race. On the surface, it looks like chaos: sparks flying, tyres changing, tools clattering. But what is actually unfolding is an extraordinary display of precision under the highest imaginable pressure, when a drivers life is on the line.

The team has seconds, sometimes milliseconds, to act. The car is red hot. The driver is relying on them. The race is on the line. In those moments, every team member knows exactly what to do. They move independently, but their actions are perfectly coordinated. The tyres are changed, the car is refuelled, adjustments are made, and the driver is back on the track before you can blink.

That is not luck. It is not improvisation. It is the product of systems, training, and shared purpose. But more importantly, it is the product of a team that can adapt and execute under pressure.

High-performance school teams may not change tyres on F1 super cars, but the principle is the same. The daily routines are important, but the real proof of quality comes when those routines are disrupted.

A Tale of Two Teams

I have experienced both sides of this in my leadership journey. In a previous school, I led a team that looked effective on paper. The systems were solid. The routines were clear. But the moment those systems were tested, everything reverted to me. Every decision required my input. Every problem landed on my desk. Staff were paralysed, either because they lacked clarity, lacked confidence, or because my own leadership at the time was too managerial and not empowering enough.

It taught me a hard but valuable lesson: a team that looks strong in routine can still be fragile under pressure if it has not developed independence.

In contrast, my current team shows me what high performance looks like. Over time, our systems have bedded in. People know their roles. But the real difference is in how the team now responds when things get difficult.

September, for example, is one of the most pressurised months for us in PE. There is an enormous amount of groundwork to be done, and everything needs to run smoothly to set the tone for the year ahead. Three years ago, almost every parental complaint came to me. I was the bottleneck. Today, many of those complaints never reach my desk. They are resolved by members of the team before they escalate. Problems are dealt with in real time, by people who know the vision and act strategically to protect it.

That independence is not rogue behaviour. It is not individuals pulling in different directions. Every action is aligned with our shared purpose, and that is the key. A high-performance team is not a collection of mavericks; it is a group of individuals who act independently but never lose sight of the collective goal.

What the Research Tells Us

The importance of pressure as a differentiator is not just anecdotal. Ceri Evans, who worked with the New Zealand All Blacks and other elite organisations, argues that everyone can look competent when comfortable, but pressure is what separates those who plateau from those who achieve breakthroughs. His work shows that leaders can deliberately manage the way pressure is applied by adjusting expectations, scrutiny, and consequences. Get it right, and pressure sharpens performance rather than paralysing it.

This idea resonates deeply with schools. Teachers and staff face constant pressure, whether from inspections, parents, or the demands of the timetable. A leader’s role is not to remove all pressure, that is impossible, but to help their teams harness it, to turn it into a force for growth rather than decline.

Supporting this, a recent study on athletes performing under pressure highlighted the psychological ingredients that enable clutch performance. Task-focused attention, collective confidence, and heightened effort emerged as common themes. What is striking is how collective those factors are. Clutch moments are not just about individual brilliance; they are about groups aligning, focusing, and pushing together under pressure. In other words, the very same qualities that define high-performance school teams.

Purpose, Systems, and Independence

From my own experience, and from the research, three elements stand out as critical for high performance in schools.

First is purpose. Every member of the team must understand and buy into the vision. Without a clear sense of direction, independence quickly becomes chaos. Decisions will be made, but they will pull the team in different directions. Purpose is the anchor that holds everything together.

Second are systems. High-performing teams are not anarchic. They rely on routines and processes that create stability and predictability in everyday work. Systems free up mental space so that when pressure comes, the team can focus on adaptation, not basic organisation.

Third is independence. This is the most important and the hardest to achieve. Independence is what allows a team to respond in real time, without everything defaulting to the leader. It requires trust, training, and a willingness from leaders to step back and let others act. Independence is the hallmark of a team that can withstand pressure.

The Call to Education

This raises a critical question for schools: are we doing enough to build teams like this?

In recent years, I have seen a lot of emphasis on developing individuals. Instructional coaching, mentoring, and one-to-one conversations have become more common. All of this is valuable, but it is not enough. Schools do not run on individuals; they run on teams. And yet we spend very little time teaching people how to build, develop, and lead high-performance teams.

That is a gap we must address. Leadership in education cannot just be about supporting individuals. It has to be about cultivating groups of people who can operate together under pressure, who can adapt and respond strategically when systems are tested.

In sport, this lesson is obvious. Teams are built to win. Players are trained to act independently in the moment, but always in line with the coach’s vision. The best coaches know when to step back and trust their players. In education, we need to adopt the same mindset. Leaders must create clarity of purpose, put robust systems in place, and then empower their people to act independently when pressure comes.

Conclusion

High-performance teams are not defined by how they operate when everything is calm. They are defined by how they perform when the pressure is on. In schools, that pressure is not a possibility; it is a certainty. The question is whether our teams will crumble or adapt.

The answer lies in purpose, systems, and independence. Get those right, and you will have a team that does not just survive pressure, but thrives in it. Get them wrong, and no amount of routine competence will save you when the system comes under strain.

As leaders in education, we need to ask ourselves: are we equipping our teams to withstand pressure, or are we setting them up to depend on us the moment the going gets tough?

Because in the end, the true strength of a school lies not in the brilliance of any single individual, but in the collective ability of its teams to perform, especially when it matters most.

Mike Lowery

Director of Sport - GEMS Metropole

Posted date

5 months 4 weeks ago

Rate

Top story

Article main topic

Future Leaders

Future Learning & Trends

Leadership Strategy and Skills

Redirected

Off

Moved to features

Off

Lead image:

New batch

Off

redirected

Off

When did you last really talk with your colleagues?

luisa.mule@warc.com — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 15:42:04 +0000

Think back to your last leadership meeting ... how much of the conversation was genuine dialogue, and how much involved people talking at one another, skimming past misunderstandings, or sitting in silence because they felt unheard? If you are honest, you will probably admit that much of what passes for communication in schools is not nearly as effective as it could be.

We all know that language is imperfect; yet it remains one of the best tools we possess to move information from one human being to another. When communication falters, frustrations rise - and in schools, where human interaction is constant and high-stakes, the consequences can be particularly sharp. Many of the challenges school leaders face daily - staff conflicts, resistance to change, endless misinterpretations - can be traced back to one root cause: the way we speak, and more importantly, the way we listen.

Over the past decade, schools have invested considerable effort into developing the oracy of students. The rationale is clear: the ability to express oneself fluently in speech is vital for confidence, social mobility, and learning itself. Teachers are familiar with frameworks that help children build their vocabulary, structure their arguments, and speak with clarity.

But here is the uncomfortable truth: adults in schools need this focus just as much as children do. We often assume that because leaders are experienced and articulate, they do not need to revisit the fundamentals of communication. In fact, the opposite is true. Children may need to build confidence in communication, but adults — especially leaders — need to build patterns. Left unchecked, our habits of speech harden into blind spots that make us less effective.

Every leader has blind spots in their communication - recurring ways in which our words and behaviours undermine the impact we want to have. Perhaps you speak too quickly, leaving colleagues overwhelmed. Perhaps you think aloud, but others hear indecision. Perhaps you dominate discussions, or perhaps you withdraw, and your silence is read as judgement.

These blind spots do not make you a bad leader; they make you human. We are all subject to unconscious biases that shape how we interpret what we hear, and how others interpret us. Tools like the Johari Windows remind us that there are always aspects of our communication that others see, but we do not. The key is not to deny these blind spots, but to become aware of them - and to learn how to adapt.

Psychometric tools can play a powerful role here. By making behavioural patterns visible, they allow teams to move past irritation and towards curiosity. Instead of thinking “why does she always…?”, leaders can ask, “what does she need from me to communicate more effectively?” This is the power of oracy for leaders. It is not about polishing speeches or refining public presentations, although those matter too. It is about learning how to talk to colleagues in ways that unlock rather than block, that build trust rather than erode it.

Schools today face immense pressures: accountability, recruitment challenges, the complex needs of students and families. In this environment, leaders cannot afford to waste energy on misunderstandings. Every ounce of collective attention must be directed towards what matters most: learning and the wellbeing of young people.

And yet, without attention to oracy, we haemorrhage that energy. We replay arguments in our heads, we avoid difficult conversations, we spend hours resolving conflicts that could have been prevented with clearer communication. Improving oracy among school leaders is not a ‘nice to have’; it is essential to sustaining healthy, resilient, high-performing schools.

As I write this article, I have just completed an intensive 3 day process with a leading international school in Saudi Arabia, where we worked first on understanding individual leadership work behaviours, and then on how to communicate with colleagues about these behaviours. The result – more honest, detailed conversations based firmly on the data derived from psychometric tests, and translated into concrete action points – was uplifting to see. A high functioning team emerged – and well done to them for engaging so positively with the process! Talk matters, and they embraced this wholeheartedly.

Their experience illustrates a wider truth: when leaders take time to understand both themselves and their colleagues, communication transforms. So, the next time you walk into a meeting, pause and ask yourself: what do my colleagues need from my communication today? That single question may be the first step to transforming the culture of your school.

Dr Helen Wright is an globally recognised international education advisor and executive coach. She will be speaking at GESS Dubai, and can be contacted on helen@drhelenwright.com, or via LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/drhelenwright/

Posted date

5 months 4 weeks ago

Rate

Top story

Article main topic

Future Leaders

Future Learning & Trends

Leadership Strategy and Skills

Redirected

Off

Moved to features

Off

Lead image:

New batch

Off

redirected

Off

Finding Focus in School Leadership

luisa.mule@warc.com — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 15:24:51 +0000

Has anyone on your school leadership team taken up their role in the last two years? If so, up to half will be judged as having failed within that same period. The definition of failure may vary, but perception matters more than precision.

So, what separates those who thrive from those who falter? One factor stands out: the ability to focus on a single, clear ambition and to bring others along with it.

Moving from fog to focus has been the hallmark of effective leaders across sectors.

• John Kotter, the management guru, highlights the importance of urgency and relentless communication in leading change.

• Mellody Hobson, Chairwoman of Starbucks, insists that leaders must first own the problem and hold themselves accountable.

• Sir Michael Barber, architect of Tony Blair’s ‘education, education, education’ agenda, argues that bold ambition and myopic focus, backed by consistent clarity, are what drive systems forward.

• David Hieatt, whose firm focusses on making the world’s finest jeans, reminds us: Do one thing well. It’s enough.

Schools renowned worldwide embody this idea. Gordonstoun in Scotland is known for expeditionary learning. Eton for oracy. Raffles for tradition. Avenues for interdisciplinary curriculum. Each stands out because they channel their energy into one defining focus, while running their routine work seamlessly in the background.

And yet, many schools still resist the lesson. Strategic plans pile up into pillars and initiatives, each treated as equally urgent. The result? Overwhelm, fatigue, and middle leaders stuck managing rather than leading.

Why It’s Hard Today

The pandemic seemed, briefly, to herald new habits—remote learning, flexible work, students owning their learning. Yet by 2023, most institutions had snapped back to old ways. As we head into 2026, our attention is pulled in every direction as the pace of change around us picks up further momentum.

We want to do everything, but rarely achieve our to-do list by the weekend.

Old habits die hard because schools struggle to work at the right level. Too often, Boards leap to lofty ambitions without securing the basics. Too often, leaders fill “strategic pillars” with what should be business-as-usual routine.

The reality is that leadership operates across three levels:

1. Level 1 – Routine Work: The basics done automatically and well. Hiring, formative assessment, DEI work, professional growth, curriculum delivery. Like plumbing, this work isn’t glamorous, but without it, nothing flows.

2. Level 2 – Bold Ambition: The singular stretch goal everyone can align behind. Not ten goals, not three. One. With time, it too becomes routine.

3. Level 3 – Prospecting: Quiet R&D, exploring possibilities, discarding what doesn’t work, seeding the next ambition.

Schools that lack focus often don’t yet have Level 1 in place. If the basics aren’t routine, new ambitions crumble under the weight of unfinished work.

The Cost of No Focus

A lack of focus leads to poor decisions. Consensus decision-making often produces “strategic minestrone soup”: everyone adds their ingredient until the result satisfies no one.

Decision-making by consent offers a healthier model: a decision proceeds unless someone believes it will irrevocably damage the organisation. Disagreement isn’t enough; damage is the threshold.

James Clear describes decisions as hats (easy to change), haircuts (sometimes embarrassing, but fixable, with time), and tattoos (permanent - or painful and expensive to put right). Without focus, leaders can waste time debating and deferring hats while ignoring tattoos.

Another cost is the disease of everythingitis. WordPress lost a year trying to build everything into version 3.0. Apple faced criticism for what the first iPhone couldn’t do. Both remind us that everythingitis delays progress and creates frustration. Schools are particularly prone to it. Strategic plans become laundry lists instead of clear choices.

Focus, by contrast, allows leaders to say: this is what we’re doing now. Everything else will come later.

Three Steps to Finding Focus

So, how do school leaders move from fog to focus?

1. Get Your Levels Right

Before reaching for bold ambition, check whether Level 1 is truly routine. Are the basics of teaching, learning, assessment, and inclusion running smoothly, with little extra effort? If not, start there. Only when the groundwork is solid should you set a Level 2 focus. And protect your Level 3 R&D team so they can quietly prepare for the future.

2. Choose One Bold Ambition

Every great school is known for something. Not everything. Something. Ask:

• Do we already do the basics really well?

• Do we stand out for one thing insiders and outsiders both recognise?

• Do our community and our desired families care about it?

If the answer to the first is no, pause. If the answer to the second or third is unclear, gather evidence. But if all three align, you have your focus. Pursue it with clarity, consistency, and patience until it becomes part of your routine.

3. Resist the Big Launch

Avoid rolling out the next idea with fanfare. Launches are for leaders, not communities. Instead, start small. Identify the 25% who are undecided but open to change. Test with them. Share results. Build momentum.

Movements, whether political or educational, succeed not because everyone is convinced, but because a small group is. As Erica Chenoweth’s research shows, it can take just 3.5% of people actively engaged to tip the system.

Focus Helps Everyone

Schools are already mission-driven places, powered by staff who choose the work despite its challenges. Focus honours that commitment by giving people clarity, reducing overwhelm, and creating real progress they can see.

When you focus, you avoid the trap of everythingitis. You empower middle leaders to turn stretch work into routine. You make better decisions. And you give your community something simple, meaningful, and motivating to rally behind.

As David Hieatt, Steve Jobs, and Plato put it: Do one thing well. It’s enough.

Ewan McIntosh, founder of global education consultancy NoTosh, is a keynote speaker at GESS 2025, known for helping schools and leaders find focus and design bold strategies.

Posted date

5 months 4 weeks ago

Rate

Top story

Article main topic

Future Leaders

Future Learning & Trends

Leadership Strategy and Skills

Redirected

Off

Moved to features

Off

Lead image:

New batch

Off

redirected

Off

When did you last really talk with your colleagues?

luisa.mule@warc.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 15:06:35 +0000

Dr Helen Wright - globally recognised international education advisor and executive coach. She will be speaking at GESS Dubai, and can be contacted on helen@drhelenwright.com, or via LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/drhelenwright/

Posted date

6 months 1 week ago

Rate