Open communication

🤔 Do you have a good working relationship with your line manager? Are you able to have a genuine and open conversation with them?

I've been coaching a few headteachers and trust leaders recently who have been expressing a reluctance to have an open conversation with their line managers. This has been showing up in a few different ways, but in all respects, it hampers their ability to do their job at the best of their ability.

The first leader, I'll call her Liz, is an experienced headteacher. She is an established, effective leader with a track record of success. She wanted to discuss her career aspirations with me this week, as she is ready to step into some form of executive leader role. However, she's previously mentioned this to her CEO and my client's perception was that there would be no opportunities within her trust.

When I challenged this perception, Liz revealed that her beliefs were being influenced by the lack of an effective working relationship with her CEO. As Liz's school is so successful, the CEO doesn't visit often. At best the relationship could be described as distant. This hampers her having an open, honest conversation with her line manager. Liz recognised that she was feeling a little bruised as her school seemed never to be a priority for her line manager, and because her previous request had not been recognised or even discussed in detail.

We considered the impact of the distance and bruised feelings on the relationship. Was this helping or hindering Liz in achieving her aspirations? Consequently, Liz recognised that she needed to form a closer working relationship with her CEO, and seek out opportunities to communicate openly how she has felt overlooked at times. She recognised that there is a need and opportunity within her own trust for some school to school support, and if she had a stronger working relationship with her CEO, this might provide her with more influence to achieve her goals.

The second time that working relationships showed up recently was with another client, I'll call him John. He has a trust leadership role, and his trust has recently been taken over by another trust. John is feeling vulnerable in the new trust, and this is hampering him when needing to communicate with his new CEO. He is concerned about making a poor impression.

During the coaching session, John was able to identify that by avoiding building a relationship with his CEO, he was potentially making a poor impression. He recognised that his insecurity was probably visible to others, and was not allowing him to fully demonstrate his skills and experience. We used the coaching session to identify ways in which John could regain his confidence and demonstrate his strengths.

🤔 How has your working relationship with your boss impacted on your performance or wellbeing?