“There is a balance to be struck between learning and action, but new leaders need quickly to be able to make evidence-based decisions. In some cases, new leaders suffer from what might be called ‘the action imperative’, where they constantly feel too busy or anxious to devote systematic time to learning”
I find this quote poignant as already I feel very much in this position. After 5 years of being a senior leader, I finally felt ready to embark on further study. The thought of taking this on in year 2 felt to overwhelming and I think I made the right decision not to but partly, I felt this way as I was too ‘busy’. I dislike using the term busy but indeed there seemed to never be a right moment. Even now, there is this constant balance between making time to simply read, whether for pleasure and wellbeing or for work, to update oneself and be ‘au courant’ with what is the changing landscape of education her each day and with each change of government. I have several times fallen prey to the ‘action imperative’ and am making a conscious decision to plan separate time to dedicate to reading for work and my learning time. I remember reading a Head’s response about always pausing and having a very slow cappuccino… sounds like a good starting point to then spend that time or moments after committing to reading and learning.
Journey to headship 