Define the role before you develop it
Claire and I are hosting a series of webinars in May to prepare Aspiring, New and Returning Middle Leaders for next year. To learn more and register, click here.
Whenever I walk into a school to help build leadership capacity, I usually hear some version of the same frustration: "I know I’m a middle leader, but I don’t actually feel that I’m allowed to lead." This is quickly followed by an all too familiar complaint, “I don’t have time to lead.”
We have coordinators, HODs, and team leaders who are experts in the classroom but feel like imposters in meetings. While many staff show immense potential, leadership practice remains stubbornly inconsistent across teams. Some are proactive, while others are simply drowning in "day-to-day" admin because they aren't sure how to lead people or manage priorities.
This isn’t a lack of talent, it’s a lack of definition. If a school wants stronger leadership capacity, it needs to be clear about what middle leadership means in their context.
Supervisor or Leader?
In my experience, many middle leaders are stuck in "Supervisor Mode." They check that the boxes are ticked and the glue sticks are ordered. But true leadership is about team purpose.
I remember a team leader who felt she was "nagging" her peers. The "honeymoon period" of her new role was over, and she was exhausted. I asked her: "Do you have the right to lead this team?" She hesitated. Without a clear definition of authority, she was just a teacher with a bigger to-do list.
To fix this, schools must define the role through three clear lenses:
Responsibility: What are the specific tasks they own?
Accountability: How do we know if they are successful?
Ownership: What authority do they have to influence results, either individually or collectively?
The "2-3 Hour" Reality
Here’s the cold, hard truth I always share: You have to plan to work 2-3 more hours per week to lead a team effectively. If the school hasn’t built that into the structure, the role isn't being defined, it’s being "bolted on."
Defining middle leadership means acknowledging it as a bridge. You aren't just a "super-teacher"; you are the person who translates the Senior Leadership Team’s vision into classroom reality. This requires a middle leader to ensure consistency across the team, while at the same time creating space for the team to engage in transformationally collaborative work.
Building the Structure
A clear definition of middle leadership should begin with one simple question: What is this role for in our school?
That question matters because middle leadership is not the same in every context. Some roles require strict coordination and supervision. Others require genuine team leadership, where everyone is working interdependently to achieve a shared goal. There is a big difference between helping a working group stay organised and leading a team towards a shared goal. Schools often blur those two realities and then wonder why middle leaders struggle.
For me, middle leadership should be defined as the role that translates whole school priorities into consistent team practice through other people. That means middle leaders are not simply good teachers with extra tasks. Nor are they just a communication channel between senior leaders and staff. They exist to create clarity, uphold agreed expectations, support collaboration, and improve the consistency of practice across a team.
Establishing clear structures isn't about bureaucracy; it’s about clarity. When a middle leader knows their "right" to lead, they stop asking for permission and start taking initiative. They move from asking "What do I do?" to "How can I help my team improve?".
Let’s stop letting middle leadership be an accidental role. Define it, resource it, and watch your school’s capacity explode.
Develop Capacity
Once defined, capacity building can commence. Best of all, you don’t need to fly in consultants, or send staff away for middle leadership training.
Leadership development, much like classroom instruction, should recognize that our learners have different needs and have varying levels of understanding. To help you differentiate your leadership development opportunities, check out my Middle Leader Lab (The MiLL).
Do you want to save some PD funds and increase the impactfulness of your leadership development initiatives? If you would like to develop your facilitation capabilities with the intent of developing your schools middle leadership capacity, then click here to learn more about Claire Peet’s Facilitation Academy.
Combined, each community will provide you with sufficient guidance to differentiate your engagement with each leader, as well provide sufficient content for different topics enabling colleagues to constructively explore issues within their context.
