Will you be a Supervisor or a Leader this Year?

Written By PD Academia

It’s a new school year. The timetables are finalised (mostly), everyone has been assigned a ‘team’, and somewhere between setting up your classroom and checking in on new staff, you might be wondering: What kind of leader do I need to be this year?

For some of us, that means stepping into vision-setting, empowering others, and cultivating shared goals. For others, it might mean just keeping things moving:

  • Clarifying priorities, 

  • Managing communication, and 

  • Reducing ambiguity. 

Both are valid. In fact, sometimes your team doesn’t need a leader in the full sense. What they need is a supervisor, someone to bring clarity, rhythm, and consistency.

Let’s not mistake one for the other.

Working Groups vs. Teams

Google’s re:Work project, which studied what makes teams effective, draws a clear line between working groups and teams (Google re:Work):

This incredibly simple, yet powerful distinction, has become the cornerstone for all of PD Academia’s middle leadership development work. It personally helped me reflect on a mistake I made many years ago, and still make today. I’d taken on a new coordinator role and was excited to transform the way our team worked. I introduced protocols, ran planning meetings, and set goals about improving parent engagement. The problem? The team wasn’t interested in parent engagement. New staff were still adjusting, others were waiting on structural decisions from leadership, and truthfully, they just needed someone to tell them what to do. I was trying to lead when I should’ve been supervising.

That lesson stayed with me.

Don’t Force a Team that Doesn’t Exist

Being a leader means bringing people together toward a common goal. But what if your group doesn’t share the same challenges, schedules, or priorities yet? Trying to force a team structure on what is essentially a working group just frustrates everyone.

Sometimes, the best thing we can do is act as a supervisor:

  • Clarify what’s most important

  • Make sure no one is being pulled in five directions

  • Help people feel like they’re making progress

That’s not a step down. That’s responsive leadership.

Ask This First

Before you create vision boards or plan team charters this year, ask yourself:

Is this a team, or a working group?

If it’s a team, lead them. Build psychological safety, invite shared decision-making, and cultivate trust (Project Aristotle).

If it’s a working group, supervise them well. Make their lives a bit easier. Help them get through the fog. Once they’re steady, you can start building the conditions for real teamwork.

Either way, you’re doing important work.

To take a deeper dive into these concepts, join Claire in Guangzhou this semester for the ACAMIS Leading Effective Teams workshop, designed specifically for middle leaders.

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