Authentic Leadership

Tuesday 17 March 2026, 3:00pm - 4:00pm (UK); 11.00am - 12.00pm (US/Canada EDT)

Do you feel like you have to put a mask on when you go to work? We know from coaching so many school and trust leaders that many do, feeling like they have to live up to a model of leadership that is all-knowing, endlessly cheerful and utterly dedicated, for example – the stereotype of a superhero leader. But although we may think that people want strong leaders, in actual fact, people generally thrive the most when their leaders are simply authentic, open and self-aware. In this one hour webinar with leadership coach Jo Lally we will:

• Consider the case for authenticity in leadership and why it matters
• Explore the idea of ‘blind spots’ and ‘shadows’ and how we can gain new awareness of these
• Learn how to start to integrate a fuller picture of ourselves as leaders, shadows and all and balance authenticity and adaptability

Empowering your team

Thursday 30 April 2026, 3:30pm - 4:30pm (UK); 10.30am - 11.30am (US/Canada EDT)

At the heart of every successful school or organisation is a culture that values, develops, and empowers people. As a school, college or trust leader, your ability to create such a culture directly impacts not only staff engagement and retention, but ultimately student success. Yet building truly people-centric organisations - where leadership is shared, initiative and innovation are encouraged, and everyone feels ownership of the mission - requires us to examine and often reshape how we think about power and relationships.

Many leaders face a common challenge: while they genuinely want to empower their staff, unconscious patterns in how they communicate and share power can create barriers to genuine empowerment. Sometimes our very efforts to support colleagues can be interpreted as micromanagement and what we intend as guidance might feel like control. Our desire to maintain high standards might accidentally suppress innovation.

In this one hour webinar with leadership coach Jo Lally we will:

• Explore how different power dynamics impact empowerment
• Invite you to consider how power dynamics influence your relationship and impact your school or trust’s culture
• Explore communication patterns that may be limiting genuine empowerment and how to change these

Building a culture of trust

Thursday 21 May 2026, 9:30am - 10:30am(UK); 4:30pm - 5:30pm (Singapore); 6:30pm - 7:30pm (Australia AEST)

Of course, most school, college or trust leaders are all too aware of the importance of building the right relationships, but many still find it tricky to strike the right balance between ‘being professional’, building personal connections and creating a collaborative culture. Whereas in the past you could simply put on a professional persona at work, nowadays people expect to be able to talk about a range of personal, sensitive and even controversial issues – and they expect leaders to be real. In other cases, leaders strive for a ‘culture of nice’ but this can come at the cost of patching over tensions, softening feedback and avoiding challenge. Unintentionally this can create relationships where things are left unsaid and problems pushed below the surface. Over time the niceness of the culture can become a roadblock to improvement or forward progress.

In this one hour webinar with leadership coach Jo Lally we will explore what it takes to build a culture of trust where connecting more authentically and building more open and trusting relationships enables staff to acknowledge their concerns and vulnerabilities and for everyone to be able to successfully broach important topics that previously had seemed too difficult. We will:

• Explore the transactional and the relational elements that contribute to building trust
• Share four core principles for managing a ‘difficult’ conversation that will help to unlock genuine, two-way dialogue
• Share practical tips that will help you to challenge others in ways that will strengthen the relationship rather than create distance

Influence and Leadership

Thursday 2 July 2026, 3:00pm - 4:00pm (UK); 10.00am - 11.00am (US/Canada EDT)

Much of what you will need to achieve as a school, college or trust leader, will come down to your ability to influence without resorting to your positional authority. Whilst you may be able to issue a directive and expect that, in the main, your staff will comply, many of your stakeholders, including parents, governors/trustees and your peer leaders in your trust or system will require a very different approach to gain their buy-in.

In this one hour webinar with leadership coach Jo Lally we will explore the nature and inter-personal dynamics of influence and what it takes to embrace influence as a key part of your leadership toolkit. We will cover:

• The mindset of a great influencer and how this unlocks new ways to find the best way forward and bring others with you
• Common influencing styles and how you can maximise your personal effectiveness as an influencer
• The barriers that can prevent an influencing conversation from moving forward and the transitions and leadership practices needed to break through these and make progress towards a shared solution