As a Principal or School Board Member:
The answer to these questions is the person that you might term a ‘critical friend’, or a ‘mentor’.
A ‘critical friend’ is a trusted person who asks you provocative questions, provides data to be examined through another lens, and offers a critique of your work dispassionately and without political fear or favour as a friend. A critical friend is an advocate for the success of your work who offers mentoring – a professional sounding board – who is available to help you in the good times and bad.
Optimal School Governance offers an annual critical friendship service that provides mentoring support for boards and Heads of Schools. These can be tailored to suit individual school needs and budgets.
Mentoring is designed to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be.
Mentorship is not about exerting authority; it is about forming a relationship based on support, trust, and respect. It is a mutual conversation that acknowledges and embraces both perspectives.
Send us an e-mail to find out about our Annual Critical Friendship and Mentoring support that is INDIVIDUALLY TAILORED for the specific needs of each school.