Leadership Goals and Actions: Are You Focusing on the Right Things?
Updated: Oct 15
When working with school leaders on creating a clear vision for school improvement, curriculum development and professional development, I notice that people often tend towards one of two ways of thinking.
There are those who know what they want to achieve but spend less time thinking about the actions they need to take to get there. We could call them goal-oriented.
Then there are those who know what they want to do but spend less time thinking about what they want to achieve by doing those things. We could call them action-oriented.
Both approaches have their strengths. Both have their pitfalls.
And both are relevant whether you're a headteacher, a senior leader, a middle leader or a subject leader.
Are You Goal-Oriented or Action-Oriented?
When planning for the future, it's worth distinguishing between two different questions:
Goals: What do I want to achieve?
Actions: What will I do to achieve it?
They might sound like much the same thing, but they're not.
Imagine you're a school leader thinking about how to improve teaching across your school.
You might identify goals such as:
Teachers consistently using effective approaches to check pupils' understanding.
Curriculum plans making the intended learning clear.
Pupils with SEND being supported to access ambitious learning.
Professional development leading to meaningful changes in classroom practice.
These describe what you want to see happening. They're the outcomes you're working towards.
Now consider some possible actions:
Carry out lesson visits.
Review curriculum plans.
Discuss adaptive teaching with staff.
Organise professional development.
Look at pupils' work and assess what it tells you about learning.
These describe things you can do.
Notice the difference? The goals describe the destination; the actions describe how you intend to get there.
Which One Are You?
To get a sense of which camp you might fall into, and to root this in subject leadership, think about the subject you lead in your school and ask yourself just this one question:
What lies in the future for my subject or area of responsibility?
If you write your answers down, you can then begin to assess them to get a sense of how many of your answers are either goals or actions.
If your answers are things like 'for the curriculum to be delivered with fidelity to the plans' or 'for children's outcomes to improve', then you are thinking of the things you want to achieve: your goals.
If your answers are along the lines of 'to observe lessons' and 'to look at children's outcomes', then you are thinking of what you can do: your actions.
Perhaps there is a middle way too, and your answers are a balance of both. You think of goals and actions.
Now consider what your answers tell you. Do you tend to focus more on what you want to achieve, or on what you can do? Neither is necessarily wrong, but recognising your natural tendency can help you identify what you might be overlooking.
And although we've started with your subject or area of responsibility, the same question applies to any leadership role. What lies in the future for your team, your school or the area you're responsible for? And are you thinking about both the goals you want to achieve and the actions that will help you get there?
The Pitfalls of Focusing on Goals or Actions
Neither goal-oriented nor action-oriented thinking is inherently wrong. The problem comes when one dominates at the expense of the other.
When You Focus Too Much on Goals
If you're naturally goal-oriented, you might have a clear picture of what you want your school, team or subject to achieve. You can describe the future you're working towards and the difference you want to make. That's useful, but it isn't enough.
Without thinking carefully about the actions required, your goals can remain aspirations. You might know exactly what you want to change without having a realistic plan for bringing about that change.
A goal without a plan for achieving it is little more than a pipe dream.
When You Focus Too Much on Actions
If you're naturally action-oriented, you'll probably never be short of things to do: you might have a list of monitoring activities, meetings to arrange, documents to review and initiatives to implement. You'll feel busy, and you'll have plenty of evidence of the work you've carried out, but what difference is all that activity making?
It's possible to spend a great deal of time doing things without moving any closer to the outcomes you want. You can complete every action on your list and still fail to achieve your goal. Activity isn't the same as progress.
Is There a Third Way?
The answer isn't to choose between being goal-oriented and action-oriented. Rather than thinking only about what you want to achieve or only about what you want to do, you could make a deliberate effort to consider both.
You start with a clear idea of what you want the future to look like, then identify the actions that will help you get there. You keep the goals in mind as you work through your actions, checking that what you're doing is still relevant to what you're trying to achieve.
This means that your goals inform your actions, and your actions are continually evaluated against your goals.
It's not enough to set a destination and hope you'll get there. Neither is it enough to keep moving without knowing where you're going. Effective leadership means holding the two together.
When Goals and Actions Don't Align
There's another problem to consider. You might have clearly defined goals and a long list of actions, but the two might not actually connect.
You want to improve pupils' understanding, for example, but your planned actions focus mainly on producing new documentation. You want to improve adaptive teaching, but your professional development doesn't help teachers make different decisions in the classroom.
The actions might be worthwhile in their own right, but are they likely to achieve the intended goal?
Effective leadership requires more than having goals and completing actions. It requires making sure that your actions are likely to move you towards your goals.
How to Align Your Leadership Goals and Actions
The solution is to think separately about your goals and your actions, then deliberately bring them together. Start by asking yourself two questions:
Goals: What do I want to see happening?
Think about the future you're trying to create. What do you want to be different? What should pupils experience? What should staff be able to do? What should your team or organisation achieve? Try to describe the intended outcome rather than jumping straight to the work you could carry out.
Actions: What will I do to help make that happen?
Once you've identified your goals, consider the actions most likely to bring them about. Think about what needs to change, what support people will need, what resources are available and how you'll know whether your actions are having the intended effect.
Then ask one further question:
Will these actions actually help me achieve my goals?
Don't assume that an action is useful simply because it's familiar, easy to organise or something you've always done. Consider the connection between the action and the intended outcome. Be prepared to adjust your plans if the evidence suggests that they're not working.
This is also where you need to be realistic about time and capacity. You won't be able to do everything at once. A clear understanding of your goals should help you decide which actions matter most and which can wait.
The third way, then, is to move continually between goals and actions. Your goals help you choose your actions, and your actions help you assess whether you're making progress towards your goals. Neither is an afterthought; both are essential parts of effective leadership.
Putting It into Practice: A Leadership Example
Imagine your goal is for teachers to make more effective use of assessment during lessons.
An action-oriented approach might lead you to schedule lesson visits, introduce a monitoring form and arrange a staff meeting. Those actions might be useful, but they don't automatically mean that teachers will make better use of assessment.
A more deliberate approach starts with the goal. What would you expect to see teachers doing differently? How would you know whether pupils were benefiting? What knowledge or skills might teachers need to develop?
You could then choose actions that directly support those changes, such as exploring effective questioning, modelling approaches to checking understanding, giving teachers opportunities to practise and reviewing what changes in classroom practice.
You'd also consider what happens next. Are the actions helping? What evidence do you have? What needs to be adapted?
The point isn't that lesson visits, monitoring forms or staff meetings are wrong. It's that their value depends on what they're intended to achieve and whether they contribute to that outcome.
And this is where the third way comes into its own. You don't simply set a goal and then carry out a predetermined set of actions. You use the goal to inform your actions, then use what you learn from those actions to refine your approach and, where necessary, reconsider your plans.
The same principle applies to curriculum development, subject leadership, staff development and school improvement planning.
What Are Your Leadership Goals and Actions?
Whether you're leading a school, a team or a subject, it's worth taking a moment to reflect on how you approach improvement.
Do you tend to start with the things you want to achieve, or with the things you want to do? Or do you naturally move between the two?
Whichever comes most naturally, make sure you give proper attention to both.
Be clear about the future you're working towards. Choose actions that are likely to help you get there. And keep checking that the work you're doing is making the difference you intended.
Leadership isn't simply about having good intentions or keeping busy. It's about bringing goals and actions together, continually checking that they align, and making the adjustments needed to achieve something worthwhile.
Need Help Turning Your Leadership Priorities into Action?
Knowing what you want to achieve is an important starting point. Working out how to get there, bringing others with you and making sure your actions lead to meaningful improvement can be more challenging.
I work with school leaders to develop clear strategies, strengthen curriculum and teaching, and make improvement work more purposeful. Whether you're reviewing your school's priorities, developing your curriculum or thinking about the next steps for your team, I can help you connect the bigger picture with the practical work that makes a difference.
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