National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) Leading and Developing People Flashcards

24 sample cards from the Leading and Developing People deck

Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.

1. Name three evidence-informed strategies a leader can use to improve staff retention.

   Reducing unnecessary workload, providing high-quality development and career progression, offering flexible working, ensuring supportive leadership and wellbeing, and giving staff autonomy and recognition.

2. What is the distinction between workload and wellbeing?

   Workload is the quantity and intensity of tasks staff must do; wellbeing is staff's overall mental, physical and emotional state. Excessive workload harms wellbeing, but wellbeing is also affected by autonomy, support and culture.

3. What is succession planning?

   The proactive process of identifying and developing internal staff to fill key leadership and critical roles in the future, ensuring continuity and a pipeline of capable leaders.

4. What is the difference between succession planning and talent management?

   Talent management is the broad, ongoing process of attracting, developing and retaining capable staff across the organisation; succession planning is the specific subset focused on preparing identified individuals for key future roles.

5. What is a 'talent pipeline' or 'leadership pipeline'?

   A structured progression of staff being developed through increasing levels of responsibility (e.g. classroom teacher to middle to senior leader) so the school always has ready internal candidates for vacancies.

6. Why is over-reliance on a single 'indispensable' individual a succession-planning risk?

   It creates a single point of failure - if that person leaves, critical knowledge and capability are lost. Distributing knowledge and developing successors mitigates this 'key person' risk.

7. What is the purpose of performance management (appraisal) in schools?

   To improve performance and pupil outcomes by setting objectives, reviewing performance against them and the Teachers' Standards, identifying development needs, and informing decisions on pay progression.

8. What does the SMART acronym stand for when setting appraisal objectives?

   Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

9. What are the three core stages of the annual appraisal cycle?

   Planning (setting objectives), monitoring/support (ongoing review and development through the year), and reviewing/assessing performance against objectives at year end.

10. What is the difference between a developmental and an accountability purpose of appraisal, and why can tension arise?

    Developmental appraisal aims to grow capability through open reflection; accountability appraisal links to pay and judgement. Tension arises because staff may be less candid about weaknesses when the same process determines pay.

11. What is 'distributed leadership'?

    A model in which leadership responsibility and decision-making are shared across multiple people at different levels, rather than concentrated in a single formal leader, drawing on the expertise of many.

12. What is the role of middle leaders in a school?

    Middle leaders (e.g. heads of department/year, subject and phase leaders) lead teams, drive curriculum and teaching quality, hold colleagues to account, and translate whole-school strategy into classroom practice - they are the 'engine room' of school improvement.

13. Distinguish delegation from abdication in distributed leadership.

    Delegation entrusts a task with appropriate support, authority and accountability retained by the leader; abdication is handing off responsibility without support, clarity or follow-up, leaving people unsupported.

14. What are common risks of poorly implemented distributed leadership?

    Role ambiguity, overload of staff given extra responsibility without time or training, inconsistency, accountability gaps, and tokenism where authority is not genuinely shared.

15. What are the eight steps of Kotter's model for leading change?

    Create urgency; build a guiding coalition; form a strategic vision; enlist a volunteer army (communicate the vision); enable action by removing barriers; generate short-term wins; sustain acceleration; and institute (anchor) change in the culture.

16. In Lewin's three-stage change model, what are the three stages?

    Unfreeze (prepare and create readiness for change), Change/Move (implement the new ways of working), and Refreeze (embed and stabilise the change as the new norm).

17. Name four common reasons staff resist change.

    Fear of the unknown/loss; lack of trust or poor communication; perceived increase in workload; disagreement with the rationale; past negative experiences of change; and lack of involvement in the decision.

18. What is a key leadership strategy for reducing resistance to change?

    Genuine engagement - involving staff early, communicating a clear rationale and vision, listening to concerns, providing support and quick wins, and giving people agency in how change is implemented.

19. What distinguishes a healthy feedback culture in a school?

    Feedback is frequent, two-way, specific, non-judgemental and focused on improvement rather than blame, with high trust ('psychological safety') so staff feel safe to give, receive and act on it.

20. What is 'psychological safety' and why does it matter for communication and feedback?

    Coined by Amy Edmondson, it is a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking; people speak up, admit mistakes and challenge ideas without fear, which is essential for honest feedback and learning.

21. Why is timely, specific feedback more effective than vague, delayed feedback?

    Specific feedback tells the recipient exactly what to change, and timeliness lets them act while the situation is fresh - vague, late feedback is hard to act on and reduces its impact on practice.

22. What is a structured approach for holding a difficult conversation with a colleague?

    Prepare with facts and a clear purpose; choose a private setting; state the issue specifically and factually; listen to their perspective; focus on behaviour and impact (not personality); agree concrete next steps; and follow up.

23. In conflict resolution, what do the five Thomas-Kilmann conflict-handling modes represent?

    Competing (assertive, uncooperative), Accommodating (unassertive, cooperative), Avoiding (unassertive, uncooperative), Collaborating (assertive and cooperative - win/win), and Compromising (moderate on both).

24. What is the difference between 'positions' and 'interests' in conflict resolution?

    A position is what a person says they want (their stated demand); an interest is the underlying need or concern behind it. Resolving conflict by addressing shared interests, not fixed positions, enables 'win-win' outcomes.

What this deck covers

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