About Us

This is an exciting and unique opportunity to support the next phase of Challenge Partners’ development and ambitious 5-year growth strategy. Established in 2011, Challenge Partners has matured into a well-established and respected nation-wide network of practitioners who engage in hard-edged collaboration and mutual accountability to ensure every school community can benefit from the combined wisdom of the education system. Our ambition at CP is that all staff have opportunities to lead their defined areas of work and initiatives that contribute to the wider development and success of the organization. Some staff also have formal leadership positions or responsibilities (for business areas and/or people) and this document seeks to describe some of the features of good leadership that are particularly relevant to them. Development as a leader is a lifetime’s work and never complete. It takes humility, focused effort and a good deal of optimism. It isn’t easy and we all make many mistakes along the way. The trick is to celebrate what we’re good at and acknowledge and work on the things that don’t come as easily. Good leadership doesn’t happen by accident, it is intentionally developed and practiced. Good CP leaders… • Have willing followers - good CP leaders know that their power as a leader comes not from the position they hold, but from their personal skill in inspiring and influencing those around them. They do not expect respect, they earn it. They rarely “tell” colleagues what to do, but are skillful in encouraging and enabling them to do what needs to be done, giving them agency and their own opportunities to lead. • Hold the vision for their area of work and define and lead the strategy to achieve it - good CP leaders can describe and generate excitement about the vision for a piece of work, linking it to our mission, values and strategic objectives. They take time to secure buy-in from colleagues across the organization to this vision, and can describe the practical steps to achieve it, and the contribution particular individuals and tasks will make. • Invest in relationships - people buy into people as much (if not more) than they buy into compelling visions. Good CP leaders take the time to build relationships, going beyond the transactional to understand their colleagues as individuals with unique motivators, aspirations, concerns and so on. They use this knowledge to adapt how they work to meet different colleague’s needs, and lead with humanity, humility and compassion. They also share themselves appropriately, allowing others to get to know them as a fellow human. • Encourage, enable and support the development of others - the best CP leaders identify and invest in the leaders of the future, thinking carefully about their development, empowering them in their roles, and identifying opportunities and providing support for their growth. • Put the needs of the organization before their own - as a charity, we exist to serve schools and ultimately children. Everything we do needs to be evaluated against our charitable purpose, and our ambitions as individuals come second to that. This doesn’t mean martyring ourselves - we want CP to be a great place where people want to work, have excellent opportunities and support for their growth and wellbeing - but, particularly as leaders, we need to be able to take the step back that allows us to look dispassionately at what is in the best interest of the organization, putting aside our personal preferences and desires. • Demonstrate the six Challenge Partners values in all that they do - as leaders we are constantly watched and must hold ourselves (as others will) to the highest standards of integrity and model the values we expect everyone in the organization to demonstrate. We are honest when we make mistakes and humble in seeking and accepting feedback on our leadership, recognizing that none of us will ever be perfect. • As a leadership team (whether the formal LT or as a wider group of leaders across the organization), we work collaboratively and act collectively - this means that while we take ownership of our objectives and responsibility for our work, we rarely do it alone. We seek input and agreement from others, particularly in the early stages of setting the vision and at key decision points. We ask for help. When discussing each others’ work, we show respect and sensitivity, offering challenge as needed on the issues at hand, but never make this personal. Once we have decided something (whether by consensus or other means), we align behind that decision, whatever our personal view (“collective cabinet responsibility”).