Leader for Creative Thinking - Person Specification
Purpose
This activity helps you to consider the qualities of a creative leader in order to reflect on your own confidence and ability, and recognise which areas you might need to develop. Whilst also supporting you to recognise who else in your school may already inhabit these qualities or how you can develop potential creative leaders. It can be completed individually or as a team with colleagues.
Resources and Setting Up
Creative Habits
Leader for Creative Thinking - Person Specification
Red, yellow and green pens
Duration
45 minutes
Getting going
If you are not yet familiar with the Creative Habits take some time to study the model before you begin this activity, follow the link at the bottom of the page.
Step 1
(3 minutes)
The core idea of Leading for Creative Thinking is that there are ten key actions that creative leaders undertake. They are:
The Change Process
Ability to articulate a clear description of the process of change, so everyone understands how young people’s creativity will be developed.
Develop Leaders
Identify and nurture creative change catalysts/teacher leaders.
Change the Culture
Create a culture in which creativity is promoted and valued in every aspect of the school’s life and reflected in the school’s improvement plan.
Rethink Structures
Build creative thinking into all resourcing.
Develop a Creative Curriculum
Embed creativity into a coherent curriculum.
Rethink Pedagogy
Develop staff confidence in using teaching and learning methods that cultivate creativity.
Track Progression in Creativity
Find ways to assess that explicitly recognise progress in the development of young people’s creativity.
Ensure Professional Learning
Make creativity a focus of staff professional learning.
Collaborate with External Partners
Invest in external partners and funding to help develop creativity.
Reflect and Evaluate
Explore, reflect on and evaluate your school’s journey to creativity.
Step 2
(17 minutes)
Once you have a grasp of the Creative Habits of Mind and the ten actions creative leaders undertake, open the Creative Leader - Person Specification resource.
Imagine a job advert for a creative leader where the qualifications call for sound Creative Habits of Mind and the role entails carrying out the ten actions from step 1. What additional skills and qualities might the job require? Of these, what would be essential and what would be desirable?
For example, willingness to be brave might be an essential whereas, confidence in your own creativity may be desirable.
On the resource, use the outer star to identify up to ten essential and desirable qualities.
Step 3
(10 minutes)
Use different colour pens to signal which of the essential and desirable qualities:
Green pen - you think you possess
Yellow pen - you think you have to a degree
Red pen - you do not have
At this point, it would be useful if you have a colleague who can look at your assessment to give an objective viewpoint.
Reflecting Together
- How has this activity made you feel about your ability to, or potential to, lead for creative thinking?
- What is different about the qualities you identified to those that might fit the role of a leader, in general?
- Thinking about the creative leadership qualities you marked as yellow or red, how can you develop these qualities, or who can you bring on board who already has these qualities?
- As a leader, how do you, or can you, nurture these qualities in your staff?
- Compare your essential and desirable qualities with someone else’s from the Leading for Creative thinking community, how do they compare? What’s similar and what’s different?