Am I being put on competency?

[PithyMauveZebra]

I’ve been working at a school for a while. Less than a year. The department is very very fractured. Not only that but I’m a strong personality and have snapped a couple of times at work because of the pressure.

I have had my manager tell me that one of the senior leaders is now stepping in for a few weeks to provide some support to me in the department and when I spoke to him, he talked about his experience and how he struggled as a hod when he did it years ago, working with fractured or tricky teams much like mine and so on and so fourth. I’ve found I’ve had a tricky relationship with my manager too.

I have spoken to a friend and now she’s saying be weary of competency. They might be going down that route. But I said surely they would have to mention that I need support or have targets given in my appraisal. Or can they start things like this? I’m a bit worried as to what’s going on?

I think they key thing here is it’s teachings. And SMT can put ridiculous pressure on for no reason other than being a bully.

l’d just aim to get out. Teaching is toxic at the moment.

It sounds like you are struggling. For personal reasons, I do think that people who are struggling with their mental health should have some form of supervision in the workplace. Particularly where vulnerable people are involved (students in this case).

It seems like the first step yes, so that if they do anything formal like an action plan they can say that they already put support in place.

My line manager has come across as intimidating on a few occasions but that’s what puts me in fight or flight and in those meetings it’s tense. 2 of my team are also upper management so of course they collide with my manager so when I say the push back occurs it’s because they are friends

If this is the first step. Does it need to be brought to my attention first. My appraisal was fine. Nothing raised then. I was asked if I wanted to go on and do senior manager training. Surely at that juncture a concern is raised. Also, I’m only on a temp contract. It seems a waste to invest in capability on someone who’s about to stand down soon

I probably should include on this post that I’ve never been in a position of a line manager, and I was given the role with no guidance.

So there’s hope that permanency and deliverancy can become words too.

I probably should include on this post that I’ve never been in a position of a line manager, and I was given the role with no guidance.

I think it’s worth just opening the dictionary on this one because you’re making yourself look a little silly.

So as someone who line manages a lot (in a different sector)

I think its one of 2 things...
either it's you OR your line manager who is "being dealt with".

So i would ask the senior leader for clarity

some rehashed version of...
Can i clarify: is your intervention here to provide me with the support the line manager in your view failed to provide or is it because there are concerns about my performance?
i'm confused as this is temporary postion with 3 months left and my appraisal went well and i was offered senior manager training

It's not clear whether you accepted this training or not...

Good luck!

See what scares me is that I’m being made to look incompetent though. And as I said. Heater discussions have taken place on two occasions with my line manager so I realised I need to stop and take a second. My manager is aggressive at times. The old line manager was never in and when I arrived I called out all the things that were not done. But they could easily be trying to get rid of me. That’s what scares me.

Don't waste time "being scared".

Seek clarity, you can then explain your position, show willingness and demonstrate a good attitude..

Separatey contact teachers union and update your cv

Which massively impacts on the teaching otherwise managers wouldn't exist. You're really seeing this from your own point of view only.

Are you managing people in your department, who are otherwise senior to you? For example, a Geography teacher who is a AH?

One of the things I was very conscious of, was to avoid several major changes quickly. You need to carry people with you and changing everything rapidly isn’t the way to do it.

If your line manager is telling you that some aspect of your work hasn’t been good enough, he or she won’t be impressed if you tell them not to speak to you in that way. It’s their job to manage you. Yes, you may be under pressure, but so is everyone working in a school and you don’t know what pressure they have either.

If you have a senior leader coming to support you, see what you can learn from them and use this as experience for your next role.

What are X, Y and Z?
Are you leading an historically underperforming subject in terms of results?
Are your results good, but other accountability aspects lacking (eg inspection readiness)?
Or is it a concern with your people management generally?
Are you temporary in the leadership role, or in the school?

I don’t see the relevancy of your comment.

It’s probably not formal but they may use it as a way to back up not keeping you on in a management role.

I think it’s always going to be difficult to manage people as subject HOD when they are assistant or deputy head. They are probably too busy to implement the changes you say are necessary.

If you are only in post another 3 months maybe hold back on all the changes & focus more on team building.

Do you have a non management contract to go back to once this role has finished? Is someone coming back from sabbatical or maternity leave?

So in this situation, I'd sit down with my manager and find out what it was that they actually wanted me to do. I'd come up with a 5 point plan to do that and find out what they were going to do to support me, and to back me up with the colleagues who were opposed to it. I'd also only do that if I was officially in charge, otherwise I'd step back and leave said manager to it.

Sounds like you are an acting head of department? Is the perm person returning from eg ML or have they hired someone new? That is relevant. It will always be hard to effect change on a temp role.

Are you perm at the school as a regular teacher or are you leaving after the 3 months? I think that is also quite important.

I’m not sure you’ve helped yourself when snapping back at feedback. But I’m not clear at all what sort of stuff we are talking about here that hasn’t been happening.

I think @MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack puts it very well. I too doubt that with only three months left they would put you on a capability process as these things take time to progress but I can imagine they’re trying to fill some gaps and support you in your role and as others have suggested, you will benefit from engaging with the process and admitting any areas where you’re struggling. I personally wouldn’t put someone on capability with only three months but with outcomes to deliver, I would need to find resource from elsewhere. People management, whether that’s line management or working cross departmentally or just having discussions with your manager, is a skill you can learn, so id ask for some training.

You might want to look at “having difficult conversations” training.

They’ll return from ML and I stand down to subordinate position.

Then they don’t want you to make big changes they just want you to keep things ticking over nicely. You are sticking your head above a parapet for no reason and putting a target on your back.
This isn’t your department you are looking after it. Change your approach, and seem as if you are following the advice of whoever has been put in place to support you and all will be fine. Butt heads with them as well and you look like a trouble causer.

I was instructed to make these changes.

Then create an email trail with whoever instructed you to. Literally step by step ‘as per our discussion I’m going to implement blah blah by doing this and that’. Every time.
But you can’t just argue with people because you’ve ’got stuff going on’. If this is you having your first go at management, you want there to be a second!