Why agile leadership matters more than perfect plans
Simon Breakspear
14 October 2025
If you’ve led a team for more than a week, you already know this: improvement work rarely goes to plan. Schools are alive with people, relationships, and surprises. Things shift. Priorities collide. What worked last term doesn’t always work in this one.
That’s why rigid, long-range improvement plans so often disappoint. They look neat on paper but struggle in the messy reality of teaching and learning. We need a different approach – one that keeps direction clear but stays responsive to what’s really happening. That’s where agile leadership comes in.
The Idea: Agile Leadership for School Improvement
Agile leadership is about clarity on ends, flexibility on means. You stay focused on the impact you want and the problems you’re solving, while adapting your strategies and implementation as you learn what works in your context.
30-Second Version
Agile leadership is a disciplined way of leading through uncertainty by learning, adjusting, and improving together over time.
- Start small and move fast: Lead focused 5- to 8-week bursts of collective action.
- Learn as you go: Use quick monitoring loops to see what’s working and what needs adjusting.
- Iterate and refine: Each cycle builds on what you’ve learned, improving both your approach and your impact.
By working in these short, structured cycles, you turn improvement into a continuous process of action, reflection, and adjustment that actually fits how schools work.
The Full Read
Schools aren’t predictable systems you can neatly control. They’re complex, human places shaped by relationships, culture, and context. That complexity means improvement can never be fully planned in advance. It must be figured out as you go.
Over the past decade, I’ve worked with thousands of leaders who have shifted from rigid planning to iterative improvement. The difference is striking.
Instead of chasing perfect plans, they establish clear priorities, test practical changes, and build momentum through repeated learning cycles.
Here are the three practices that define agile leadership for school improvement:
1. Clear Thinking
Create shared clarity around a small number of high-impact priorities. Everyone should know what matters most and why. Skip the perfect plan and focus instead on clear purpose and shared strategic direction.
2. Responsive Execution
Guide your teams through short, achievable cycles of focused action. Keep the work visible, reflect together, and adapt when conditions change.
3. Lean Monitoring
Keep your monitoring loops lean and regular. Ask simple questions like “What early signs show we’re on track?” and “Where are we seeing variability in implementation quality?” Use this evidence to make better decisions mid-course rather than waiting for annual data reviews.
When leadership teams embed these practices, they create rhythm, momentum, and coherence across their schools. Improvement becomes less about rigid delivery of a plan and more about continuous, collective learning towards impact.
Small step → Make meaningful progress. Pick one improvement goal that matters this term. Over the next 5 to 8 weeks, run it as a short cycle of action, reflection, and adjustment. Notice how this disciplined iteration builds focus, energy, and progress across your team.
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