I am very much looking forward to spending a day with everyone on Module B of the MiDDLEGROUND leadership programme on November 5th. It was a rich experience for me last year to take part in such an ambitious and worthwhile programme bringing leaders from several continents together to explore the complexity of leadership. My own contribution will be to lead a session on Mentoring-Coaching. We will be looking at how you can use mentoring-coaching both as a tool for personal growth and a strategy for organisational transformation. My own background is in education. I was a headteacher for 12 years. Now I spend most of my time, as Chair of LEAD, working with school leaders in helping them develop cultures based upon enquiry and dialogue. My work is driven by a concern and a passion. My concern is that we are in danger of losing sight of our moral purpose as educators, instead becoming obsessed with meeting quantitative goals. This goes far beyond schools. Senge, in his book Presence, refers to a management of fear which “pervades modern institutions from businesses driven to meet Wall Street expectations to schools driven to improve scores on standardised tests.” My passionate belief is that there is a robust alternative to command and control leadership which brings out the huge human potential that exists within every organisation. We work closely with Swiss Cottage Special School in London and help to train their staff. It has been on a transformational journey over a ten year period moving in the headteacher’s words from “telling to asking.” Mentoring-coaching is embedded in every aspect of the organisation. It is an exciting and uplifting place to work in. And it meets the external tests – judged outstanding in its last four inspections. Does this provide a model and a framework for you on your own leadership journey? I look forward to exploring this further with you on November 5th. Simon Williams, 19 October 2013