You’re training skills. They need belief system work.
If you manage experienced Heads of Department in FE, chances are you’ve invested in their development. Leadership development programmes for women in further education have never been more accessible. AoC events. Maybe an external qualification or two.
And yet. They’re still not putting their hands up for senior roles.
So what’s going on?
Here’s something worth considering. Most leadership development is brilliant at building capability. It teaches strategy, finance, quality frameworks, people management. All genuinely useful.
What it doesn’t touch is the conversation happening inside your HoD’s head at 3am.
“Can I really do this with young children at home?” “Will I have to become someone I don’t want to be?” “Is now the right time?”
Those aren’t skills gaps. They’re belief system gaps. And no leadership programme is designed to fix them, because that’s not what they’re built for.
The result? You have an HoD who now knows HOW to be a senior leader. She just doesn’t believe she CAN be one. Your training budget hasn’t touched the thing that’s actually keeping her stuck.
This isn’t a criticism of leadership development for women in FE. It’s genuinely valuable. But it’s solving a different problem to the one you have.
Skills and belief systems both need investment. Most organisations are only funding one of them.
When did you last have a conversation with your HoD about what’s actually stopping her, not just what skills she needs?
