What if the one thing that would make the biggest difference to your wellbeing, strategic clarity and positive school culture as a school leader isn’t another strategy or initiative, it’s simply more time to think?

In this episode of Well-Led Schools, I’m joined for the third time by Aimee Presnall - leadership coach, TEDx speaker and founder of Wellnest. After more than 16 years in education, Aimee built her career around one observation that kept repeating itself: brilliant school leaders burning out while the systems around them kept asking for more.

Aimee’s recent TEDx talk landed on something leaders feel in their bones but rarely hear said out loud: that we’re treating the shadow, not the source; that when leaders don’t have time to think, everything downstream suffers, their clarity, their team’s culture, and ultimately their students.

We go deep on what actually changes when leaders are given space to develop the human skills needed to lead people well, why one-off PD rarely shifts anything, and what it takes for schools to build a genuine coaching culture rather than a tick-box one.

In this episode:

• Why leaders don’t need more things to do, but rather need more time to think
• Clarity vs certainty: what staff want vs what leaders can actually give
• Why giving yourself dedicated time to think feels so difficult
• How recognising your default, high-pressure habits creates the fastest leadership shift
• What one-off PD misses in comparison to navigating the “messy middle” of long-term coaching
• The three pathways into middle leadership (aspiring, accidental, anointed), and how they shape your mindset

LINKS AND RESOURCES

Connect with Aimee Presnall via:

Wellnest: www.well-nest.com.au

TED Talk: youtu.be/qjGM4esebQU?si=5eyFpR_-0KbUngty

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/aimee-parkinson/

Connect with me via:

Website: adriennehornby.com.au

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/adrienne-hornby-a4126a205/

Email: hello@adriennehornby.com.au

School Partnerships: adriennehornby.com.au/school-partnerships/