It’s part-way through the autumn term and you’re in the thick of it. Your team is stretched, and you can already see the conflict brewing, right when you’re meant to be building a culture where people feel like they matter. This article looks at the pressures senior leaders are dealing with right now.
Carrying tension in the team: the meeting after the meeting
You know the moment. The SLT meeting ends, everyone nods, and the real conversation starts in the car park. Or two colleagues have stopped speaking, and you can feel it every time you walk into the staffroom. Or the cover rota has become a battleground again.
Every senior leader I know carries tension somewhere in their team. Most of us were never taught what to do with it. We were trained to teach, to plan and to analyse data, but not to tell the difference between friction that is wearing our team down and friction that is making us better.
Destructive tension warning signs
Destructive tension is friction that usually comes from a lack of clarity, or things that need to be said but aren’t. Your job is to spot it early, before it builds. Look out for:
- People not feeling heard: In meetings, some people are silent and others dominate. How do you make sure everyone has a voice and is heard?
- Lack of clarity: people trying their best but not knowing “what done looks like” as it hasn’t been made clear.
- Conflict and disagreement: when something is brewing but has not been addressed.
Not all tension is bad
Here is the thing I have come to believe: the absence of tension is not the same as a healthy team. Some of the most worrying teams I have seen are the ones where everyone is lovely and nobody ever disagrees.
Adam Grant draws the distinction in Think Again. Relationship conflict is personal, while task conflict is a disagreement about the work. The research backs him up. A major review of 116 studies, covering nearly 9,000 teams, found that personal conflict consistently drags teams down, while disagreement about the work can help, if it stays about the work.
So the question for leaders is not “how do I get rid of tension?” It is “which tension should I resolve, and which should I protect, or even create?”
What we will explore together
That is what our first session of the Senior Leaders Programme, Resolving and creating tension, is all about. It is practical, research-informed and rooted in the realities of school life. In the session, we will look at:
- How to tell good tension from bad. Some disagreements that look like debates about ideas are really about something else entirely. Once you can spot the difference, the way forward often becomes clearer.
- How to face and resolve unhelpful tension. Many of us avoid hard conversations because we want to be kind. We will look at what gets in the way, including the traps we all fall into under pressure, and how to go into a difficult conversation in the right frame of mind.
- How to make the right things easier and the wrong things harder. Schools are brilliant at adding things: another meeting, another form, another initiative. Research shows we are wired to add rather than subtract. We will look at how to spot the friction draining your staff, and the friction worth keeping.
- How to create the right kind of tension on purpose. Asking someone to play devil’s advocate sounds like a good idea. The evidence suggests it often backfires. We will explore what works instead, and why one genuine dissenter can improve a group’s thinking even when they turn out to be wrong.
You will leave with a workbook, a set of tools you can use in your very next SLT or department meeting, and three commitments for the half term ahead.
Who it is for
The Senior Leaders Programme is for headteachers, deputies, assistant heads and anyone leading a team through change. If you have ever left a meeting knowing the real issue was never named or wondered whether your team is a little too comfortable, this is for you.
Bring the tension you are carrying
Before we start, I will ask you to name one tension you are carrying in your team right now. Most leaders find they have one ready. By the end of the session, I hope you will know whether to resolve it, reframe it or use it.
Tension is not going away. But it can become one of the most useful tools a leader has. I would love you to join us.
Senior Leaders Programme sessions
| Sessions | Themes | Dates |
| Session 1 | Resolving and creating tension | Thursday 8th October 2026 |
| Session 2 | Cynicism versus scepticism | Wednesday 11th November 2026 |
| Session 3 | Mattering, belonging and joy | Thursday 10th December 2026 |
Book your place on the sessions here.
