Thinking Deeply about Primary Education Leadership, Belonging and the Power of Teams with Sam Crome
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Episode 282: What makes a team work in a school and what do leaders get wrong when they focus too heavily on individual leadership?
In this episode of Thinking Deeply About Primary Education, I’m joined by Sam Crome, author of The Power of Teams, to explore what effective leadership looks like when the focus shifts from heroic individuals to purposeful, well-run teams.
We discuss Sam’s move from secondary leadership into primary headship and what that transition has revealed about staff culture, team structure and the opportunities schools miss when meetings become informal, unfocused or overly dependent on one person. The conversation explores belonging, psychological safety, follow-through, and the importance of competence and consistency in building teams that actually move work forward.
We also dig into what schools can learn from beyond education, from sport to the military to healthcare, and why deliberate debriefing, long-term meeting design and small, focused improvements may matter far more than many leaders realise.
This is a practical conversation about leadership, culture and how schools become better places to work when teams are designed with care.