Contents | 
| Effective leadership makes a difference | 4 | 
| Why leadership matters in the early years | 4 | 
| Lasting impact | 5 | 
| Introducing the early years leader | 6 | 
| Effective leadership practice | 6 | 
| The educational leader in early childhood education and care settings | 7 | 
| Communication | 8 | 
| Leadership styles | 8 | 
| Influences | 8 | 
| Characteristics, skills and roles | 9 | 
| The leader as a reflective practitioner | 13 | 
| What is reflective practice? | 13 | 
| The reflective journal | 14 | 
| The balance wheel | 16 | 
| The Johari window | 17 | 
| Developing a feedback culture | 20 | 
| Where are we going? The importance of vision | 23 | 
| What is a vision and why does it matter? | 23 | 
| What is your vision? | 23 | 
| Letter from the future | 23 | 
| Paperwork | 26 | 
| Displaying the vision | 27 | 
| Recruiting for the vision | 27 | 
| Leading and living the vision | 29 | 
| The importance of next steps | 30 | 
| Putting a man on the moon | 30 | 
| Building a team | 33 | 
| Induction of new staff | 33 | 
| Providing ongoing support | 34 | 
| Motivation | 36 | 
| Delegation of responsibilities | 38 | 
| Belbin’s theory | 40 | 
| The leader as mentor | 42 | 
| Mentoring and the role of mentor meetings | 42 | 
| Mentoring and leading for continuous improvement | 42 | 
| Supervision and line management | 43 | 
| Characteristics of effective mentoring | 44 | 
| Support and challenge | 49 | 
| Building leadership through communities of practice | 51 | 
| A community of leaders | 51 | 
| What is a community of practice? | 51 | 
| Establishing a community of practice | 53 | 
| Coaching skills for leadership | 55 | 
| Giving advice and making suggestions | 56 | 
| Listening | 57 | 
| Questioning | 58 | 
| Feedback | 61 | 
| Change and action planning | 63 | 
| Motivators | 64 | 
| Using William Bridges’ theory to help manage change | 65 | 
| Three lessons from the world of psychology | 67 | 
| Action planning | 70 | 
| Prioritising | 71 | 
| From prioritising to action | 72 | 
| Goal setting | 73 | 
| What happens next? | 77 | 
| Notes | 78 | 
| Books and websites | 79 |