Insights

Five HMIs, No Notice, New Inspection Framework.

Hear valuable insights from Mike Grummett, supporting a School as Interim Headteacher in the first inspection under the new Ofsted framework. Across the inspection, inspectors prioritised professional dialogue over presentation. Consistency of professional judgement, and shared understanding across leaders and frontline practice mattered significantly.

Executive presence has been traditionally described as a blend of gravitas, communication, and appearance. These elements still matter, but what sits inside them has changed. Inclusion, authenticity, and strong digital presence are part of modern credibility.

Presence has evolved. It is about the story people experience when we walk into a room or appear on screen. We share recent insight from coaching sessions with senior leaders who decided to build executive presence that leverages personality, values, and individual styles of warmth.

Often unconsciously, some organisations still carry a single ‘default leader’ template. When leaders don’t match it, people can start projecting: they interpret warmth as softness, difference as risk, and uniqueness as ‘not quite’. The trap isn’t that we’re doing leadership wrong: it is when we start negotiating with the template - altering ourselves and our leadership in ways that drain confidence and consistency. Read on to hear two coaching stories and practical approaches to step in to your leadership identity.