ABSTRACT
The SMTs were instrumental to the headteachers’ quest for synergy extending to every area of the work of professional and support staff. Just as heads depended on support of their team colleagues, so all SMT members depended on the work of other staff if the role of the SMT was to be fulfilled. In Chapter 1 it was argued that what synergy across the school might mean had become overtly loaded in terms of central government politics through the national reforms, dictating that the focus of synergistic effort must be directed to lie within parameters set by central government interests. Heads, as ever, promoted a form of school-wide synergy where staff pulled together in a direction consistent with heads’ educational and managerial beliefs and values. In the new, more hostile environment, however, these beliefs and values now included the priority of ensuring that the staff combined effort lay also within the bounds of acceptability to governors, parents and inspectors. The extent to which this form of schoolwide synergy could be achieved depended on the relationship established between the SMT and other staff. The possibility of SMTs facilitating transformational leadership which extended beyond the team to a substantial input from staff across the school was bounded by these environmental factors. The previous three chapters have concentrated on the inside story of the teamwork process and team tasks in contributing to the SMTs’ shared role. Now it is time to broaden the focus to explore how SMT members conducted their business through their linkage subtasks with other staff, under the supervision of governors, and on behalf of parents.
