The furious pace of change has become a central challenge for school leaders in recent years — and isn't likely to abate as we enter the second decade of the 21st century.

Change, as the old saying goes, is the only constant, yet it is an area in which many leaders don't commonly refer to existing knowledge and best practice to help them in their efforts, relying instead on their experience, values and intuition.

New research from the National College could help school leaders contemplating change, be it a move to academy status, the development of a federation or another significant transformational process. The research project into the leadership of change will help in the development of future support with the aim of giving leaders greater insight into leading the change process - and making it more manageable.

It's clear that the leadership of change involves a variety of skills and applications. A school leader trying to improve his or her school, or to take it into a new phase of its existence, needs endless resources of tact and diplomacy, to provide a willing ear to nervous colleagues, and be open to ideas from stakeholders.

Above all, perhaps, they need to demonstrate the strength and conviction to carry through their vision.

There is no single, effective way of leading and managing change, and each school leader may have to find their own methods to bring about the results they seek.

John Hardy, head of St John Vianney School, created the Extended Services in North Hartlepool collaboration from his vision of what the community needed. The partnership comprises six primaries, a secondary school, a community project and the local authority in an area of high social deprivation.

John brought together the parties to create a collaboration whose unity now ensures its strength and effectiveness.

"The aim was to create a community which was in charge of its own solutions rather having solutions forced upon it," he said. "Creating collaboration requires a great amount of trust and time. On occasions you have to put your own plans on hold because you need to listen to what others have to say."

He believes that successful leadership is also about being confident about putting others first. "We have had years of competition between schools but to lead change successfully we have to ensure that we understand that our partners also have difficulties," John said.

For example, his school had been
due to employ a teacher from one of the partnership schools on maternity cover. This teacher had been covering for a colleague's illness, but suddenly the class teacher announced she was not coming back.

"The head rang me to explain the situation, and was amazed when I suggested he hold on to her as his situation was more desperate than mine," John said.

"It might be unusual for a school to take on a problem that is not of their making but I believe that you can shift people's thinking in this way. You cannot talk about making sacrifices and listening to others, if you don't do this yourself.

"I am not sure that, previously,this head would even have picked up the phone to share his problem with me, so already we have made progress in coming together to arrive at a solution."

The importance placed on trust and listening to others is one that Christine Bennison understands well. The head of Middleton on the Wolds Primary School, near Driffield, North Yorkshire, now leads a federation with Beswick and Watton Primary School. Where previously there was talk of closure, there is now a sense of purpose and a bright future.

"The most important skill I had to draw on in making this federation work was emotional intelligence," she said.

"It was crucial that I see the bigger picture to allow the schools to move forward and to build proper leadership time into my role, to give me time to reflect and take a step back.

"When I arrived at Middleton staff were nervous and suspicious, and there was no vision of where the school needed to be in five years' time. Everyone was only thinking about the coming few weeks."

In her first months at the school, Christine spent a lot of time meeting community members and winning trust. Gradually, parents began to understand that change was needed if the schools were to succeed.

"It needed huge amounts of energy of my part, but when you have a driving passion to get things done, that becomes infectious to others," she said.

Christine went to see how other federations work, to understand the structures that needed to be put in place.

"You have to look at what is right for the future and how you are going to give pupils the best deal possible," she said. "When that is what drives you, you have to find ways of taking this forward. This involves making difficult decisions.

"People should not feel threatened by change. Should any individual no longer feel comfortable with change, their contribution should be recognised and they should be supported to seek out what is more suited to their perceived requirements at that time."

At the newly-opened Nottingham Academy, Chief Executive Barry Day brought together three schools — one successful and one challenging secondary, and a primary school — into one of the first academies of its type in the country.

"I spent the whole of the last academic year leading up to the merger trying to bring people on in a positive way," he said. "I had to keep them informed of what was happening and keep the lines of communication open so that any misunderstandings were quickly clarified. I had to be sensitive to people's needs and wishes, when they were spread over three different sites.

"On top of that I was managing the largest capital building programme — £59 million — of any educational institution in the country, and trying to establish a new staffing structure which brought together 350 people from the three schools.

"I believe it all comes down to good communication. Looking back now the challenges were what could have happened, rather than what actually did. We could have alienated the staff, for example, but we made it clear all along what the expectations were and put in lots of support."

Barry believes it was his own 18 years of experiences as a headteacher, and more recently as a National Leader of Education, that held it all together.

"Working with schools in challenging circumstances meant that I have had to demonstrate clarity in what I want to achieve, and to show I was not prepared to compromise when it came to expectations.

"But I also knew that I needed to listen and consult, and be clear about what the givens were and what needed to be negotiated."

The experiences of 12 headteachers who have successfully led change — often in difficult and testing circumstances — are contained in the National College's Leadership of Change project, completed earlier this year.

The research will be used to help shape the National College's on-line resources to support leaders embarking on similar work, said Fred Paterson, the organisation's head of knowledge and learning.

He said: "It is clear that effective leaders have a set of values and a moral purpose, which is a prerequisite. They need to diagnose what is required, to have a vision and be clear and flexible in their objective. Sometimes they will need to direct others, and at other times to be collaborative in their approach. They must also have an awareness of their own limitations."

Fred Paterson said that while many heads had a sophisticated knowledge of what they wanted to achieve, and how, they did not use any existing models to support them.

"We want them to realise that part of making a significant leadership endeavour more viable might be to use change models which will help them feel they have a sense of control and understanding of what the requirements are, and so make the whole process more manageable," he added.

"We would recommend having a mentor or coach so they are not going through the challenge alone. They might also benefit from a support network of heads — not necessarily based in the same area — who can be used as a sounding board for ideas.

"These things are important, not only for the leadership endeavour itself but for the well-being of heads."