Who Holds the Leaders? Principal Wellbeing and Sustainable Leadership with Elsie Clelland | Season 4: Episode 12

Conditions in primary schools are more likely to be reported as positive according to our State of Staff Wellbeing in Australia report. Above-average ICSEA primary schools recorded the strongest results in the national dataset, with 67% of staff reporting high morale and 77% a positive culture. However,  below-average ICSEA primary settings carry a very different load characterised by severe resourcing constraints,  complex student behaviours and needs, and intense support demands.

But across every primary band, we see a common pattern where a school’s culture and overall wellbeing inevitably rise and fall with the person leading it.  This leaves us with a critical systemic gap that is rarely funded, timetabled, or surveyed: who is holding the leaders? 

This week I’m joined by Elsie Clelland, who spent more than thirty years in Western Australian education, including twenty as a principal across four primary schools and four very different regions. A Foundation principal of a brand-new school, WA Primary Principal of the Year, Harvard Fellow and former Executive Director, Elsie now works directly with school leaders through her consultancy, Flourishing Leadership, specialising in resilience first aid.

Elsie candidly shares what those twenty years cost her, unpacking how high visibility came at the expense of strategy and long hours, the warning signs she rationalised away, how unhelpful coping strategies crept in when no support structures were holding her, and how the fear of judgement prevented her from asking for help. 

This conversation examines what it actually takes to build sustainable leadership practices while carrying heavy organisational weight. 

In this episode, we chat about:

• Why highly relational leaders often default to being visible for everyone else, while neglecting their own capacity
• How to release the unrealistic expectation of performing exceptionally across every domain at once 
• Why school leaders routinely run on empty, in ways they would never allow a car to run
• What happens when unaddressed stress leads to hidden coping strategies and a culture of  masking amongst principals
• How practical boundaries actually work, and why advice like “just close your door” fails without context and self-management
• How stepping off-site and giving yourself explicit permission to stop, reflect and seek support protects long-term leadership sustainability
• The importance of establishing a trusted, peer network to debrief on challenges and who hears your real answer to “how are you going?”
• Communicating boundaries to your community as a whole-school expectation, not a personal apology
• How leveraging appreciative inquiry and highlighting existing wins helps protect staff morale and build organisational hope 

**If anything in this episode raises something for you, support is available. Lifeline 13 11 14.

LINKS AND RESOURCES

• State of the Nation: Staff Wellbeing Across Australian Schools
• Read the Band 1P report: below-average ICSEA (924 and below) primary schools
• Read the Band 2P report: average ICSEA (925 to 1074) primary schools
• Read the Band 3P report: above-average ICSEA (1075 and above) primary schools
• Read the full primary band report

Connect with Elsie: 

• Website: flourishingleadership.com.au
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/elsie-clelland-4806222b1
• Email: elsie@flourishingleadership.com.au 

Connect with Adrienne:

• Website: adriennehornby.com.au
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adrienne-hornby-a4126a205
• Email: hello@adriennehornby.com.au 
• Staff Wellbeing Survey: adriennehornby.com.au/staff-survey
• Well-Led Schools Partnership Program: adriennehornby.com.au/school-partnerships