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Leadership Conversations – Managing Difficult Discussions & Staff Underperformance
Description
Leading people is one of the most rewarding parts of school leadership—but also one of the most challenging. This 90-minute practical session, led by Costas Constantinou and John Rees, offers school leaders the tools, confidence, and mindset needed to handle tough conversations and address staff underperformance effectively and professionally.
Through real-life examples and ready-to-use strategies, this short session will explore how to manage emotionally charged situations, hold staff to account with empathy, and build a culture where improvement is expected—and supported.
Part 1 – Costas Constantinou:
Handling Difficult Conversations with Professionalism and Purpose
Learn how to plan for and lead challenging conversations in a way that builds trust, maintains dignity, and strengthens your leadership presence. Costas will share techniques for managing defensiveness, staying focused under pressure, and encouraging openness and accountability.
Part 2 – John Rees:
Addressing Staff Underperformance: Moving from Avoidance to Action
John will guide participants through a step-by-step approach to identifying and addressing underperformance. He’ll cover how to set clear expectations, provide effective feedback, support improvement, and follow up with integrity and consistency.
Target Audience
- Senior and Middle Leaders
- Line Managers and Phase/Subject Leaders
Learning Objectives
- Understand the emotional dynamics that make difficult conversations challenging and how to manage them.
- Gain practical strategies to prepare for and hold professional, constructive conversations with staff.
- Learn how to confidently address underperformance in a fair, evidence-based, and supportive way.
- Develop a clear framework for follow-up, feedback, and documentation.
- Reflect on how to build a team culture of transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement.
About the Presenter
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Costa Costantinou
Costa Constantinou co-founded Veema in 2013 after a long teaching career in London. He is driven by his passionate belief in the transformative power of education to create opportunities. Growing up in a migrant family, Costa embraced the significance of schooling from an early age. Having been deprived of education, his parents instilled a deep appreciation for learning.
Costa understands firsthand the needs and priorities of schools today. He has led national and international keynotes and workshops on improving teaching and learning, school leadership, and implementing and managing effective change. Costa passionately advocates that professional development is a requisite tool for teachers to engage with pedagogy, offer collaborative working partnerships, challenge and advance existing practice. Taken together, these sharpen our ability to focus on how we teach and how pupils learn — a reflective approach that, at its core, sees learning through the eyes of the learner.
Veema’s professional development and school improvement programmes empower teachers and school leaders worldwide, fostering continuous learning for the benefit of their students.
Publications: “A School Leader’s Guide to Leading Professional Development”
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John Rees
John is passionately committed to improving the learning and life chances of children and young people through the professional development of individuals and organisations.
Having taught for 12 years and later as a senior leader, John led the transformation of an evidence-informed RSE research project from Exeter University that eventually involved 200+ schools, with unique evidence of health benefits and educational improvement.
As an independent educational advisor since 2006, John currently works with local authorities, schools, multi-academy trusts, and commercial organisations across the UK and overseas to support school improvement.
