Instructional Leadership in schools is gaining much ground as principals desire to improve learner performance. This paper focuses on a study where a school principal utilised instructional leadership in empowering his staff. He worked with his School Management Team (SMT) to encourage staff to use reflection and journal writing. This was a qualitative case study where one school was investigated. The researcher made use of observations as well as semi-structured interviews. The findings explicate that reflection should be accorded an important place in teaching today. The findings also show that leaders need to be curriculum leaders as well, if the core business of schools is to happen effectively. The conclusions point out that effective leaders will always be conscious of the need to improve learner performance as well as teacher commitment. Furthermore, this study shows tha t with a focused leader who embraces a vision, even schools that have less resources can succeed.