Boards often approach the task of finding a new head of school tactically—asking what do we need to get done and by when. And there is, indeed, a significant amount of work to accomplish.
But before your search committee digs in—even before deciding whether to hire a search firm or beginning to assess your school’s need—we encourage the board to take a step back and make room for strategy and shared understanding.
To help you do so, we’ll make the case for the newly convened search committee to consider together questions like the following:
- Looking inward: What is the state of your leadership team? What strengths do you already have present on that team?
- Looking outward: What is going on in the world around you that has—and will have—an impact on your school?
- Looking ahead: What is your school’s aspirational vision? And what kind of individual will be best equipped to carry it out?
Your Leadership Team
Your job as a board, through the search committee, is to identify the individual who will be the most effective head for your school. However, it’s important to remember that this individual won’t—and shouldn’t—lead alone.Before embarking on the search, your committee should learn about the dynamics of the leadership team already in place, including the strengths of the individuals who serve on the team. In most cases, the current head should be able to tell the board about these individuals. It’s also helpful to come to a shared understanding in advance about the type of leader and leadership model that will best serve your school.
When you think of the school being led by a skilled team instead of one individual, it may change the way you consider the head’s role. For example, many boards look for strong fundraising skills in a new head. But if there is a strong advancement professional in place, the skill you are more likely looking for in a new head is relationship building, not necessarily deep expertise in the tools and techniques of fundraising.
Undoubtedly, your school will be stronger with leadership distributed among various strong players. This model of distributed leadership may already be well thought out and documented at schools with strong succession plans, which the Bridgespan Group defines as “a proactive and systematic investment in building a pipeline of leaders within an organization.” If a succession plan is not in place, this is a task you will want the new head and board to consider down the road.
Recent research has shown the benefits to schools of distributed leadership, where leadership is shared and top leaders can focus on developing capacity in others. Bain & Company and the Bridgespan Group conducted research in 12 school systems nationwide. Among the findings detailed in their report, Transforming Schools: How Distributed Leadership Can Create More High-performing Schools, is that top leaders in schools often have supervisory demands that far exceed those of managers in other fields. School supervision expectations are onerous, if not downright impossible. It’s no wonder that school heads might find it difficult to focus on the larger strategic needs of the school. (It’s also no wonder that many heads, especially new heads, often feel isolated and burned out.)
The same research also concludes that, although having a transformational leader at the top is critical, it is not enough. He or she needs to have a strong leadership team if the school is to be truly transformed and stay that way. The K-12 educational sector spends too much time waiting for “unicorns”—superhero leaders who can do everything—and not enough time developing leadership models that distribute leadership throughout the system. Even if the unicorn leaders make a difference, when they leave, the entire school infrastructure they created can fall apart.
Given the multifaceted challenges of leading a school and the mounting evidence in support of distributed leadership in creating successful and sustainable educational environments, it’s important to consider the team (current and potential) before you launch your head search. If your school already functions with a distributed leadership model, then, during your head search, you need to consider whether candidates also support this model and whether their skills will enhance those of the current leadership team. Also, if your school employs distributed leadership, no doubt there are one or more strong internal candidates prepared to take on the headship role. If your school does not already use this kind of model, this transition could be an opportunity to move toward it.
The world of independent schools is growing more complex and demanding. Finding a hero leader is not realistic. So consider what kinds of strengths you already have on the leadership team, and begin to envision the type of head who can grow and lead the team into the future. And don’t forget to consider whether that individual may already be in your school.
For more guidance on looking outward and looking ahead as you recruit the best new leader for your school, see The NAIS Head Search Handbook: A Strategic Guide for the Search Committee, available in the NAIS Bookstore.