Can a board chair help make the act of serving on an independent school board actually enjoyable for board members -- and even themselves?
Independent schools are always thinking about the "customer experience" for their parents and students. But they seldom think about what the customer experience is like for their governors and trustees. They do so at their peril. It is hard enough to find outstanding people to dedicate time and effort to serve on a board. They cannot afford to disenfranchise them. The challenge is to make the experience educating, illuminating, and fun. Think of the ideal end result to a board term: your retiring trustees more excited about the school than when they began. You want to make lifetime ambassadors of the school and its mission.
I have accumulated 30 years of board time with three independent schools, which I still support enthusiastically. But I have sat around tables where people didn't respect or trust each other. I have seen situations where trustees left the board burned out, exhausted, and feeling betrayed. In my most recent term as a board chair of a co-ed boarding and day school, I was determined not to have this happen on my watch. I stuck to a few basic rules, and in the end we have achieved excellent "room dynamics." I think it has helped everyone have a more positive time. It has also reduced 90 percent of my stress and made my job (dare I say it?) a pleasure. Here are some ideas I recommend to incoming board chairs:
1. Get to know your head of school.
The board will be looking to both of you for leadership of the whole school. Make a point of travelling to NAIS, CAIS or seminars together. Besides what you learn as attendees, more importantly you will get to know each other better. It will help you develop a cooperative, collaborative, and amicable relationship built on trust. Stay in regular contact so you develop a good read on each other. This pays dividends if an unforeseen event comes up that challenges both of you. Ideally, you will always be watching each other's backs.
The head may set the vision of the school. But as board chair you set the tone of the board and its meetings, which can ultimately dictate the success or failure of the school's mission. Stay in synch.
2. Know thy commandments.
According to John Littleford, there are three duties of a board. First, to hire, support, and eventually replace the head of school. Second, to oversee the financial health of the school. And third, to set the strategic direction of the school.
In other words, stay out of operations. That is the job of the head, your sole employee, to take care of. Make sure that any prospective board member knows that a seat at the table does not mean a ticket to fix the under 16 girls volleyball team or introduce Russian into the language curriculum. If you stay within these boundaries, your agendas will be briefer and you will encourage more meaningful and positive discussion about the future of your school.
3. Get good people.
The "star candidate" who your parent or alumni community is promoting for the board may in fact be the last person on earth who should join you. A captain of industry may look good on the masthead, but if he or she is accustomed to public company governance, they come from a different world of 360 peer reviews, in-camera compliance, and a permanent fear of shareholder revolt. They are paid for their time and take financial risk as a board member. The board of an independent school is a different place. Everyone is a volunteer, the head is likely from a teaching background, the preferred shareholders are parents, and the customers are children and teenagers. The trusting relationship between the head and his board is paramount.
Your candidates should only include positive people willing to look at a board term as a learning experience. This may include successful business leaders, but many may not fit the mold. Make sure candidates understand that the board is a work in process that is constantly looking for ways to do its job better. Check out their "human" credentials. Are they engaging and respectful people to spend time with? The head of school can give you a good read on how parent candidates behave in the school setting. Be very cautious if considering a single-issue activist.
4. Get a good governance chair.
The chair of governance is the board chair's wingman. They should be a close confidant of the chair and head. He or she can help ensure appropriate opinions and constituencies are represented at the table. They also serve as sergeant at arms. If a board member jumps a boundary, you and your governance chair must "take them to the woodshed" and make it clear that such behavior is not appropriate or tolerated. Try to do this in a confidential and positive way without embarrassing the offender. A board chair needs the extra clout of an "enforcer" here so they are not marginalized trying to preserve order.
The governance chair is also a key ally through the nominating process for shaping the long-term makeup of the board. If together you have designed a room where people enjoy mutual respect, your odds of solving difficult problems will be better. While you will have constituencies that need to be represented, don't be fixated on numerical quotas. Character trumps the resumé.
5. Rules of Order
Verbal grenade tossing has no place on a charitable board, but despite everyone's impeccable qualifications, a roomful of adults are capable of behaving like a roomful of pre-schoolers. Over the years I have seen people act unpleasant and be downright rude to others. It intimidates others in the room and kills collegial spirit.
Sometimes the perpetrator is oblivious to his or her offensiveness. It may be the way the guys talk in the morning meeting every day, or how they are allowed to speak where people are afraid to challenge them. But it can ruin a meeting and cannot be tolerated. You must explain to the offender that this is a roomful of teachers, parents, and volunteers who are here because they want to support something they care about. They have not come to have an unpleasant time. Get them to change, or get them out of the room. If you do not, your meetings will be filled with tension and you will be perceived as a weak leader. Remember, the head may set the vision, but as chair you set the tone.
6. Get a good strategic plan.
Here is an opportunity for a new board chair to work with the head to create a playbook for the next five years. The process that creates it should be as wide ranging as possible, inviting commentary from alumni, parents, and faculty. Let the community know you are doing it and create some excitement around what will be a very public visioning document to be printed and posted on your website. The broad consultation, perhaps involving workshops and retreats, may be exhausting, but in the end you will have a blueprint to follow and a snappy new mission statement. The school community will know the board is open, caring, and tuned-in. It will permeate your agenda setting and keep you within the appropriate boundaries of good board governance. You will also have an excellent tool for reference and benchmarking the head's performance and the school's progress.
7. Control the ball.
Any new item introduced to the board should come through the chair. This is how you manage democracy in a board setting. I don't think it is a sign of weakness to tell board members, particularly committee chairs, that you would appreciate not being surprised during a meeting. I am convinced that successful discussions are the result of not only what was said, but how it was presented. Encourage board members to come forward with delicate subjects or pet peeves to you in advance of the meeting so you can help get the item into the proper spot in the agenda to give it full and proper discussion. It won't work 100 percent of the time, but you will be better prepared and others will appreciate knowing what is coming.
8. Get outside help early and often.
Beware the DIY (Do It Yourself) in-depth study. You can burn people out and in the end you will probably end up hiring a pro anyway. I once chaired a marketing committee and took it upon myself to do an admissions study for my school. I spent about 50 hours interviewing students, teachers, and faculty, and conducting parent focus groups. In the end my report ended up asking more questions than it answered. We ended up hiring a professional firm that was not inexpensive, but their arrival on our campus was truly transformative -- not just how we marketed ourselves to the world but how we saw ourselves as well.
Use outside professionals to provide support on governance, fund-raising, and marketing on a regular basis. They can bring a fresh perspective to the challenges you face. You will all learn something about the macro trends in independent schools, and the shared experience should bring you all closer together.
My four-year term has gone by in a blink of an eye. I was apprehensive about taking the job, but these eight steps have led to a positive and rewarding experience. If crisis erupts (and it will!), remember to stay positive, no matter what. And in the word of the famous poster that appeared in London during the Battle of Britain: Keep Calm and Carry On.
Author Colin T. Brown is board chair for Trinity College School (Ontario).