5 Steps to Success for New Leaders
I see announcements for new heads of school and administrators nearly every day from my colleagues that conduct leadership search and placement efforts for independent schools. Leaders are on the move. In the excitement and promise of a new vantage point and hope for the organization's future, I cannot help but wonder what challenges new leaders will face.
In my work, I believe in listening. I listen to the people with the most power at the school, those with none, and those in between. In doing that, I can learn the school's strengths and value proposition, where there is confusion or indecision, and whose agenda is driving decision-making.
I was impressed by a recent conversation with a new Assistant Head of School taking a systematic approach to her new role. She embarked on a four-month listening tour in her first year while embracing the day-to-day details of her new job. Though she was pushed to make some decisions about faculty and curricula, she refused. She waited until she understood the multiple perspectives at the school and who was driving which agenda and why. This valuable process will ultimately help her find a new, more inclusive, and intentional path forward as opposed to the two options the head and board posed to her when she took the position.
By contrast, I have worked with leaders at a crossroads in their second or third year of headship. They might have aligned themselves with the loudest board members or a long-time administrator, each with the agenda they wanted the head to enact. In short order, the new head realized they had placed trust where it didn't belong and now no longer could lead effectively. Or, they walked into a hornet's nest of parent and faculty concerns that went unaddressed for years in the prior administration and now faced what felt like an impossible situation. The list of unforeseen issues can be long, varied, and overwhelming.
How can a new leader navigate roadblocks in their new role? Here are five steps to your successful transition to a new leadership role:
1. Go on a listening tour. Make time to meet with your fellow administrators, trustees, parents, students, and alums. You can organize a few focus groups. If that feels overwhelming, hire a consultant to do focus groups or interviews and amplify your listening tour.
2. Hire a mentor. Fortunately, this has become a common practice for new heads of school, but I see it less often for the other administrative positions. Smaller organizations are more likely to hire from within or from the parent population, particularly for admissions and development. A mentor can help flatten the learning curve, reducing stress and ensuring success.
3. Align yourself with peer leaders in your role at other schools. Make a concerted effort to find a few leaders that share your role at schools outside your catchment area. If you are not working in competitor schools, you and your colleagues will feel free to share your experiences, ideas, challenges, and wins. Regular meetings with a peer group can be an invaluable source of support for a new leader.
4. Become a finance expert. School finances might not be your thing. You might feel an aversion to anything having to do with the business side of your school. Still, this is an aversion to overcome. Your school thrives or fails due to numerous daily decisions by multiple leaders, faculty members, and students, but not knowing how those decisions affect the bottom line of your school's budget erodes your ability to lead effectively.
5. Know the mission, strategic vision, and philosophy of the organization. At some point, sooner than you think, you will be tested in making a difficult decision before you feel ready. You might find that decision easier to make if you look through the lens of your school's mission, vision, and philosophy. Then again, after looking through that lens for a bit, it may have become cloudy with age. Just as your leadership trajectory is fluid and not set in stone, neither is your school's trajectory. Great leaders continue to gather knowledge and insight and apply that to their schools, considering what to keep and what to let go to secure the school's relevancy in the educational landscape.
The author, Jill Goodman, is a consultant working with independent school leaders to advance their school's mission, enhance their processes, and bolster their skills. Learn more about all services here.
