What Has Changed in 27 Years of Heading Schools?

 Five statements below -- all are true, except one. Can you identify it?

a.       Children have not changed in 3000 years.

b.      Teachers have not changed in 50 years.

c.       Parents have not changed in 40 years.

d.      HOS (Heads of School) have not changed in 30 years.

e.      Boards have not changed in 20 years.

If you answered true to all the above except the last statement, then you are correct!

The function of Boards of Trustees has changed over the past 20 years by seismic proportions in independent schools. Other constituencies may have changed over the years, but their innate motivations have not, unlike boards. Teachers still have the need to make a difference in the lives of their students; the development of young people hasn’t changed drastically in 3,000 years; and I would wager that parents advocated for their children just as much 40 years ago as they do now.  HOS still engender the hopes, dreams and aspirations of their respective schools much in the same way their predecessors did before them.

Boards, however, have changed dramatically, both in motivation and function.  Earlier boards in the 60’s and 70’s met informally, although business sessions were conducted in an orderly fashion, mostly to hear from the HOS about all the schools’ activities and achievements. By the 1980’s, boards were comprising experts who required more formal meetings and tighter agendas in order to cover more business items: the result of growing complexities of operating schools. Subtle but real changes surfaced, requiring more management time and skill by the HOS to orient, inform, organize, and direct boards and their members. It became the responsibility of the HOS to harness and utilize the skills of these expert board members.

In recent years the notion of “strategic” entered the board scene, adding still another skill set necessary for the HOS to master in order to manage a competent board and its members. Today, for functional boards to become strategic, they must understand the assumptions and overarching principles of their schools’ complex operations. Strategic board candidates must be able think beyond the myopic aspects of everyday school life. Confusion found in boards today results from an unworkable composition of board members, which usually further confounds both HOS and school consultants.

This evolution of boards can best be described as going from a group of ardent school supporters who enjoyed hearing about the school’s successes to formal boards of strategic thinkers and action planners whose responsibility is oriented toward achieving stability and long-term sustainability. In essence, the calm and soothing nature of the board rooms of old has given way to a new and more demanding approach to running schools—how much and how quickly a board can complete its work, demonstrating adherence to its mission and fiduciary responsibilities. Heads of School manage the process from the strategic planning stage to outlining implementation schedules and subsequent collaborations with other key constituencies. Along the way, a HOS can anticipate pushback from change-averse parents and teachers alike, who do not quite understand the board’s seemingly intrusive approach. Twenty-seven years ago, I couldn't have imagined a board member saying to me that we would have to become more strategic in our thinking, and demanding more immediate action.

This change in board functioning affects schools in favorable ways, starting with the boards strategic charges, which, if processed correctly, are almost always healthy for the schools to undertake for long-term gain. However time-consuming and tiresome for the HOS (and ultimately bothersome and annoying to faculty and parents), strategic thinking is a must for schools to succeed today. Left unsaid is the part about the HOS, who is now required to manage more than ever thought possible, including tending to all board affairs, and, at the same time, often being expected to be seen at the front door, greeting students and parents every morning. Unfortunately, in these challenging times, scrutiny of the HOS increases causing greater stress to achieve strategic change, thus compounding the effects of school-wide stress. 

My advice to Heads is three-fold:
1) Attract strategic thinkers to serve on the board. A board that is only half-heartedly committed to strategic thinkers, but favors specific thinkers, is a recipe for a disaster. As a result, less gets done, with more to do. These boards usually pile up more tasks without understanding the stress they put on the HOS and the organization. Recruit either one kind of board member or the other, but having too many myopic thinkers on today’s boards only causes more work for everyone.
2) Discuss with the Board Chair the strategic nature of work that needs to be accomplished, and stress that limited time allows concentrated and focused attention on strategic goal achievement only.
3) Feed members of a strategic board food for thought by asking them, “What do you think needs to be look at next?” If their responses are something rather specific, see if you can get the board members to generalize them in more constructive and substantive ways. In a respectful way, you are guiding board members to rethink what they say by elevating their thinking to a strategic level. The danger is that specific thinking invariably leads to micromanaging, and that turns boards into majoring in minors.

Strategic boards are necessary today for school success, but boards need to be much more attuned to the cost it has on the Head's time and energy.

Dr. Charles Clark is Head of School at Nantucket Lighthouse School.

 

Comments

[Gary Gruber]

Charlie makes some wonderful, valid points about Boards, BUT, I want to respectfully diasgree about children, teachers, parents and heads of schools not changing because they have. In 75 years, I have changed dramatically, and although I remain the same person, I hope I have grown and changed. Same for my children, even myself as a parent and many others; the teachers with whom I have worked and the heads of schools I have known over the years have certainly changed too. Change is inevitable, even the cells in our brains and the rest of our bodies too. God knows my body isn't the same, that's for sure. Yes, I can still ski and sail and walk a straight line but not with the same agility and flexibility that I once had years ago. So, Charlie, you're right on about boards but let's chat sometime about the other constituents!