Head of School Search: The Fundamental Difference - Understanding Culture

From Dr. John Watson, Partner

What makes the cultures of schools so different than the cultures of most corporations? The presence of children in abundance within the environment is the most obvious and most powerful difference. Not only are children a part of the independent school culture, they are the very center of it. Keeping students at the center of the culture very often sets independent schools apart from many other schools.

?If we were to do a simple analysis of the typical independent school culture today, we might see the following.

?A.??? The mission focuses on providing students with challenges and experiences that will help them to learn the skills and character traits they need to maximize their potential and be good people

B.??? Every decision made at every level puts the students at the center of that decision

C.???? The job of the board is to set the mission, hire the head of school, provide the head with the necessary resources to do the job and assure the financial stability of the school

D.??? The job of the head is to hire everyone else, build an effective administrative team to manage all aspects of school operation, provide those people with the necessary resources to do the job and be the face of the school in the community

E.???? The job of the administrative team is to build their own teams as needed, provide those people with the necessary resources to do the job and be the face of that program or division or function within the community

F.???? The job of the faculty is to implement the mission through their work with students, provide students with the resources and strategies to become excellent learners and good community members, and be the primary point of interaction with parents

?While independent schools are hierarchical in many ways, the first two statements point to the centrality of the experience of the children in the school. The latter four outline a distributed form of leadership in schools which is hierarchical but tends to be collaborative within and between levels. While C through F can be translated to a corporate culture, A and B cannot. The leadership culture of independent schools has changed markedly over the past fifty years moving from what was typically very hierarchical to one that is flatter, more participatory and depends more on distributed leadership. In many ways the leadership culture change has been driven by our greatly increased understanding of how children learn and the ascendancy of the centrality of student experience.

?Another contributor to the cultural difference one finds between schools and businesses is the focus of the mission. Businesses have to build an acceptable level of return on investment for owners, shareholders and sometimes employees. Corporations sell products and services, and all functions are geared towards maximizing profit. The product or service is not the center of the enterprise, nor are the people who buy the product or service. The center is focused on productivity leading to profitability.

?The culture of a school is focused on the experience of students and adults in the community. School culture has a direct and powerful effect on the success of the institution. The experience of people within the culture of a business is a secondary concern at best. Perhaps as a result, business culture often evolves into adversarial relationships between workers and management. Independent schools that follow the model centered on the experience of people cannot be effective in an adversarial environment.

?The cultural difference between schools and businesses is profound. Those differences need to be taken into account when a school embarks on tasks critical to the continued and future success of the institution. One of the most important tasks a school faces is finding the right head of school when a vacancy occurs. A process that reflects and embraces the mission and culture of a school is, as we at Educational Directions believe, the critical first step in finding the right head of school. A head who possesses the operational and leadership skills to move the school forward and enhance the mission. A head whose personal traits, empathy and judgment fit the school’s culture contributing to positive leadership. A head who can warmly relate to and easily communicate with students, teachers and parents in addition to the administrative team and board. In short, a head who will thrive during a pivotal time in the life of the institution taking it to the next level.

?In our upcoming posts we will look at the search process itself more directly. What is the job of the board? The search committee? The consultant? The community? How can they work together to achieve the very best result?