To onboard or not to onboard, that is the question

Since 2017, I have served with 14 different school board members and 2 Superintendents. Fourteen.

Including myself, that is 17 leaders who have made up our "Team of 8"* over the past eight years.

Needless to say, that is a lot of transition, and a lot of new people to bring onto a critical leadership team over an eight year period. When I was first elected, I received almost no onboarding. And I know my experience is not unique.

We have two choices for how to deal with significant turnover on a school board and/or superintendency:

1. Reactively and ad hoc
2. Proactively and systematically

Essentially, you can either put the time in up front to set the team up for success, or you can react when the team isn't functioning well.

An appropriate education analogy might be that we can invest in high quality pre-kindergarten up front, or we can spend the money on prisons later when adults were never successfully taught to read.

So how do you proactively plan to set the "Team of 8" up for success?

Onboarding!

Cue the cringe

Onboarding doesn't have the best reputation, but we believe it's essential to carry out thoughtfully and thoroughly every single time your Team of 8 gains a new member.

If you need another reason to prioritize onboarding - its an equity issue. You may have board members who bring critical perspectives and experiences to the board room, but don't bring executive or board experience. That puts them at an immediate power deficit, and onboarding can help ensure they have the information and resources necessary to feel empowered to participate effectively.

Here's a handy check-list to get you started thinking about what onboarding should include. (Taking the time to systemize onboarding once will make it far easier to implement over and over again.)

Individual onboarding. Part of the onboarding process can be focused on the new individual board member or superintendent. For a board member, this should include:

1. Preparing a digital and printed binder that includes: 1) A print out of all Board procedures and policies. [Side note: if there are so many policies that this binder becomes cumbersome, you probably need to go on a policy diet. I'll dig into this in another post.]; 2) A copy of your Board goals and vision statement; 3) Your most recent strategic plan; 4) Any recent staff/student/community survey or feedback results; 5) A contact list of all District leadership; 6) Your most recent budget; 7) A copy of agendas and minutes for your last 6-12 board meetings; 8) A copy of any books or other essential materials your Team of 8 has coalesced around the last few years; 9) A copy of your board governance framework, if you use one; 10) The latest Superintendent evaluation and the Superintendent contract.
2. Speed-dating with key District leaders: Consider setting up an afternoon where the new board member has 30 minute meetings with each member of the cabinet. This is a chance for them to start building a trusting relationship and understand what each person oversees.
3. A 2:1 with the Superintendent and Board President: This is to communicate how things currently work. 1) How does communication flow between individual board members, the Board President, and the Superintendent? [Side note: if the desired communication flow isn't documented, take the time to do that now.] 2) How does communication flow between individual board members, cabinet members, and the Superintendent? 3) How is the board agenda established and how can the new member get something on the agenda? 4) What should the new member expect around board retreats, conference attendance and other training opportunities? 5) Is there a budget for individual board member PD? (If not, there should be!) 6) How are emails to board members handled?
4. A meeting with the Board Clerk and IT to get the new member set up with email, calendar, technology, etc.

Team of 8 onboarding. Part of the onboarding process should be done as a Team of 8. Yes, this is a significant investment of time. Remember the pre-k analogy? You either invest time up front or you waste time later dealing with the fall-out.

1. I recommend scheduling at least 4-hours for a "board retreat refresh" each time a new member joins the Team of 8. Activities for the retreat should include: 1) A story-of-self type activity so that everyone on the team understands the background and priorities of each team member, and what brought them to the team. 2) A refresher on your board governance model. 3) A refresher on your board goals and vision for the district. Even though this might feel repetitive for more experienced members, it is worth the time so that everyone is operating from the same foundation. And let's be honest, all board members can probably use a refresher anyway.

Ongoing onboarding. Onboarding shouldn't stop once the new member starts.

1. I recommend that you institute regular 1:1 check-ins (every other month or quarterly seems to work best) with the Superintendent and each board member. Again, yes, this is an investment of time, but it is a proactive investment rather than receiving frustrated/frantic calls from board members who don't have an opportunity to stay systematically connected.
2. I also recommend that all board members set up an annual 1:1 with every other board member - an informal walk or coffee or school visit just to stay connected and build trusting relationships.
3. Pair the new member with an experienced board member who agrees to be a "board buddy." Make sure they are seated next to them so the mentor can answer questions during the board meeting, and set up time outside of meetings for the mentor to answer questions and provide a listening ear.

In closing, my co-CEO Ethan Ashley often reminds board teams that it is important to go through a "grieving process," especially with a Superintendent transition. Acknowledge the change, what you are losing, and what you are gaining. Expect things to be different, and change often requires active change management.

Please join the conversation in the comments!

• What did I forget to include in an ideal onboarding process?
• Did you experience onboarding as a board member?

*We use the term "Team of 8" to refer to 7 board members and the superintendent. (Obviously boards of different sizes have a different team of #.) Too often we find that school boards and superintendents don't think of themselves as the "First Team." The Superintendent tends to think of their first team as their cabinet, and the board tends to think of themselves as a team. They do professional development separately, receive coaching separately, etc. We believe that the "first team" should be the board and superintendent. I'll cover this more in a future post."

Carrie Douglass is the co-founder and co-CEO of School Board Partners and a twice-elected school board member in Bend, Oregon. Douglass is a former teacher, school leader, district administrator, education funder and nonprofit leader. She owns three small businesses with her husband and has two children in public schools in the district she represents. Ms. Douglass holds a BA in Education and an MBA in strategy and finance.