EXPLO Elevate shares good ideas, practices, and wisdom to help schools and their communities flourish.
Dear Friend,
The blush of the new school year is done. Leaves are just past their peak. It’s getting darker earlier. And with a nod to Game of Thrones, winter is coming in all of its manifestations. As someone who used to live in a place that regularly got 300 inches of snow a year, preparing for winter was simply part of life. There was a rhythm to the preparations and a sense of accomplishment when they were done. In this issue we’ll take a look at preparing for our winters, building capacity, and firing up the imagination.
Why Leaders Need to Understand That We Are All Projectionists
One of the most difficult jobs in schools is managing people. Each member of the leadership team is a blank slate upon which faculty, students, parents, trustees, and alums can, and do, project hopes, fears, joy, and paranoia. It’s transference in school life. Dr. Edward Hallowell examined the dynamic in his true-to-life fable about retiring Head of School, Marianne Constant. For years we’ve been recommending that leadership teams dig into this tale. Thanks to Ned and NAIS for giving us permission to reprint. We’ve added study questions and think it’s well worth spending time thinking about how this plays out in your school.
Speaking of leadership, David Grant Smith, Dean of Students at Roxbury Latin School, wrote an exceptional article in Independent School magazine on engaging with parents. He writes exquisitely about embracing conflict as a kind of care. I have a short stack of articles that I go back to again and again when working with leadership teams. This is one I am adding to my go to list.
Does Your School Keep Its Promises?
Schools make all kinds of promises. They are embedded in your mission statement, your strategic plan, your website, your admission brochures, your student handbook, your syllabi, your enrollment agreement, the signage on your playing fields, your faculty and staff handbook, your faculty recruiting materials, the conversations you have with the local town manager or police department chief. Some promises are explicit and some are implicit. People rely on your promises.
Great schools care if there is a gap between what they say and what they do.
Our strategic partner, Tyton Partners, is constantly surveilling the education market and how consumers (students and parents) are eyeing the options. They are predicting – based on excellent evidence – that we are on the precipice of a structural shift in the K-12 sector. That shift will impact independent schools. Unprepared, schools may suffer. But preparing for this swerve and focusing on the opportunities it presents means schools can significantly increase their chances of thriving well into the future.
Schools are preservationist in nature. They change slowly. Often very slowly. But when conditions are changing rapidly, change must come faster and this has some schools careening and acting almost completely in reactive mode. In Schools, Meteors and What Remains, David Torcoletti explains why fringe players can come out ahead.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote about those high impact events that are highly improbable with massive consequences in The Black Swan. The impact of Black Swan events is enormous, and they seem so improbable that we put off preparing for them. But we also put off preparing for – or under prepare for – Grey Swan events, which we know are possible but we assume are unlikely to occur. This is something boards and leadership teams need to do. There’s a table top exercise I like to use that you may want to consider.
Not too long ago I was asked to design a school’s first board retreat for the year. The school had added a good number of new board members in the past couple of years and they didn’t know each other well. So the group needed a get to know you exercise and something that prompted working together as a team. I also wanted them to practice dreaming with one another. So I designed an exercise I called The Ten Day Vacation. Since then, others have asked me how it works, so happy to share it here.
Finally, sometimes seeing something new can kickstart your imagination. In a time when the built environment can too often feel sterile, there are those who create whimsical other worlds. Practical places and magical ones. I think more of this should be brought to schools … and lots of other places. Check out Unnecessarily Beautiful Spaces for Young Minds on Fire.
That’s it for this edition.
Until next time,
Moira
We’re currently working with schools from most regions of the U.S., Europe and Asia. Are you flummoxed on how to move forward? Need an outside perspective? Know you need to get moving on strategy, scheduling, or other projects? Reach out. We’d be happy to chat about the possibilities.
If you like what you’ve read, we’d appreciate it if you would forward this newsletter to others. If this was forwarded to you, you can sign up for your own copy.
Many thanks to AISNE for hosting Ross and me at their recent governance retreat. It was wonderful to meet with trustees and heads on mission and strategic plans. Thanks also goes out to NWAIS for hosting Julie Faulstich and me for their Building Better Boards series. Great case study conversations and digging into how the “stay in your lane” framework doesn’t quite work when the road is pockmarked by obstacles coming at you left and right – and quickly.
Join Us!
Leadership Studio: Vision Driven, Outcome Focused
June 11-13, 2024 | Collegiate School (VA)
In this three day immersive program, join teams of other school leaders as we dive into how to move your vision to reality. Our aim is to inspire, but also to equip teams with the tools, perspectives, support, and connections to deliver on your vision. And it’s good to know that we’re the folks known for bringing joy to learning. So expect some fun and surprises.