5 Lessons for School Communities from a Head of School Search

By David Beecher 

In the independent school world, the Head of School is obviously a critical and substantial position.  In addition to being the educational leader of the school, she or he is the moral compass for the community, establishing and maintaining the core values of the institution.  She is also responsible for financial management, fundraising, enrollment management, curriculum development, employee training, support and supervision and the maintainer of tradition.  The Head of School is also in charge of institutional growth, strategic and visionary planning, facility management, and in a boarding school: landlord and neighborhood spirit-in-chief.  She needs to be approachable and warm with students in Kindergarten, faculty in the lounge, parents on the soccer sideline and donors at an evening fundraiser.  As the joke goes, to sum it all up: ‘She is Superwoman on a Good Day’.

The process of advising a school in the hiring process is as complex and complicated as the position itself.  We at TAG provide wise, experienced, mature, calm captaining of the search ship as it sails through clearly challenging seas.  We help a school, and its designated search committee, navigate those choppy waters to arrive at the conclusion of the search with a dynamic person who is a good match for the school, its community of constituents, and the greater community at large.

Here are five critical lessons learned from the Head of School Search:

• Process is Critical
  • While instinct, intuition, and experience are important to working through the search and making judgements on candidates, implementing a well-organized, carefully planned, time tested process is important for consistency, fairness and thoroughness.
  • Organization helps the search committee and the school as a whole understand and manage the process.
  • The balance of transparency and confidentiality is important to any search. Deft, compassionate care of this issue is critical.

• A Head of School Search is a Two-Way Recruitment Process
  • Many folks in schools think the Headship is so highly desired that they will be flooded with applicants and that active recruitment and cultivation is not needed-”they want us”. Indeed, most openings will elicit a flood of applications. But unless you actively recruit and carefully cultivate candidates, you will not have the number of high-level candidates you desire.
  • Throughout the search timeline, schools must steward candidates and their family. With each phase leading to semi-finalists and then finalists, schools must understand, appreciate and respond to each candidate’s unique hopes, personal and professional needs and goals.

• All CEO type searches have the potential for numerous Political Landmines
  • One such landmine is how the Board, led by its Chair, populates the Search Committee. The Board Chair must emphasize the concept of representative governing, as not all parties who are interested in serving will be accommodated.
  • Another example of a challenging political landmine is how to best deal with internal candidates. [Please see our future blogpost which will explain this in detail and will offer supportive steps to achieve success]

• The Head of School search process is a marathon, not a sprint
  • Just as anything that is exciting and important in life, we naturally want to rush to a happy conclusion. This exciting and important process needs meticulous planning, careful deliberation and timely execution.  While it can be rushed, the process should not be hastened. Expect a well-done search to take anywhere from 6 to 12 months.

• Expect the Unexpected and Be Flexible
  • The Sailing Journey to which we referred in our introduction can be challenging, and necessitate changing paths, creative adjustments and unique alterations.
  • Having a wise, experienced search consultant to help the Board navigate the process is critical to every Head of School Search.

We at The Angeletti Group have successfully completed searches as partners with institutions whose uniqueness and own goals have required us to bring our experience and expertise to the forefront.  We are prepared to bring our team’s prowess to make your search a success.