NAIS Annual Conference, day one

Mohammad and I arrived in DC late yesterday for the NAIS Annual Conference, which kicked off today with a series of three-hour workshops. This conference is always a tremendous experience, for several reasons; the opportunity to meet other school administrators, hear their stories and ask questions - the deeply informative workshop sessions, from which I walk away with renewed excitement and enthusiasm about the possibility of growth and improvement at TBS - the provocative general sessions, which sometimes border on cheerleading - and most importantly, the time and space to step away from the intensity of day-to-day operations and have sustained, running conversations about important issues at school over the course of days in an unhurried and contemplative way, integrating the information that we are learning and developing our resolve on action steps for the future.

This morning I attended an introductory workshop for the Fellowship for Aspiring Heads, in which I am lucky to be able to participate. Besides some logistics and organization, the 50 or so Fellows began the morning discussing five stepping stones in our lives that have brought us to the place where we are considering moving into a Head of School position. These key points ran the gamut from people, places, jobs and schools to experiences and emotions, and we shared them in small groups, finding similarities and differences among our journeys (my own stepping stones included the summer camp I attended as a child and worked at as a college student, where my love for experiential education was ignited; the support of my wife through the hardships I have faced in my work; my work at TBS as a teacher; my graduate work at Mills; and the three heads I have been fortunate to work with at TBS in the ten years I have been here). The facilitators then made the suggestion that according to 50 years of studies on leadership, what makes NO difference in leadership are intellect, charisma, strategic thinking, and a bias for action: most individuals working towards headship are going to be intelligent, or they wouldn't be on that path; charisma might be helpful in getting hired, but not in doing the actual work of leading; strategic thinking is best done in collaboration, not alone; and action without reflection leads to impulsivity, which leads to mistakes. What DOES make a difference in leadership, they proposed, are self-control, integrity, empathy, teamwork, self-confidence, and an achievement orientation. Already I see that the Fellowship will provide me with, and push me to find both now and once I am a Head, the space and tools to understand myself and to be a reflective leader.

The afternoon session I attended was run by Mike Conner of Conner Associates Strategic Services, titled Creating Resilient Schools: Strategic Marketing, Enrollment, and Budget Management. The presentation provided a seven-part strategy for increasing institutional resilience (which he offered as an alternative to the idea of "sustainability", reasoning that the latter suggests trying to keep from falling apart rather than having the capacity to capitalize on opportunities - a fertile ground for discussion for another time), each of which was broken down into component steps:

1. Communicating value – the value proposition

2. Tuition and financial aid planning

3. The mindset of marketing as resilience: goals, budget, curriculum, communications channels, inquiry development, retention

4. Planning ideas for resilience

5. The moving part of your overall spending plan

6. The intersection of policy and operations – how to take an operational snapshot and plan from that

7. Planning calendar for the moving parts

The very first topic was one that Mohammad and I had been discussing the day before, so it was interesting to hear one view on how to have a process for defining the value proposition of a program. Mike proposed that to prove a value proposition in an independent school, you have to show a) demonstrate you make a difference in the lives of those you touch (return on investment); provide unique solutions to each individual's needs; push the envelop of current educational practices; and run an efficient organization. I'm excited to take this back to the administrative team for further discussion, as I think we are well positioned to more clearly communicate the tremendous value proposition of a TBS education.