Hi Inner Circle Member:
Whew, I’m just coming up for air right now. I’m working with my webmaster to finish off developing my new web site, and I hope to launch it the middle of next week. It’s a much more interactive site, with additional free information on how to lead and operate your existing private school, as well as how to start your own school. One unique service I’m including in the “new look” website is an “Online Store.” You’ll be able to invest in a number of products including my Webinar Series on ‘Starting Your Own School’ (K-12, Charter, Junior, Senior, or College). I’ll also be allowing you to invest in my Strategic Planning Toolkit, where you’ll be able to learn how to develop your own Strategic Plan like the pro’s with an easy to follow, step-by-step, all-in-one Toolkit containing a 101 page Manual and 98 page Workbook, and 4 CD’s, including a powerful Power Point presentation to walk you through the entire process. I want to get this into as many hands as possible, so I’ll being discounting the first 100 that go out.
On a parallel note, I’m also optimizing my web site so that it’s search engine friendly. For those techies out there, that means aligning my key words with the Meta tags and copy for each web page. Yep, I know, your eyes are starting to glaze over (I call this ‘screen saver’), so I won’t talk too much more on this topic. But I do want to emphasize that every one of you should not only have a web site, but you should make sure that it’s optimized so that your clients (parents, students, staff, alumnae, friends) can find your it in a natural search (using your key words) – you should test this theory right now (did you turn up on the 1st page?). I used to think it was magical process and that over time the search engines would find my school’s web site ‑‑ they would just follow the yellow brick road. But I was wrong. It’s not that easy; not with over a billion web sites out there to search through. So you do need to spend more time with your techie ensuring that your web site is attractive, informative, validates to your current parents why they chose your school, inspires potential parents/students to select your school, and is search engine friendly so that people can find your site.
Today I’m going to talk about a topic that is a challenge for many private schools and non-profits. It’s the working relationship between the Head-Principal-Executive Director and the Board.
Enjoy,
Doug Halladay
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In This Issue
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1. The Head-Board Relationship
2. Inner Circle Jokes of the Week
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1. The Head-Board Relationship
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OVERVIEW:
Based on my professional research on the common attributes of effective schools, one of the most critical elements is a strong and healthy Board-Head relationship, and their joint efforts to achieve the mission and strategic plan of the private school.
Exceptional boards govern in an interdependent partnership with their CEO. They recognize that they can’t govern well without the CEO’s collaboration and the CEO can’t lead the organization to it full potential without the board’s support. However, in less than stellar schools, there can be an oppositional atmosphere and an unclear understanding of roles and responsibilities. You have blurred boundaries and confused roles. And what do you get...a private school unable to achieve its mission.
It’s important to understand the role that the Board and Head have in achieving the mission and goals of the strategic plan. The Board’s role is to develop the strategic, long-range plans for the school; “directing/developing” goals and policy, monitoring their implementation. The Head’s role is to lead the “operations” side to implement the goals/policies, with the Head and staff being held accountable for meeting Board expectations, which is clearly outlined and monitored within the goals/policies.
However, in small schools, new private schools, or schools where the boundaries or roles and responsibilities have blurred or overlapped, this may not be the case. In effective schools, Board members develop goals and policies with the assistance of the Head, and do not get down in the trenches (the operational side). However, in some limited cases, a Board member may have knowledge and a passion for a specific skill that may benefit the school (a skill that the school staff does not have or the school cannot finance); skills that the school may want to tap into and to provide staff access to.
However, this next tip is critical --> Board members need to make sure that they don't overstep and over commit themselves, and cross over from the strategic side (Board) to the operations side (management).
At a Board level, a goal should be achievable, measurable, relevant, and timely, with it being implemented by the Head and the staff. But since a Board member may have an "advisory role", there is a need to make sure that there is no confusion over the "chain-of-command". It is important to ensure that the Board's authoritative position and its obligation to its constituency be maintained, even when it is in the position to give advice, that by definition may or may not be heeded (e.g., do staff members put themselves in jeopardy if they do not heed it?).
FUNDAMENTAL RULES:
Good Board-Head delegation can be characterized by 4 simple rules:
(1). The Board will express its instructions and expectations only as a group, not as individuals or committees;
(2). The Board will express its instructions and expectations only to the Head, never to persons who work for the Head;
(3). The function and agenda for a Board committee be developed jointly with the Head.
(4). Advice to staff from Board members can be workable with sound ground rules. Since the Board can only instruct the Head when it does so as a group, nothing an individual Board members says can have instructional authority. Thus, Board member advice is fine, but commands are not. So advice can be considered by staff on its merits alone.
SUMMARY:
It’s important to ensure that the line between “instructing” (which a full Board does) and “advising” (which Board member can do) does not get blurred and confusing for the Head and staff. The unintended result is that the staff ends up working not for the Board or Head per se, but for various sources of "advice", which they can never be completely sure is really only advice. Staff members are not inclined to tell Board members that their advice is unhelpful. Would you tell your ‘boss’ that their advice or assistance is not working? Probably not.
In other words, the Board “directs/develops” goals and the Head/staff control the "processes", and the Board members wear his/her "instructional hat" at the Board meetings only, not at the committee level. Thus the Head/staff is held accountable for meeting Board expectations (clearly outlined in the goals/policies of the Board’s strategic plan), not the individual Board members or the committees.
It’s important to make sure that the staff is free to review the advice and make the appropriate choices (processes) needed to accomplish the goals. Hence, a Board member’s place on a committee is two fold:
(1). Providing feedback to the Board for the development of goals/ policies (governing) at the Board meeting level;
(2). Advising, with the Head/staff making the final decisions on the processes to achieve the goals/policies, being careful of the balance between the two.
When you have a small school or a start-up, everyone chips on to help out. You may not have a lot of money to support your vision (e.g., computer technician, accountant, lawyer, marketing), so members of the board help out, where normally a staff member or a consultant would do the job. This can be great: you save money; there is pride and buy-in. But what happens if the job they are doing isn’t working out? Who tells the board member to either improve what they are doing, or stop it completely? Hmm, is it the Head? He or she would be dealing with a board member’s poor performance...people’s feelings may be hurt. Trust I’ve been there, I know it can be difficult. So if you do go down this road, make sure that you’ve clearly outline the boundaries and roles of the individual board member, and what to do if the operational task they’re performing doesn’t work out. You don’t want a board member to quite over it, but neither do you want to go against the principles of effective schools and board governance.
If you would like more information about my Board Performance Workshop call me at 1-604-868-0002 or email me at info@halladayeducationgroup.com , or go to: http://www.halladayeducationgroup.com/services.php?sub=online_assessments#topheader
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2. Inner Circle Jokes of the Week
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COMEDIAN STEVEN WRIGHT FOR THE MOMENT
What's another word for thesaurus?
I installed a skylight in my apartment.... The people who live above me are furious!
I used to work at a factory where they made hydrants; but you couldn't park anywhere near the place.
I got my driver's license photo taken out of focus on purpose. Now when I get pulled over, the cop looks at it (moving it nearer and farther, trying to see it clearly), and says, "Here, you can go."
And when I get real, real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if I'm leaving.
FUN FACTS OF THE MOMENT
American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one (1) olive from each salad served in first-class.
The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma
No piece of paper can be folded in half more than seven (7) times. Oh go ahead...I'll wait...
Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
Most dust particles in your house are made from DEAD SKIN!
Walt Disney was afraid OF MICE!
It is possible to lead a cow upstairs... but, not downstairs.
A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least six (6) feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush. (I keep my toothbrush in the living room now!)
And the best for last..... Turtles can breathe through their butts.
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To your success,
Douglas L.J. Halladay
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President and Founder
4316 Arthur Drive, Ladner, BC, Canada, V4K 2W8
P: 604.868.0002/F: 868.472.8737/Email: info@halladayeducationgroup.com
www.HalladayEducationGroup.com
P.S. If you like these tips please pass them on to your friends, clients and colleagues.
P.P.S. HAVE YOU RECEIVED MY ECOURSE ON STARTING YOUR OWN SCHOOL?
So far, more than +300 educators and non-profit leaders have signed up for my complimentary 15-part email mini-eCourse called "15 Critical Steps To Starting Your Own School." If you're not one of them, do it now. I provide a clear overview of the fundamentals needed to start your own PreK-12 school or Post Secondary Institution and many secret short-cuts to ensure that you start the school of your dreams – there’s no second chance to make a first impression on opening day.
Sign up here by emailing the following address and putting in your subject, “Sign me up for the 15-part email mini-eCourse”:
info@halladayeducationgroup.com
