Farewell, 2022 and welcome, 2023!
Many, many thanks for all of the feedback and the connections this little newsletter has provided over the past six months. I started it with a hope to keep my toe in the water of educational leadership while I prioritized caring for my parents and figured out next steps. It has become so much more than that! In fact, it has quite likely changed the trajectory of my next steps as I hear what is on your minds and see what subjects get traction out in the world.
It has also been a nice affirmation to this old MFA in creative writing that you all seem to enjoy the writing. After a number of years where I was mainly writing community messages delivering bad news, mitigation steps, and reassurance - it’s been a welcome and fun change.
Some info by the numbers of Talking Out of School’s first six months:
Subscribers since late June, 2022: 190 (and counting)
(I was aiming for maybe 100)
Average open rate for all editions - 72%
(A good open rate is considered around 30%)
I will be doing a short subscriber survey in early 2023, but from what I can discern from email addresses, there are 42 independent schools represented, mainly heads of school, senior administrators, and department heads.
This includes:
A range of K-5, K-12, day-boarding, boarding-day
A geographic range from Vancouver to Miami with a few farther afield
A majority from New England/NYC, which makes sense given my initial network
Seven girls’ schools
So what are the hot topics?
I’ll go from #5 back to #1
At #5 - Letter to a New Administrator
I confess I have a fondness for that one! It was written quickly, on a whim and I think it’s the real deal about my love/frustration for the program leader position, but mostly the love.
At #4 - Better Faculty Meetings
Because - yeah. I hope your year end school parties were truly fun.
At #3 - Three Urgent School Issues for 2023
This was kind of a bummer and, as Angela Brown from Niche called it on LinkedIn, a doozy (love that!) - but it definitely connected. This also gets the award for most new subscriptions in a 24 hour period. I would not be surpised if by early January, it’s in the #2 spot. Because it’s all true! And some of it is quite fixable… if we can let go of our old ways.
At #2 - Resetting for a New School Year, Part II - or, decision making, faculty edition
Also Part I, about boards and clarity in decision making had an 89% open rate, but fewer overall views. Joel Backon at OESIS published these in Intrepid Ed News so I’m sure that boosted this one.
Putting effort into establishing clarity in decision making - a pain at the time - and who has the time? - pays off. I know, it’s scary, but try it.
And at #1, taking me completely by surprise….
“What Makes a Great Senior Team?”
This had at least 30% more viewers than #2. As someone who has felt really good about running a team and also felt pretty bad about running a senior team, it was affirming to see this is something many leaders struggle with. Note taken. This was also another article I wrote on the spur of the moment and I didn’t realize the need out there.
What was one of the least popular entries?
Nimble Strategic Planning
I am beginning to wonder if “strategic planning” or “strategic design” is the cod liver oil of the post pandemic era. Yeah, we get it - schools need strategy. And maybe the idea of taking on one of those whole school, swallows-up-everything-into-its-maw processes just makes people want to take a nap? I’d love to hear some responses in the comments if anyone is up for it.
I have some thoughts about how to make this process less onerous, more organic and maximize a bang for the (time investment) buck - more to come in 2023. Because, yes, your school needs a real, practical, living strategy now more than ever.
So what’s new for 2023?
Talking Out of School
I haven't forgotten the Ask a Head of School feature. I had some good questions and I will be responding in January!
I would like to make this more like a small magazine and I have talked to a few people about writing for TOOS as well as conducting some interviews. I have podcast fantasies but I think that’s a ton of work and do we need another podcast? Unlikely. But I would like to think about TOOS as more of a publication where I write essay as well as edit and convene.
What have I learned in the past six months? This is not an exhaustive list, but what crossed my own line of vision. I know this leaves out a ton, including some huge areas such as enrollment management and DEI+.
Head transition is a mess. It needs focused attention. It can no longer be “hire the best candidate and set them loose.” No shade on new heads but there really needs to be an intentional plan to set them up for success that is more than who they needed to be introduced to in the community. Support around how to run a senior team, how to build a partnership with the board chair, how to begin to figure out sustainable boundaries - none of these are things that a talented new head will necessarily just know how to do, particularly with the number of “hot” issues flying at them in 2022.
Heads and senior admins are stretched thin even if fully staffed due to all the complications of running schools. Schools are largely staffed and structured for a much simpler time, from the head’s office on down. This needs some basic rethinking, not just budget adds, to get these positions off a burnout path, because if they’re on a burnout path, so are teachers.
Boards really want to do right by their schools but they are busy people and when a time consuming school change-management event occurs, they have neither the expertise nor the time to deal with what comes their way. Chief among these change management events is the head search and transition process. We need a fresh look at governance training and support. We can’t expect trustees who are recruited for their impressive accomplishments and busy lives to all of a sudden drop everything and become full time senior administrators.
Aspiring women leaders are looking for mentors who understand where they’re coming from and what they face. Especially at small schools, this can be tough. I heard this loud and clear at the Carney Sandoe Womens Forum. And I would assume the same can be said of aspiring non traditional leaders - people of color, LGBTQ+, etc. They want more than a workshop.
Communications needs to be elevated, celebrated and embraced. The Director of Communications should be the head of school’s right hand. Well developed and executed communications strategies can help everything from HOS/Board relations to faculty meetings to, of course, admissions. My sense is that most independent schools are still trying to figure out how this position fits in a school and many comms folks are on the margins, trying to convince other senior leaders outside of admissions or maybe development to collaborate as true thought partners who are greater than the sum of their parts, not as a department servicing enrollment or fundraising.
Stony Creek Diaries
A number of people have reached out about eldercare with the last two Stony Creek Diaries. I joked to a friend that I might write a post that is entitled “All You Need to Know about Eldercare in 2022” and when you click on it, it will be blank. :) Because no one knows anything and their systems don’t even talk to each other.
It is exceptionally confusing to even begin navigating how to manage your very elderly parents, let alone support their best quality of life when often they can’t articulate what a good quality of life is for them. And we’re projecting our own ideas about a middle aged quality of life on to them - or perhaps the most confounding situation, their dream quality of life is one (no longer attainable) thing and you are trying to provide a realistic high quality of life within the limitations posed by the functioning of a 90-something year old body That is a recipe for some drama, frustration, and occasionally satisfying successes, let me tell you!
Other writing for 2023
Two projects I have been musing:
A memoir-ish in essays about running a boarding school during COVID
A murder mystery series where the “detectives” are two boarding school employees - and the first mystery is the death of the head of school, who had many, many enemies…
Stony Creek Strategy update
Stony Creek Strategy will officially launch later this winter with offerings on women’s leadership development, governance support, including head’s transition, and senior admin team building. And continuing executive coaching!
Gratitude - so much gratitude
Finally I want to give a big warm thank you to the family and friends who have subscribed and read every week - and even more so, the feedback that this also applies to their profession and lives as well!
And a big thank you to all the people who shared condolences about the loss of my dad and to all of you who read the last two Stony Creek Diaries. Writing has really been a balm and a therapy and having this audience has been a blessing in a hard time.
Looking forward to starting the year with this interesting and growing community!
Happy New Year to you and yours -
Julie