Talking All Summer - Weekly Posts until Labor Day!

Also, moving from "Head Transition" to "Head Integration" (from the archive)

A year of networking and a year of Talking Out of School

No one has an easy job at school right now. We’ve heard a lot about the Herculean job faculty have done since the pandemic started but if the sheer numbers of communications and admissions pros who have subscribed to Talking Out of School are any indication, they are pretty tired, too.

And then there are the heads who are asked to take care of everyone and simultaneously, boldly lead into a highly ambiguous future.

There’s student learning loss and mental health concerns. There’s the question of how to close the persistent staffing gap. Tuitions may well have jumped the shark but costs keep growing. Concerns over school safety seem more urgent than ever. And then there is how to ensure sincere and impactful efforts to make schools places of belonging for every student. All in concert with the long forecast demographic downturn hitting some parts of the country, hard.

The time seems to have arrived where we split into two factions - schools that face the facts and rally to meet the moment and schools that are reluctant to let go of the past. And letting go of the past is hard, for sure. 

Facing the facts doesn’t always happen overnight, but it can happen. And it is absolutely necessary in this climate to get real about who you are, where you’re at and how you need to adjust. Change is not impossible, however difficult - the questions are “how much change?” and “when?” 

This is doable!

One year into Talking Out of School, the most frequent feedback I hear is that the posts are honest, empathetic and optimistic.

After one year of networking with school and non profit leaders - I stand by this. But the first step is letting go of the fear of looking at reality, acknowledging change and feeling all the feelings. Speaking from recent experience, grief is no fun but it’s even worse if you try to skip over it.

And from the way this newsletter has grown and continues to grow, there is an appetite to take on this work. The appetite is so strong that even as the subscriber list grows, TOOS has maintained an over 70% open rate on posts (30% is considered a success) and over 2000 views per month. And these views are coming not just from the US but from school leaders all over the world.

So to celebrate a year of Talking Out of School, I will be Talking All Summer, with posts every week until Labor Day.

I’ll be introducing a new Q&A feature on topics ranging from branding as strategy to refreshing practices recruiting faculty and staff to cash flow management to tips for outsourcing. I’m also working on organizing the TOOS archive so you can find a past post when you want to pass along those tips for hard conversations on to a new admin.

It’s also the summer of Talking Strategy.

Upcoming posts will be on reframing strategy work to be manageable and address both immediate needs as well as providing longer term direction. Inspired by my recent gig as facilitator for the ICGS/One Schoolhouse Intro to Girls School course, I look forward to a dive into strategy for girls schools. And based on both requests and my personal passion, strategy for boarding schools.

And due to popular demand, more posts about communications.

My friend and collaborator, Jane Moulding of SmarterWisdom are launching our year-long Finding Your Authentic Authority cohort program for senior female leaders this August.

And next Friday, Stony Creek Strategy will announce several exciting partnerships and launch communications-informed strategic planning services. We will also announce new offerings tailored to address specific needs in the areas of faculty/staff recruitment and retention, enrollment, and communications.

It took a year of listening and thinking and reading and writing, but the results are carefully crafted services, delivered in collaboration with excellent partners, meeting the needs of the moment.

We’re living in a complicated, quickly changing reality. Looking into the sun is blinding, but SCS is here to hand you a hat and some very powerful sunglasses.

And given the time of year, I am re-upping some thoughts from the winter about evolving head transition.

As always, I love to connect! Feel free to reach out to me at jfaulstich@stonycreekstrategy.com if you curious to have a chat.