NAIS 2010 A Healthy Head Start: Strategic Transitions Presented by: Jeff Bradley, Educators’ Collaborative (NH) Judith Glickman, Educators’ Collaborative (CA) Lisa Lyle, Head of School Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School (Missouri) Alonso Wong, Chair, Board of Trustees Chinese American International School (San Francisco, California) NAIS 2010 A Healthy Head Start: Strategic Transitions

NAIS 2010 A Healthy Head Start: Strategic Transitions Process Informs the Outcome (Strategic)       Intentional  (Interim or Permanent) Respectful (People) Mindful of history (Traditions, artifacts, symbols) Poised for the future (Moments) NAIS 2010 A Healthy Head Start: Strategic Transitions

From the Head of School: Lisa Lyle First headship, Year 3 MICDS and the Board Assistant Head, 5 years, The Blake School

The Search Process The Two-Way Street The Search Committee’s Role School info; an honest picture The interview and visit; what does the candidate need? You’re being watched! Building relationships, from the start

And once the Head is hired. . . .

Unfailing Support and Clear Expectations The Move Transition team Goals Professional support The Head-Chair relationship

From the Board Chair: Alonso Wong, Strategic Search / Strategic Plan Chinese American International School, San Francisco Strategic Search / Strategic Plan Knowing your mission, before you start Communicating and engaging your community

From the Board Chair: Alonso Wong, Strategic Search / Strategic Plan Chinese American International School, San Francisco Strategic Search / Strategic Plan How a Strategic Plan can lead to the Search How we are Transitioning in a new Head My motto: practice, practice, practice -- be prepared, keep moving, and take risks.

What Heads tell us about their transitions Question: What most helped to ease you (and your family) into your new job?

“The day we moved into the house, there was a basket of goodies that took care of meals for the first couple of days. . . . . They gave us a book of resources put together about practical things including, dry cleaning, doctors, restaurants, etc. We still use it.”

“. . ..several meetings with my predecessor, and attending the spring alumni reunion and the commencement exercises. Clear agreement on goals for year one.

“The appointment of two members of the community as my transition team

“Trustees [connected] me with leaders of local organizations. Essentially, they placed me where I - and the school - needed to be placed within local leadership. By the end of my first year I had gained 10 pounds, but knew everyone in the community.”

create a network of new heads. “Going to the NAIS New Heads' Institute where I was able to take a breath and. . . . create a network of new heads. (I now have a monthly dinner with 3 of them who live within an hour's drive of me - our therapy sessions!)”

If you could do-over the transition period, what would you change? Question: If you could do-over the transition period, what would you change?

“I wasn’t able to move into my house (boarding school) until September 1 (renovations), so I only had a week to settle in before the students arrived.”

“I would have. . . slowed the pace [of change] if I had to do it over.”

Question: How would you characterize the relationship and level of trust between you and your board chair in the first year of your tenure? What factors most contributed to how well you two got along?

“My Board chair was also the chair of the search committee “My Board chair was also the chair of the search committee. . . . it is critical that he/she be a member of the search committee, so that the chair is invested in the new head’s success.”

“A close mentoring relationship with a high level of trust “A close mentoring relationship with a high level of trust. We spoke on the phone every Monday at 6:30 a.m.”

“I entered the search with a clear sense of the importance of presenting myself as I am, rather than striving to be the best ‘candidate.’ As a result, we had a firm footing of candor on which to build a relationship of trust."

“Weekly meetings, regardless of whether or not there was anything pressing to talk about, were really important to me and the board . . . . Our Friday breakfasts sometimes are more social than business, and this has gone a long way toward sealing our professional and personal relationship.”

NAIS 2010 A Healthy Head Start: Strategic Transitions

NAIS 2010 A Healthy Head Start: Strategic Transitions Jeff Bradley jbradley@educatorscollaborative.com Judith Glickman jglickman@educatorscollaborative.com Lisa Lyle llyle@micds.org Alonso Wong a.wong@cw-investments.com NAIS 2010 A Healthy Head Start: Strategic Transitions