Recommendations & Future Considerations
Strengthening communication within the board as well as with the administration team is one of the clearest paths to improving board effectiveness. In addition to the list of suggestions, I have placed six key events over the board member lifecycle that can help facilitate stronger communication. Notwithstanding the creation of a proper orientation and onboarding plan, these events can enable internal communication and provide a structure for iterative feedback.
Recruitment
Successful recruitment begins with identifying the school’s needs and targeting potential alumni or community members who have the skillset to address these needs. The following initiative is recommended for this phase:
● Intake Assessment - Retrospective Survey. Incorporate findings from the Retrospective Survey to inform the needs and priorities of the recruitment efforts. The ‘exiting’ board member will likely have the strongest and clearest perspective on the needs, priorities and challenges the incoming members will face. The Intake Assessment will define the needs and expectations of incoming board members and can be used to help identify specific individuals during recruitment.
Orientation
The development or revision of a comprehensive orientation program for new board members at TJ is clearly needed. The program should include detailed information on duties and responsibilities as well as any relevant and current data from the school. Relevant data should cover the fiscal status of the school, the workings of the board, staff roles, and the strategic plan. The following initiative is recommended for this phase:
● Mentorship Program - Establish a mentorship program in which veteran board members will pair up with new board members to advise and answer any and all questions regarding board duties
Onboarding
One key aspect of successful teams is a high level of Emotional Intelligence. Implementing a program to assess and develop EQ could help the development of critical relationships between board members and key administration staff. Additionally, creating a feedback loop at this stage with faculty and staff to build trust and communication would enable greater success throughout the board member lifecycle. The following initiatives are recommended for this phase:
● MBIT and Hogan Development Survey: Conduct a personality assessment across board, leadership team, and other staff and faculty to learn about themselves individually and collectively. This would be a tool for school to understand itself as a collective entity. Using personality assessments to connect individual and group behavior to inform organization development work is a well-established data-based intervention. (Burke & Noumair, 2002; Hogan, 2006)
● Year 1 Summer - First Retreat - Group Dynamics & Team Development: Introduce the group relations perspective/systemic, rather than personal view of the school and everyone in the organization would be expected to participate in addressing challenges. Psychodynamic theory, a group-as-a-whole level of analysis, and BART (Boundary, Authority, Role, and Task) with the Beneath the Surface of the Burke - Litwin model as a framework for analyzing groups in an organizational context. Analyzing the organization as a whole rather than the
individuals within it. (Burke & Noumair, 2015) Leadership team and the board’s ownership of the organization’s culture should be established.
Ongoing Board Governance
During this phase, the board chair and mentors should continue to provide constructive feedback to members to foster a positive working environment. Emphasizing the institution's larger mission, especially during difficult discussions could be helpful in maintaining focus and achieving constructive outcomes. The following initiative is recommended for this phase:
● Conduct Annually 360 - The 360 is a report on the perceptions of an employee’s entire circle of work colleagues– manager, peers, direct reports (Bracken, Timmreck, & Church, 2001)
● Year 2 Fall - Second Retreat: Sharing the presentation of the culture data from 360 feedback survey. (Burke & Noumair, 2015) Creating conditions where difficult issues could be voiced. Covert to overt. Creating a culture of candor. For the Board- Applying consequence analysis on decision making- who does this impact, who is going to win, who’s gonna lose in these decisions, and how they will feel about that. Because feelings will drive their (staff and faculty) behavior. Building a culture where emotions matter. Creating a culture where there is no repercussion for being safe, authentic, and real. (Balzano, Anne-Marie, 2019)
Exit and Retrospective
As the member reaches their third year as a board member, this phase allows the greatest opportunity for the sharing of feedback and a review of alignment. The following initiatives are recommended for this phase:
● Year 3 Spring- Third Retreat: Acknowledgement of the importance of one’s emotional state at work. Board and administrators alike are able to say what was usually left unspoken, denied, or shoved aside. Shift the culture from controlled to expressive, cerebral to emotional. (Burke & Noumair, 2015)
● Retrospective Survey and Exit Interview: Allows for reflection on the past three years and collects data for improving board alignment. As mentioned above, the ‘exiting’ board member will likely have the strongest and clearest perspective on the needs, priorities and challenges the incoming members will face. Their contribution to the survey will be key in defining the criteria for the Intake Assessment.
Outside the Board
Leadership team and board members learning how to have difficult conversations. I recommend biweekly all-staff meetings so every employee gets a chance to have conversations with everyone in the organization. Giving people voices and validation across the entire institution will be critical to sharing with the board an accurate assessment and pulse of the school community. The following initiatives are recommended to school leadership and community:
● The Head of School to send a short weekly email to staff about what’s happening behind the curtain. Transparency is important to establish trust for the leadership and institution
● Create more socializing events between board members and staff. Casual socializing will help establish trust between the administration team and board.
● The board chair to have biweekly informal calls with individual board members
● Biweekly informal calls between committee chairs and staff liaisons.
● Create a plan for sustaining this communication throughout every level at the
school. A feedback loop and accountability process are necessary to make sure
communication is getting sustained throughout.
● Create a safe space between the Board Chair and Head of School on their
weekly calls.
Considerations for Other Schools
For school leaders when thinking about your school board, what feelings come to mind for administrators? Think about your boards’ belonging and alignment and their relationship with administrators and advancing the mission of the school:
● What are important traits of being a board member at your school?
● How can the board understand where administrators are coming from and how can administrators understand where the board is coming from?
The following are some considerations that we offer other school leaders as they engage in board belonging and board alignment:
● Consider that the board’s alignment is closely linked to the culture of a school
● Consider how the leadership team and the board are aligned to successfully
advance the mission of your school.
● Consider reframing individual views and behaviors of the school to group and systemic issues. To address and advance, everyone in the institution has to collectively have ownership of their responsibility of changing organizational culture.
● Consider implementing a practice of reflection on your board, your leadership team, faculty, and staff.
● Consider enabling a more self-aware and self-monitoring organization while maintaining a vibrant and healthy culture that supports its mission.
Acknowledgments
I deeply appreciate the administration leadership team and board members at TJ for their openness in sharing their experiences and for their commitment and dedication for this research together. I am excited to see the TJ community continue to learn and grow in all of their pursuits. I also would like to thank Kenny Graves who coached on this research, my mentor, José Leonor, for bouncing ideas and helpful suggestions, and Nicole Forlonge for her support in this research. I would also like to thank Klingenstein Center for their continued support. I would like to thank my husband, Eddie, whose patience and support has made my life long goal of attaining a Masters Degree possible. And lastly, my two children, Benno and Phoenix who cheered for mommy.
References
Argyris, C. (1965). Explorations in interpersonal competence, II. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 1, 255-269
Balzano, Anne-Marie. (Host). (2019, October 28). Leveraging Emotional Intelligence in the Boardroom-Insights for Heads and Trustees (No. 9) [Audio podcast episode]. The Trustee Table. National Association of Independent Schools. https://soundcloud.com/user-77913244-794996959/leveraging-emotional-intelligence-in-t he-boardroom-insights-for-heads-and-trustees
Bracken, D.W., Timmreck, C.W., & Church, A.H. (Eds.). (2001). Handbook of multisource feedback. San Francisco, CA: Jossey- Bass.
Burke, W.W., & Noumair, D.A. (2002). The role of personality assessment in organization development. In J. Waclawski & A. H. Church (Eds.), Organization development: A data drive approach to organization change (pp. 55-77). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Burke, W.W., & Noumair, D.A. (2015). Organization Development. A Process of Learning and Changing (pp 145-184). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Hogan, R. (2006). Personality and the fate of the organization. Hillsdale, NJ; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Orem, Donna (2016, March 21) The Power of Empathy in Leadership & Governance. National Association of Independent Schools. https://www.nais.org/learn/independent-ideas/march-2016/the-power-of-empathy-in-lead ership-and-governance/
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