BOARD BULLETIN: LEADING THROUGH STRATEGY

The board members at your school are hopefully aware of their three major responsibilities:

1. Setting the strategic direction of the school.
2. Ensuring the school is financially sustainable.
3. Hiring, supporting, and, if necessary, terminating the head of school.

While these three responsibilities may seem relatively straightforward, in reality, many boards struggle, especially with what’s involved in setting the strategic direction of the school.

A school’s strategy should be rooted in its mission, which should distinguish the school from others in the market. While the mission should be anchored in the enduring values the school holds dear, it shouldn’t be static. A strategic board should review the mission annually, ensuring it reflects both the school’s current reality and future aspirations.

Once the strategic board affirms the mission, it must determine the school’s strategic direction. There are several methods to clarify strategic priorities.

The most common approach is developing a strategic plan. This plan is typically crafted with wide-ranging input from the community and outlines goals for the next three to five years. Typically, the strategic plan is drafted by a board committee assigned to this task. The draft is then approved by the entire board. Many plans are incomplete, as they only include strategic goals. A complete plan must also include a budget and a timeline.

A growing number of schools are abandoning the traditional strategic plan, believing that in today’s rapidly changing environment, planning for the next three to five years is impractical. Too many factors can change. These schools tend to identify a few strategic directions or themes and determine annually what will be done to move closer to the strategic ideal.

Whichever approach your board takes, it needs to be clear about the strategic priorities, and much of its work should focus on how effectively the school is meeting its strategic goals. To that end, the board should devise a number of structures to keep the strategic initiatives front and center.

Possible Structures for Maintaining Focus on Strategic Priorities:

• Insisting that the head’s and board’s annual goals reflect the identified strategic initiatives.
• Having the head’s regular report to the board focus on strategic successes and roadblocks.
• Spending time at each board meeting reviewing strategic progress.
• Creating a deliverable sheet including a timeline and person responsible for accomplishing each strategic goal (or subgoal). Review the deliverable sheet regularly.
• Creating a feedback loop for the head in which progress toward achieving strategic goals plays a large part in the annual evaluation.

It’s easy for a board to allow its attention to drift away from its agreed-upon strategic goals to what appears to be urgent at the moment. In the vast majority of cases, the head and staff can handle urgent issues. It’s up to the board to push strategy forward. Remember, dealing with operational problems is not one of the board’s responsibilities, but setting the strategic direction of the school is.

Join us for the final installment of our Trustee Education Series, April 8, 5:00-6:00 PM Eastern as we discuss the philanthropic landscape and hot topics.

The SAIS Governance Health Check measures how well the board executes on its commitment to best practices in independent school governance within the five domains of board governance.