Now a few months into my third year, I find one question comes up more than any other: “Where do you see schools thriving?” Having visited more than 30 markets across the SAIS landscape, my answer is consistent. Thriving schools have boards and leadership teams that are deeply process-oriented. They never stop asking where their school is headed and why. They examine the future from many angles, benchmark their data, conduct research, and draw on a variety of tools and voices to inform their thinking. Above all, they have made a habit of setting aside time to think strategically, together.
That habit is at the heart of what the SAIS Governance Health Index calls strategic direction: the ability to design, communicate, and coalesce one’s community around the school’s mission, vision, and strategic priorities. It is shared work.
- The board establishes the mission, adopts the long-range vision, and monitors strategic targets.
- The head of school partners with the board to design those targets and leads the community in bringing them to life.
Let’s put this into practice. As we near the halfway mark of the school year, this is a natural moment to pause and reflect alongside. As you know, strategy is rarely a straight road. It winds through moments of change we did not see coming and opportunities we must be ready to seize. To support your strategic work, we have designed the SAIS Strategic Direction Toolkit, built on a simple idea of looking back to look forward and learning from the future as it emerges. The three tools can be used together, each building on the one before, or on their own to meet your board’s needs.
01 | Past: Look Back to Look Forward. Adapted from the Institute for the Future, this tool begins with one question: What have been the key moments of change in our school’s past? Understanding how change has shaped us is the best preparation for what lies ahead.
02 | Current Reality: SWOT Analysis. Next, we ask where our school stands today. The challenge is to keep “strengths” your shortest list, naming only what is truly distinctive, and then leverage those few strengths to seize opportunities, address weaknesses, and guard against threats.
03 | Future Impact: The Three Loops of Change. Drawn from the Systems Innovation Network, this final tool helps you decide how deeply you need to change, from small improvements, to rethinking approaches, to questioning the very assumptions behind your goals.
Strategic Direction ToolkitI encourage you to take this journey together at your next board meeting or retreat. The road ahead will have its turns, but a board and head who understand where they’ve been and where they stand will be ready for them.
Reach out if we can support your strategic efforts.