Brookwood School Launches "Inspiring Leadership" Plan

Brookwood School in Thomasville, Georgia has completed and launched their recently developed strategic plan.  Their planning process took place throughout the 2015-16 academic year and launched last spring and early fall to excellent support from faculty, staff, board of trustees, and the surrounding Thomasville community.  Predicated on the theme of "Inspiring Leadership",  Brookwood is taking their market-leading program to the next level. 

Brookwood offers a challenging college preparatory curriculum, guided by talented and compassionate teachers, in the context of a caring, close-knit community.  Their graduates hold prominent positions in the fields of business, politics, religion, law, law enforcement, education, and medicine. 

The purpose of Brookwood School is to provide an exceptional college-preparatory educational experience to students from four years of age through the twelfth grade. Brookwood is committed to developing the whole child: academically, physically, spiritually, and socially.  Brookwood School is an independent, co-educational, college-preparatory day school that offers superior educational opportunities to qualified students from Junior Kindergarten through the 12th grade.

Founded in 1970, Brookwood’s 43-acre campus is located south of Thomasville, Georgia.  Brookwood seeks excellence in intellectual and social growth and integrity and ethical behavior are fostered through an Honor Code governed by students. Academically qualified applicants are admitted without regard to race, creed, color, gender, or national or ethnic origin.

Our Shifting Economy

I've just spent the weekend in Los Angeles attending a conference at MosaicLA, a spiritual community of faith, hope, and love.  Truth be known, it was an opportunity, in between client visits in Southern California, to spend the weekend with my daughter who attends college in LA.  The faith conference featured spiritual thought leaders from throughout the West and the World.  Most interestingly, it gave me an opportunity to hang around bright, ambitious, and creative young adults in their mid twenties for a weekend.  In the process, I picked up a lot of interesting consumer trends, cultural mindsets, and views on the future.  I will share several of them throughout this week. 

Exploring Emerging New Economies

It seems to me that we have a new normal among consumers in North America.  The traditional "luxury" economy that provided high end good and services to well-heeled consumers shows signs of weakening.  And, it is giving way to new forms of economies, such as the "green" movement, the "experience" economy, and the "simplification" consumer.  And, this could spell tough news for independent education, which has historically positioned itself as a luxury good, providing high quality and limited access in exchange for a high price.  Over the next couple of weeks, we will explore these emerging new economies, consider what consumer groups and attitudes they comprise, and investigate the potential impact and opportunity for independent education.  

The Rise of Micro Schools as a Broader Reflection of Culture

I have been thinking a lot about the constant conundrum of independent education and financial and market sustainability.  The model just does not work and I believe has run it's long course.  Normally, this thinking leads me to thinking about market retraction, which leads to school consolidation and collaboration, and often extinction.

Today, however,  I got thinking about the emerging idea of micro schools.  The idea of taking a small number of students, such as 100, and using five well paid faculty that serve as "lead facilitators and generalists of knowledge" in an urban, one room maker space/school house sounds pretty cool.  Tuition could run between $4000 and $8000, classes would be small, and quality and value would be pretty significant if done properly.  It is an interesting concept that is taking shape with a few emerging brands around the nation.

Lately, however, I have begun thinking of this market entry as more of a generational trend.  Everywhere we look we see the generational effect of downsizing, going local in consumer purchases, and stripping out the unnecessary in consumer transactions.  Whether it be tiny houses, food trucks, or little cars and communal vehicles, the micro school movement is more than just about finance.  It is about resetting priorities around learning, quality experiences, value for the price, and community.  It is about stripping education down to the core and removing the unnecessary barriers to quality learning that drives the cost so high.

It will be interesting to see if, and under what conditions, this trend continues.  I am a believe of the concept in theory, yet recognize that it does not and will not replace the social role of independent schools.  But, it could create legitimate line extensions and market opportunities.  And, in theory, it should expand the universe of those receiving high quality education, which, in turn, can have a transformative impact on our world.  And, that is what is the most exciting.

University School of Jackson Launches Strategic Plan

The University School of Jackson in Jackson, Tennessee launched an ambitious strategic plan to a large audience of parents, faculty, staff, and students gathered at the school just before Labor Day.  Ian joined head of school Stu Hirstein to describe the 18 month process that created a bold roadmap for the future.  “Program, people and place are what it’s all about,” Hirstein said. “It’s a bold plan.”

USJ prepared  plan that included a revised mission statement, three goals that reflected an innovative approach to a research-based academic program, enhancements in faulty development, and expanded measures in financial sustainability.  The Jackson Sun newspaper and local NBC TV affiliate also carried an excellent story on the strategic plan launch. 

University School of Jackson is West Tennessee's college preparatory school. Nearly 1100 students call USJ their home for academics, arts, and athletics.  It offers a challenging curriculum in a nurturing and safe environment. USJ educates students from PreKindergarten (2-year-olds) through the 12th Grade.  The true USJ experience extends well beyond the classroom, art studio, stage, athletic fields, and even the campus. It is their approach to learning, which completes the USJ experience and, ultimately, helps shape core values, which last a lifetime.  In the classroom, and in our local and global communities, USJ students learn the importance of service above self. They also learn how to think critically, to clarify their ideals and personal values, and to acquire the ability and willingness to make a difference. While their strength is the academic program, many learning opportunities are provided, all of which help prepare our students for success in the 21st century.  Download the strategic plan in PDF file format here. 

Carolina Friends School Selects ISA...Again

Carolina Friends School has selected ISA to lead the strategic planning process during the upcoming academic year.  We will commence our work this fall with the school, located in Durham, North Carolina. 

Carolina Friends School is a vibrant and inclusive learning community empowering students to think critically, creatively, and independently. The school fosters active exploration and quiet reflection, individual endeavor and collaborative engagement. Inspired by Quaker values -- pursuit of truth, respect for all, peaceful resolution of conflict, simplicity, the call to service -- teaching children that it is possible to change the world.

 ISA is no stranger to Carolina Friends School, having completed a research project for the school during the past academic year. We look forward to our continued relationship with CFS and embarking upon a highly inclusive, research-based strategic plan for the school. 

Culture Eats You for Breakfast

Recently I blogged about the importance of using culture to inform strategy.  The simple phrase "culture eats strategy for breakfast" was initially coined by Peter Drucker and has since become a leadership mantra.  Great leaders know the importance of working from the inside out, taking the time to understand the culture and shared beliefs within an organization before trying to influence the future through strategy.  

All of this assumes that the culture is healthy and ready for the vision that the leader wishes to inspire.  But, what do you do when you arrive to an organization that possesses a very unhealthy culture and you realize that your challenge is not to leverage the culture, but to change it?   This is the challenge with which we see many college presidents and independent school heads saddled after their honeymoon period is over.  They were brought in to solve a problem that is cultural in nature.  

Shifting a culture is serious business and should not be taken lightly.  Our experience tells us that there are three ways to influence a negative or unhealthy culture.   

1. Just Listen.  Stakeholders have to be listened and affirmed by leaders.  You won't get very far if your people don't believe you have taken the time to be present with them and took the effort to understand them.  You don't have to agree - you just have to listen.
2. Get the Facts.  Nothing solves problems than the brutal facts.  Truth can really be liberating to an organization when it is constructed and delivered properly.  Most organizations with an unhealthy culture don't understand their issues in relation to best practices.  Use research and data delivered from a third party to provide an objective, fact-driven view of the organization.
3. Leverage a Process.  Schools run differently than small business.  Thoughtful and inclusive processes always win the day, while top-down approaches in change are rarely successful.  Use a research-driven strategic planning process to not only guide the institution in creating a direction, but also involve people in helping write the future through their own engagement.  

Creating a shift in culture is tough.  But, getting beat by the culture is even tougher.  Our experience tells us the real leaders are the ones that stick around long enough to eradicate unhealthy culture and move the organization forward in a thoughtful, inclusive - sometimes painful - way.  Their leadership leaves a cultural residue that typically lasts much longer than their tenure as a leader. so the next leader can leverage the culture the prior leader helped create.   

Then you can serve strategy for breakfast again. 

Strategy is in the Air

Research and strategy are what we do best.  And, it is shaping up to be a strategy-laden fall with several strategic plans launching for ISA and our client family.  We are initiating strategic planning processes with Sidwell Friends School (MD), Baylor School (TN), Fort Worth Country Day (TX), Westside School (WA), and Christ Presbyterian Academy (TN).  Add these to the wrap ups of some exciting summer research projects for Carolina Friends School (NC), Francis Parker School (CA), Gillispie School (CA), St. Mary's School (CA), Brookwood School (GA), Applewild School (MA), and Journeys and Jackson Hole Community School (WY).  

Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast."  This famous phrase was initially coined by the late management guru Peter Drucker and then popularized more recently by Mark Fields of Ford Motor Company. SInce Field's use of the phrase in the middle of the last decade, it has been tossed around thoughtfully by many marketers and thought leaders.  Most of us have heard the phrase, but, I am not sure how many of us have really thought about why culture is so important, perhaps more important than strategy.  

Culture is an outcome of leadership.  And, I mean leadership from both individuals and long-term institutional and organizational leadership.   A strong and effective leadership model creates, in fact, a culture of shared beliefs.  And, people - at all levels of an organization - share this culture and transmit it to others in the organization.  Mature organizations often are marked by a a real sense of identity, clarity around their shared belief systems and operating principles.  A successful leader knows that his or her vision and strategy is important.  But, he or she also knows that their vision will largely be lost on an organization if it is not in line with the shared culture or an organization.  So, word to the wise:  read the tea leaves of the culture before you launch a vision or strategy.

A simple rule of thumb for organizational effectiveness might be this. 

1. Read the tea leaves to learn the culture or an organization.
2. Create a vision and set of strategies that are in line with or can leverage that culture.
3. Transmit the shared vision in language that is embraced by the culture. 

And the cycle continues, assuming that the culture is strong and healthy.  But, what should you do if the culture in unhealthy and is in need of change?   We will follow up on that topic in our next article.

Lessons Learned #12: Educators Are Incredibly Optimistic

Educators are incredibly optimistic.  Really. If there is any lesson I have learned more often with schools and colleges it is this:  educators are genuinely optimistic.  Through internal turmoil, strategic challenges, demographic shifts, and economic corrections, educators seem to take it in stride.  

My experience with independent schools and colleges is that educators - and specifically faculty - are prepared to weather a tough storm if they believe there is true value in the institution.  And, often their optimism defies the odds.  Declining enrollment and low salary increases have been two of the most often felt challenges by schools and colleges during the past decade, and yet faculty generally take it in stride.  Don't get me wrong; they are not happy about their circumstances.  But, they don't let short term circumstances define their long term point of view.

Lessons Learned #12?  Educators are incredibly optimistic. And, I am grateful to serve these great organizations and industry sector where hope always sits on the horizon.

Lessons Learned #11: The Missing Chapter

Every school or college with which we work seems to have a "missing chapter" in their data collection and records history.  When we begin working on a research or consulting assignment with a client, we often seek a large amount of initial data to get up to speed and learn about the context and operations of the organization.  Invariably, we start looking back and analyzing information and records and find that there is a distinct period of time in the history of the school or college where records were not kept.  This typically includes alumni or enrollment records for a five or ten year period, or even longer, where there are literally no records to review.

Of course, there are all sorts of challenges that emerge with missing data.  The problem is usually traced back to a person or staffer that did not keep records.  Or, it could be due to a poor information management system.  And, often it is isolated to a particular decade or time in history that stakeholders (students, alumni, or other groups) become less connected with the organization in time as a result of little to no ongoing communication.

Most schools or colleges have a missing chapter in their history.  The challenge is working through the obstacles that they represent.  This means finding new ways of gathering old data.  It could mean finding lost alumni through social media or other relational marketing.  And, what it mostly means is creating long term systems for the future that never allow it to happen again.

Ian to Keynote at NCAIS for Strategic Enrollment Management

Ian will be keynoting a special, two day strategic enrollment management summit for the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools.  The summit will be held on November 15 and 16 at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh and Charlotte Christian School in Charlotte.

The Summit will help participants develop an understanding of Strategic Enrollment Management as an integrated model of Recruitment, Retention, and Revenue.  Independent school trends and statistics, both national and NC specific will be shared along with detailed demographic data and projections from across NC.  Focused topics will include strategies for driving kindergarten enrollment, how to best utilize net tuition revenue, and internal vs. external advertising and marketing.

In this day-long session, Ian will guide attendees through a series of highly interactive modules designed to engage participants in generative discussion and collaboration.  Participants will begin to develop a Strategic Enrollment Management Plan that will include key components of information and data management, research and analysis, admissions, recruitment, retention, financial aid and net revenue, and marketing communications.  

For more information, please visit the conference page. 

Communicating in Concentric Circles

When we developing marketing messages, followed by the materials that deliver them, we often jump over a big step.  In independent schools and colleges, stakeholder buy-in by parents, faculty, staff, students, and alumni is vital and a precondition for good word of mouth marketing.  Unfortunately, we often forget these groups when it comes to our marketing message.  In fact, we jump right over them and into the external audiences quickly.

When your school or college begins a new marketing campaign, don't miss the obvious. Communicate in concentric, starting with those on the inside of the organization first and most deliberately.  Make sure your key stakeholders know, understand, and can even parrot back your marketing messages to others.  it is a foundation of not only good marketing, but happy clients. 

Lessons Learned #10: Where's the Research?

Fact:  Every independent college with which we have worked has an institutional research director.  This person, or office, is responsible for gathering, analyzing, and parsing out data-driven information to units across the campus.  And, they are often to key information link to tying together all of the moving parts of the various information systems on campus.  They are super important on college campuses and help the organization make data-driven decisions.  

Guess what? We have yet to work with an independent school that actually possesses an institutional research director.  Seriously.  Lessons Learned #10 is that institutional research is a missing function in most independent schools.  

I have come to believe that this is not a limitation of resources but maturity.  Most independent schools just don't have the maturity about their information management systems to move toward a data-driven decision process.   They have the resources, but not the desire or needed information management maturity to bring about real analytics in their decision-making processes.  Some of this is changing, however,  There are some excellent providers of school information management systems that are changing the way in which data is integrated and used on campuses.  In five to ten years, my guess is that we will be much farther ahead as an industry. 

Lessons Learned #10 is about the mission function of research and data-driven decision making at independent schools.  Where is your school in terms of making informed, data-driven decisions?

Lessons Learned #9: Glacial Pace of Change

Here's a real shocker:  Independent schools and colleges move at a glacial pace of change.  My guess is that this is widely accepted among most people who have worked in this industry.  And, it is perhaps most often felt or experienced by those industry leaders that have tried to insert some level of innovative change into the strategic agenda of a school or college.  Our Lessons Learned #9 is that independent schools move slowly and adapt in very incremental steps to their environment.  

We've all studied organizational change and I find no great reason to elaborate on change management theories here.  In fact, I think the reasons for our slow pace of change are pretty simple.  

Personnel
Faculty are the single largest personnel category and their model of management is generally preservationist in nature.  The idea of tenure - a job for life - is still alive and well in higher education, while few, if any other industries have adopted it.  

Decision Making
Our prioritization model often includes a faculty senate, functioning as a decision making body on key issues in curriculum and planning, which moves slowly.  

Orientation
Our orientation is much more about looking inward for answers, rather on the external horizon. We tend to seek internal equilibrium as a mature, heritage laden industry than seek external disruption.

Many Masters
Also, many of our schools and colleges have many masters, including students, parents, the church, or an beloved educational philosophy.  They have needs that must be met, as well, and figured into the decision making equation.  These and many other structures make it difficult to move a school or college toward change.

It's not all bad news. I think there are some great benefits from a slow pace of change.  Education tends to be less faddish than other industries, though we are not immune from it.  We also tend to debate and collaborate on critical decisions and tend not to have knee jerk reactions to challenging issues.  While this may make us slow to adapt, we tend to really support our decisions once we make them.   

So, Lessons Learned #9?  Independent schools and colleges experience a glacial pace of change for good reason.  We have always known the downside to this, but there are some upsides, as well. 

Sidwell Friends School Selects ISA

Sidwell Friends School has selected Ian Symmonds & Associates for strategic planning during the upcoming year.  Sidwell Friends School (SFS) is a PK-12, co-educational Quaker day school with campuses in Washington, D.C., and Bethesda, Maryland. Founded in 1883, the School is a nonprofit, tax-exempt institution governed by an independent Board of Trustees.  We are excited to welcome SFS to our client family.  Our work will commence in August and continue throughout the entire academic year with a comprehensive planning process.  

Westside School Selects ISA

Westside School in West Seattle has selected Ian Symmonds & Associates to complete strategic planning for the upcoming academic year.  Westside is a current ISA client, as we have completed a strategic marketing and positioning plan during the past year.  This effort provides an exceptional base of research from which to operate, moving directly into strategic planning.  We will commence our work with the school in September. 

Our Perfect Storm and a Collective Call to Action

"The needs of the society determine the work of the school. The supreme need of society is good citizenship.  Ideal citizenship demands of the individual the highest degree of knowledge, power and skill.” 

-Francis Parker, education pioneer

I can hardly bare to watch the news anymore.  Today is another difficult day in a seemingly endless string of social, cultural, political, and economic issues that erupt into violent, insulting, and divisive behavior.  If the recent events in our world don't cause you to rethink our systems and processes for living together as a global culture, I am not sure what will create that moment of reflection.  

Francis Parker knew what he was talking about in the quote above. We need to step up as an industry.  The needs of society demand that schools step up to the plate, take on a leadership role, and pursue goodness and knowledge.  Our nation's excellent independent schools were not created to send kids to great colleges and acquire high paying jobs.  They were founded to form citizens that will do the hard work of transforming society.  Well, we need a transformation.

Management guru Peter Drucker once said:

"Our world is divided into three sectors: corporate, government, and non-profits.  The corporate sector's mission is to create financial opportunity.  The government sector's mission is to create policy.  And, the non-profit sector's mission is to transform our society.  The values and prosperity of a global 21st Century will be largely narrated by the work of the non-profit sector."

Our collective work is critical.  I can make a strong case for growth and accessibility of our independent school sector given our current political context.  We are uniquely qualified, in this perfect storm of violence and dissension, to bring people together and to provide essential leadership. Our sector needs leadership.  And, our students need us. 

Marlborough School Selects ISA

Marlborough School in Los Angeles has selected Ian Symmonds & Associates for strategy work.  Ian will speak at a private retreat event with school leadership in July.  Marlborough School, founded in 1889, is an independent, urban day school serving a diverse group of young women. The School is committed to delivering a superior college preparatory education in an environment imbued with high ethical values. Marlborough is dedicated to the philosophy that academic excellence, leadership skills, and confidence flourish best in an environment exclusively devoted to the education of young women. The Marlborough community enables each student to develop her fullest potential so that she may become an actively engaged global citizen.

Lessons Learned #8: Independence Inspires Innovation

With all of the chatter about innovation in the different sectors of the economy, I often hold myself accountable to be honest about how our own industry of education is faring in this new era.  Are we innovating in the classroom, business models, and distribution systems at the level, pace, or substance that we should or can be in independent schools and colleges?  My quick observation says that we are innovating at an incremental level and can do far more based upon our heritage and collective culture. So, what's the current status of innovation at our schools?  And, what's the future opportunity?  Lessons Learned #8 is about innovation in independent schools and colleges. 

The Current Status of Innovation
As I visit with #indyschools and #indycolleges throughout the nation, I see incremental innovation.  However, it is where the innovation is happening that is truly startling.  My experience is that most of the great innovation is occurring in the classroom and is pioneered by caring and connected faculty that desire to take their teaching - and their student experiences - to the next level.  Classroom innovation in teaching style, collaboration, design thinking, and physical spaces are transforming many faculty cultures in our schools.  I think the faculty are ahead of other areas (yes, I actually said that) in that there is less innovation in business models and modes of distribution.  According to "Blue Ocean" marketing theory, the toughest trick in the marketing book is to increase client value and experience and decrease price, serving more customers that can benefit from your product.  We are just not seeing disruptive innovation in the area of business models and distribution methods.  At least not yet. 

The Future Opportunity of Innovation is Independence
History tell us that every great disruptive innovation in America is forged with the ingredient of independence.  When an organization or a group of people have complete independence to solve a distinct problem, such as declining customers, changing demographics, or scarcity of resources, they often will emerge with an innovative solution that changes or literally transforms the industry sector.  Our greatest asset is our independence as as sector. Nothing is holding us back but the potential limitations we have placed upon ourselves.  We can adjust our missions, create new visions, and serve anyone, in any way, that we believe is best.  We just have to find the intersection of mission and market opportunity.

I am bullish on the future of our independent education sector.  I see faculty rolling up their sleeves and overcoming fear and trepidation to try new things in the classroom everyday.  Thankfully, some key leaders in our industry, such as Grant Lichtman, Hans Mundahl, and many others, are really inspiring this movement, facilitating this change, and helping innovation emerge into a reality.  However, we need more innovation in our business models and modes of distribution to really transform our industry.  We need the type of innovation that leaders such as Jeff Shields at forward thinking organizations like NBOA and several others are calling upon to cultivate in our culture and advocate in our sector.  

Lessons Learned #7?  I really believe it is our independence that inspires innovation and that our greatest days are ahead.  We can collectively invent the future of education on our campuses.  Yes, we can.