Nothing catches my eye like an interesting story based on reliable data, and my friend Chris Pryor just shared one on LinkedIn.

Chris noticed that the summer issue of the National Association of Independent Schools’ magazine included a list of new heads of school for the 2023-2024 school year. He was curious to learn what proportion of these leaders were new not only to their school but also to headship.

Using the Head of School Database and online legwork, Chris got his answer: Nearly two-thirds of these heads will be leading their first school.

This expands on what we already knew and suggests a couple of long-range plans of action for school communicators.

It’s been clear for a decade that independent school leadership is undergoing generational change. The NAIS Trendbook advised in 2014 that nearly two-thirds of heads planned to retire soon. Age was a primary factor; so was an interest to pursue something new after a long tenure at a school.

But schools are also seeing younger heads step aside, whether that happens voluntarily or after falling out with their governing board.

About 1 in 7 independent schools announce a new head each year — a consistent trend that began long before Covid-19 introduced a whole other level of job stress.

Chris’s data suggest that, as boards select these heads, they are not particularly interested in internal candidates nor in experienced leaders.

Only 8 of 109 new heads were promoted from within, Chris reported, while 9 others will be leading a school for the third time or more.

Putting all this together, then, it is likely that:

• Your school will hire at least one new head in the next several years;
• This head will have limited information about your school, information that comes not from firsthand experience but largely from the search firm and/or the board members involved (i.e., not the most reliable sources); and
• This head will not have managed a communications office before.

A starter toolbox for head transitions

A headship changeover is a high-stakes communications project, and, with national searches now routine, a high-visibility one, too.

Yet there remains no manual or guide for managing this work successfully. (Although NAIS publishes a transition manual for board members, the book assumes that most communications will just … happen.)

The good news is that some planning and a little advance notice will set you up nicely when the time comes.

For now, start gathering a few things you’ll surely need.

• A current headshot and a narrative biography of your head of school: This is standard stuff for any communications office, but make sure that they’ve been updated in the past couple of years.
• Highlights of the head’s tenure (printed speeches, video clips, etc.): A little less common, but these are useful content to share as part of the departure announcement.
• A draft holding statement in case of an unexpected departure: Any communications office needs a few “break glass in case of emergency” holding statements, for situations where your brain is too overwhelmed by the news to think clearly and strategically. This is a big one to have on hand.
• Samples of how previous transitions were done (at your school and others): These are not burdensome to gather, and a few minutes Googling each month will get you far. Here’s a tip: Create PDFs or printouts of the models you find. Schools tend to archive or overwrite their search pages soon after a new head comes in, so hyperlinks go bad mighty quickly.
• Some relationship with your head of school and the governing board chair: When the time comes, how much advance notice will your current head give you? The more trusting relationship you have, the better this will go. The same can be said for the board chair. As the board undertakes its most important responsibility, it’s no time to start building relationship with the chair. Start now.
• Up-to-date print and electronic mailing lists: Your head may also want their friends and professional connections to get the announcement. The head’s assistant can be a great help in identifying these.

You’ll need to develop many more materials, but these six items will put you in good shape for any surprise announcement.

Prepare for managing up

As you think through how to announce a departure, you should also consider how to introduce your school, your office and yourself to a new head.

If you’re lucky, the search firm will collaborate with your team on describing the school to potential applicants. But you could find that the firm wants only your photos and logos and it’ll describe your school itself, thank you very much.

After all, firms serve at the direction of their client, and the client here is the governing board. Board members, as we know, tend to have their own vision of what makes the school special, distinctive, etc. — views that may differ from the institution’s public identity and marketing, much less its culture.

All this is to say that a head arriving from elsewhere may be holding preconceptions that don’t fit on-the-ground reality. Anticipate some executive dissonance in the early days.

The responsibility for addressing any culture clash doesn’t belong to communications, but we can help. Draw upon your experience introducing the school to prospective families and new students. Which of these messages feels relevant to share with the new head, either in advance of her coming to campus or when she arrives? What aspects of school life does a newcomer need to learn about right away?

Since most incoming heads will be new to the role, you should also think through how to talk about communications as a function. The new head will have some experience with comms, of course, but not every comms office works the same. There is an opportunity for helping to frame expectations.

You may be asked by your departing head to summarize exactly your department does for an orientation document. This is a good time not only to capture the broad strokes but also to preview where you see the department going in the next 1, 3, 5 years. Give the new head a chance to invest in this vision.

And expect to have your own moment of dissonance in the early days, as the new head brings a new list of institutional priorities and pet peeves. Change is hard, especially on department managers who have to carry these adjustments up and down the organization.

Any head-of-school transition is a major project to undertake, and this overview gives a glimpse of only a few aspects.

You may want extra help and coaching to get your school through the process, especially if this is your first time going through it. If that kind of support interests you, reach out and let’s talk about how Fine Point Communications can be of service.

What’s new at Fine Point Communications

This week, the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools held its annual conference in Cleveland, the first since the coalition went global. The turnout was spectacular, with more than 550 attendees.

Fine Point returned as a sponsor of the conference, which featured keynotes from Carol Gilligan, NPR’s Manoush Zomorodi and Nadira Hira.

I visited with attendees from several states, Canada, India, Australia and the Philippines over the three days. Still, my favorite chat was with Atete Rugege, the head of school of Gashora Girls Academy of Science & Technology in Rwanda, who came with her 11th-grade student Melissa (both pictured at right).

Gashora has teamed up with Miss Hall’s School in Massachusetts to produce an illustrated brochure about reproductive health, created by and for Rwandan girls, to discuss issues that too often go undiscussed. Melissa explained to me the purpose of her project and the impact the brochure will have. Her poise and conviction was thrilling to observe, and I was proud that Fine Point contributed even slightly to providing her with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

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