Recruitment

The right stuff

Replacing a key figure in the school’s hierarchy is a daunting time for any governing body. Chris Tongue and Joanna Grant Peterkin provide a 10-point plan to help find the right successor to a departing head or bursar

The ISC handbook, Guidelines for Governors, states: “The quality of leadership is the single most important factor in the effectiveness of a school”, and adds: “Though today’s schools are usually managed by teams, leadership rests with the head and his/her appointment remains a governing body’s most important task”. Nor should the task of finding the right bursar be underestimated. With responsibility for the financial management of the school, overseeing the development and maintenance of the buildings and estate, and line-managing most – if not all – of the non-teaching staff, the bursar, too, has a hugely important leadership role and getting his/her appointment right could be regarded as being just as important as finding the right head.

To ensure you select the right candidate for either post, follow these guidelines:

Protect your reputation
Establish the importance of getting a leadership appointment right. An exceptional head or bursar will transform a school and revitalise the school roll, buildings, resources, results and the whole ethos and culture of the school. The wrong appointment can cause immense corporate damage and impose a heavy financial and emotional strain on the school. A survey recently put the cost of making a poor headship appointment at between £2-20 million. A school’s reputation can easily be affected, leading to a loss in pupil numbers and reduced revenue.

What does the school need?
Assess the needs of the school now. Making a successful leadership appointment is about getting the right fit; a good football manager may work well with one team but not another. The effectiveness of a leader depends not only on that person’s leadership qualities but on the organisation’s capacity to respond to their new leadership style.

The appointment process should begin with an honest and thorough analysis of the school’s strengths, together with areas for future development to help determine the skills and qualities needed in a leader. A school does not necessarily want a clone of the retiring head (or bursar), however excellent that person may have been. The chair should consult senior staff to determine their favoured attributes in the new appointment.

Convene a strong panel
Select a panel of governors that can mastermind the strategic side of the process. It helps if several members of the panel have prior experience of making leadership appointments. All members should have close knowledge of the school and its needs and be able to make the considerable time commitments to see the process through. It also helps if the panel’s chair will be the chair of the new head’s governing body.

It is advisable not to have too large a selection panel but it should be representative of the governors, all of whom would expect to attend the final short-list interviews.

Outside help?
Decide whether to seek external support for the process. Your options are to find a head or ex-head (or bursar or ex-bursar) who has run a similar school or to use search and selection experts (so-called “headhunters”) to provide professional support and guidance. Either way, they should help you with all stages of the appointment, especially the long-listing, interviewing and selection of candidates through to the final short-list.

In practice, many governors will only have one opportunity to appoint a new head during their term of office and are, therefore, almost certain to lack relevant experience in this area.

The paperwork
Compile the documentation needed for the candidates. This should cover advertisements (wording and venues), a job description, a person specification, the application process for the candidates (standard application form, if used, CV and covering letter), the timetable (which must be realistic and take account of the academic cycle, including term/half-term dates and allow time for collecting references) and a description of the school, outlining recent and planned developments. Legal compliance must be observed at all stages of the process.

Strength in numbers
Make every effort to ensure that the field of candidates is as strong as possible. Some of the best candidates may need persuading that this particular post and/or school is right for them, but correct protocols must be observed. This is where experienced advisers or headhunters can prove their worth. It is much easier for an experienced head, for example, to allow his/her name to be put forward for another headship after being approached by an adviser or headhunter (and to explain that this has happened to his/her chair) than to make a formal application in response to a newspaper advertisement. Several leading independent schools have failed to appoint and have had to resort to re-advertisement. But with a more thorough initial search for suitable candidates, this might not have been necessary.

The long way
Select the best long-list from the applications. However good the process, the key is getting underneath the surface of applications and choosing the people most suited to the role and the school. Some may have done the “right” things according to their CV, but may lack the right personality and qualities for the post. Others may have had unconventional careers and lack experience in certain areas, but have the energy and personal qualities that fit the school. Initial screening by an adviser or headhunter can save valuable interview time and may uncover an exceptional candidate whose CV may not have initially caught the eye.

The short way
Select the right short-list. At this stage, it is important to look beyond a candidate’s performance at an interview to assess whether they will run a school superbly, day in, day out. It is surprising how often the frontrunner after the first round of interviews fails to make such a strong impression at the final interviews.

Shrewd selectors will delay making judgements until all the available evidence has been accumulated and assessed. Inviting candidates to make a presentation to the governing body on a theme relevant to the school can be revealing. Some governors like to visit short-listed candidates in their current posts.

Psychometric testing is sometimes used at this stage, though it can be expensive and time-consuming. It remains customary to take up references prior to final interview. However, written references seldom reveal a candidate’s weaknesses or unsuitability for a particular post. For this reason, it is important for someone (possibly the adviser or headhunter) to undertake indepth personal conversations with referees so that the right questions are asked to reveal the fullest picture of a candidate’s strengths, weaknesses and suitability.

The offer
At the end of the final interview it is usual for the chair to ask each candidate if they would accept the post if offered it, spelling out the terms and conditions of the appointment (if this has not previously been done). These terms include salary, arrangements for accommodation (if provided), benefits (such as healthcare, travel and entertainment) and remuneration for the spouse if there is to be a specific role for him/her. The chair would also be advised to have a draft contract to hand when contacting the successful candidate to make the formal offer. The chair should be authorised by the governing body to negotiate the precise details of the offer if it is felt that this may be necessary or desirable.

Post-appointment induction
After a successful appointment has been made, CRB and medical checks should be undertaken and the appointment announced (with the timing agreed by all parties). An induction programme should be established so that the future leader has the experience and information to enable him/her to start the post with confidence.

This will include one or two visits to the school to meet the staff (though the general advice to a new head/bursar is “to keep their powder dry” at this stage) and for familiarisation/handover with the current incumbent. It is also useful to agree an appraisal process for the new head/bursar’s work after a year or two in post.

This will be the most important decision the governing body will make; ensure you get it right.

Chris Tongue and Joanna Grant Peterkin were both heads of independent schools until recently. They are now education consultants for CF Appointments. They can be contacted on 020 7220 0180 or through enquiries@cfappointments.com 

Return to Recruitment