Services
Coaching
Executive Coaching. I enjoy coaching people in all walks of life. My focus, however, has been working with educational leaders. I offer both coaching and a combination of coaching/mentoring. I charge $250 per hour for coaching but offer a sliding scale for those who are at schools that cannot afford that rate. In most of my coaching agreements, I “meet” with the client every other week. However, some clients want more sessions at the beginning of a school year, and others want to meet on an ad hoc basis.
Governance Consultant
The workshop I offer most often is “How to Become a High Functioning Board.” This workshop can be abbreviated to a two-hour session or can run for a full day. A number of boards have broken it into two separate sessions separated by six months to a year. This has been particularly effective. Another workshop that has been received well is “Selection and Orientation of New Board Members.”
I work with each school to individualize what the trustees would like a workshop to include. In addition, I often consult with the board chair on specific issues. One that has been of special interest is “Developing Effective Board Evaluation and Head Evaluation Systems.”
Mentoring
I have also worked as a mentor, particularly for those educators looking to move to new positions. I advise them on how to write an effective resume, an introductory letter, and a statement of educational philosophy. I conduct mock interviews with them. This has been received very well with significant success on the part of these educators in obtaining new positions.
Management Consultant.
As a head of school, I developed very effective administrative and head evaluation systems which I have shared with many schools over the years. I have consulted with individual schools and presented at NWAIS annual meetings on this topic.
First-time Heads Coaching and Cohort Program
Independent schools should do all they can to support first-time heads of school. With funding from the E.E. Ford Foundation, I am implementing two programs to support these heads of school. The first is to match the heads of school with trained leadership coaches who are former heads of school who charge an affordable rate. The second is for these heads of school to meet in small cohort groups throughout their first year.
I am working with associations to make leadership coaching for first-time heads of school a standard part of any school’s transition plan for a first-time head. Beginning in the spring of 2022, I helped the executive directors of three associations (NWAIS, ACIS, and AISGW) match their new heads with leadership coaches and ran approximately one meeting a month with the new heads from each of the associations. This had a significant positive impact on the effectiveness and success of the 22 new heads in the program that first year. With the support of the E. E. Ford Foundation, I expanded this program to include three more associations for the 2023-24 school year (SAIS, CAIS (Conn.) and ISAS). There were approximately 65 first and second year heads of school involved in the program. Three more associations have joined the project for the 2024-25 school year - HAIS, MAIS, and NCAIS. The goal is to make leadership coaching and regular cohort meetings the standard practice for all first-time heads of school.
If you are interested in finding an appropriate leadership coach that is a good fit for you, and/or would like to join one of the cohort groups, please contact me. In addition, if you are working for one of the independent school associations and would like to discuss the possibility of me starting a coaching and cohort program with your association, please reach out to me. Thanks to funding from the E. E. Ford Foundation, there are no costs to the associations to start this program.