This is part three of a blog series focusing on the skills required for headship in today's changing world. Here are links to part one: The Competent Leader and part two: The Good Communicator. 

(Jim Mooney, the deputy director of a multistate independent school organization, visited me in South Carolina, and we continued our summer conversation on school leadership.)

As we moved from our discussion on effective communication, Jim plunged right in: “The single biggest complaint I hear about headmasters and heads of school concerns the host of issues around making decisions, rolling them out, and moving forward.”

This is part two of the blog series focusing on the skills required for headship in today's changing world.  

Jim Mooney and I continued our conversation (see the preceding blog) about the challenges of leading and managing independent schools. We discussed the nature of a group of “competencies” important for leadership success. In doing so, Jim and I move from the general issue of competence to the specific traits, skills, and habits associated with good leadership. The first of these is the importance of effective and encompassing communication. Jim pointed out that the subject is essentially endless, “everything ties into communication,” so we needed to keep our discussion focused specifically on effective practices for school heads, not an exploration of the wide world of communication issues and challenges.

his is the first in a blog series focusing on the skills required for headship in today’s changing world.

Recently I was sitting out on my porch looking out on the Okatie River and catching up with an old friend. I was in the first days of recovering from a May orthopedic procedure that would keep me off my feet and housebound for the month of June waiting for literal marching orders from my doctor. From this procedure and considerable travel beforehand, my blog writing had taken a holiday as I pushed through the late spring, getting increasingly comfortable with my inner consultant, so to speak. However, having this chance to “talk shop” was a welcome break from the daily routine of recovery—watching the tide rise and fall on the Okatie River—and our conversation stimulated this blog offering—and the series to follow.

Well, I won’t mince words: NAIS blew it. When offered the chance to have a “Design the Revolution” conference-sponsored showing of Most Likely to Succeed, the new documentary on innovative responses to the present and future education design landscape, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) gave the offer a quick sniff and turned the opportunity down. And that’s a shame. Sure, the conference was over a year in planning and shifting the program around to accommodate the film would have been daunting; I mean—good lord!—the programs were already printed. But shouldn’t NAIS model good teaching and adaptability? And really, doesn’t every good teacher seize special moments, change the plan, and invigorate the educational environment when opportunity knocks?

The current revolution in education seems to confuse those people not directly involved in or up-to-date with the field, in part I think because of the “eduspeak” involved: flipped classrooms, STEM, STEAM, MOOC, Common Core, Race to the Top, project based learning, and so on. This uncertainty mostly affects the Baby Boom generation, people who are indeed puzzled by much of “the new” in this rapidly evolving digital culture. Despite not having a Twitter account or not fully grasping the joys of Instagram, this 50+ generation is nonetheless eager to understand the educational climate, to figure out the language, to be connected. And why not? They are often called upon to take care of their grandchildren, and even pay for their education.