Searching for a New Head of School? Hit "Strategic Pause" First
Connor Associates' President Mike Connor and Senior Strategic Partner Thom Greenlaw recently sat down for an interview with InspirED co-founder and SparkCast (podcast) host Rob Norman to discuss a critical, but often neglected, part of succession planning at independent schools. Mike and Thom call this missing piece the strategic pause. In Mike and Thom’s 60 combined years of independent school experience, they have each witnessed too many schools missing operational and strategic opportunities during the pivotal ‘between time’ when the departure of the current Head of School is known and before the search for a new Head formally begins.
After listening to Mike and Thom’s interview with Rob, you will walk away with a better understanding of the consequential risks and rewards that occur during a departing Head of School’s transition and ways that a strategic pause positions the school for success. Hint: the better you lay the groundwork for a future Head, or even an interim Head, the more dividends the School will receive across enrollment, engagement, and advancement.
To hear the complete interview, head to InspirED’s SparkCast. You won’t want to miss this important talk.
Here is Mike’s blog that sparked the discussion on the strategic pause.
This is Mike and Thom’s second SparkCast interview with host Rob Norman. The last visit was in 2021 and resulted in InspirED’s most downloaded podcast of 2021. In that episode, Mike and Thom discussed Finance and Marketing: Overlooked Alliance for Success, and the critical intersection of marketing and finance at independent schools.
About InspirED and The SparkCast
Rob Norman is the Best Boy at InspirED School Marketers, which Rob and his wife Liza Norman started in 2013. All SparkCast episodes can be found at https://www.inspiredsm.com/, a destination for brilliant ideas and brain food for independent school marketing and communications worldwide.
SparkCast was named in the top ten of all educational podcasts for universities in 2021 by Terminalfour, an international digital marketing and web content management platform for higher education based in Dublin. The SparkCast was the only podcast on the list that focuses on K-12 schools.
Connor Associates stakes its value on its experience with providing comprehensive services, including ensuring proof of ROI through Image Audits (reputational asset and risk management), Alumni and Alumni Parent Surveys, Enrollment Feasibility Studies which identify qualified appropriate prospects at rooftop level, Five-Year Enrollment Forecasts, Location Studies, Business Office Evaluations and Plans (pricing sensitivity, tuition elasticity and analysis, benchmarking, reliable revenue streams, and capital management), Strategic Marketing Plans based on research, and onsite training and coaching to get everyone in your school and your trustees supporting enrollment, retention, and philanthropy.
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