Board member, help your head of school flourish during the ACSI Inspire self-study! Why?
- Because ACSI’s Inspire protocol is actually designed to inspire schools, including heads of schools, to flourish.
- Because helping your head of school flourish during the self-study increases the likelihood of engagement, effectiveness, and using the self-study process to help others actually flourish.
- Because not helping your head of school flourish during the self-study increases the likelihood of stress, fatigue, and ineffectiveness. Not good.
- Because helping your school head flourish is a best practice.
Bottom line: Help your head of school actually flourish by consistently experiencing the 5 elements of flourishing (based on ACSI’s model): passionate purpose, resilient well-being, healthy relationships, transformative learning, and helpful resources.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
How can you help your head of school actually flourish during the ACSI Inspire self-study? Let me offer some suggestions:
(1) Passionate Purpose:
(1.1) Start each board meeting with reading aloud your school’s Christ-centered purpose statements (for example, mission, vision, and philosophy).
(1.2) Be an inspiring board that rigorously monitors the implementation of your school’s purpose statements (for example, mission, vision, philosophy).
(1.3) Regularly ask the head of school questions: What excites you about our purpose statements? What can we celebrate about progress on the purpose statements?
(1.4) If your school doesn’t already have one, invite the head of school to consider developing an Expected Student Outcome Assessment Plan.
(1.5) As a board, use ACSI Inspire standards and indicators (1.1, 3.0 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4) to self-assess board effectiveness. As appropriate, take steps to be effective.
(2) Resilient Well-Being:
(2.1) Be a supportive board that monitors the head of school’s well-being and provides proactive care. For example, as a board at each meeting, pray for the head of school’s well-being and ask about a recent high and low.
(2.2) Review Stop Self-Neglect! Start Self-Care! As appropriate, share it with the head of school.
(2.3) Help the head of school focus on well-being by adding a policy on well-being, for example (very rough version):
Maintain a flourishing workplace culture in which staff consistently experience the 5 elements of flourishing (passionate purpose, resilient well-being, healthy relationships, transformative learning, and helpful resources) and in which the 6 causes of burnout (“[u]nsustainable workload”, “[p]erceived lack of control”, “[i]nsufficient rewards for effort”, “[l]ack of supportive community”, “[l]ack of fairness”, and “[m]ismatched values and skills” (The Burnout Epidemic by Jennifer Moss) are addressed.
(3) Healthy Relationships:
(3.1) Be a trustworthy, supportive, respectful, empowering Christ-centered board.
(3.2) Ask the head of school questions about his/her relationships, for example, “To what extent does the leadership team exhibit transparency, vulnerability, healthy conflict, commitment, accountability, and a focus on team results?
(3.3) If your school doesn’t already have one, invite the head of school to consider developing an Organizational Culture Map (see blog).
(4) Transformative Learning:
(4.1) Ask about the head of school’s professional development plan—the goals and the results.
(4.2) Encourage participation in coaching sessions, in professional organizations, and on accreditation teams.
(4.3) Provide frequent feedback—criticism that is kind and clear, praise that is specific and sincere (see Construct: Feedback, p. 16).
(4.4) Ask, “What are you learning that helps you serve as a flourishing role model in terms of passionate purpose, resilient well-being, healthy relationships, transformative learning, and helpful resources?” (see Construct: Data-Driven Improvement, p. 16)
(4.5) Invite the head of school to self-assess in terms of the constructs from ACSI’s Leadership for Flourishing Schools (see table below from p. 14) and take appropriate action steps:
(5) Helpful Resources:
(5.1) Provide an effective board policy manual that is aligned with ACSI Inspire standards and indicators, including items listed in the Inspire Standard 11 Checklist.
(5.2) When discussing resource management and resource planning, be a board that uses agile, strategic, mission-centered thinking (see Construct: Resources and Resource Planning, p. 17).
(5.3) As a board, use ACSI Inspire standards and indicators (11.0, 15.1, and 15.2) to self-assess board effectiveness. As appropriate, take steps to be effective.
(5.4) Ask for an annual financial health report that is based on key performance indicators, for example: compensation as percentage of expenses, cost per student, ratio of debt payment to income, discounts & concessions as a percentage of total fees, net tuition increase per student, operating reserve, and operating surplus.
Or to put all of this another way: Be an effective board in terms of ACSI Inspire’s standards and indicators (which makes it easier for the head of school to flourish), demonstrate care for the head of school’s well-being, encourage the head of school to keep learning, and provide the resources the head needs to flourish (like ample funds for professional development), and ask him to create and implement a personalized flourishing plan.
Basically, help the head of school flourish so the head of school can use the process of doing the ACSI Inspire self-study to help staff actually flourish!
| Tip: Take action as soon as possible! Start today. If possible, complete your action steps before the school starts its ACSI Inspire self-study—that will help the head of school get off to a good start. |
What about you? How do you feel about helping your head of school flourish during the ACSI Inspire self-study? How can you help your head of school flourish during the ACSI Inspire self-study?
Get flourishing!
Michael
Get Flourishing 
