Dr. Chaim Y. Botwinick
This is the time of year when our Jewish day schools and yeshivot finalize decisions regarding the engagement of new senior professional hires for the coming academic year.
It is also a time when many prospective candidates are faced with challenging decisions regarding their professional choices of day school leadership positions.
Identifying a principal candidate or finalizing his/her engagement is one of the most demanding and time-consuming undertakings a school board can encounter as a governing body.
Selecting a new principal should be a defining moment for a school, as it sets in motion a trajectory which supports and enhances the school’s vision, and future direction.
One of the most essential components a leadership search process includes the identification of candidate selection criteria. Boards must first determine the type of candidate they wish to recruit, the candidate’s experience, qualifications and academic background, and leadership style, personality, temperament and demeanor.
Most of these criteria, are based upon the current condition and “health” of the school, the existence of a vision for where the school aspires to grow over the next five to eight years; and whether the candidate has the ability to lead the school in that direction with inspiring confidence.
School boards often look closely at whether a candidate’s educational philosophy or hashkafa are aligned with the schools. This is usually the first challenge and consideration for the board.
What may complicate this requirement is when members of the board are not in complete agreement. It is therefore imperative that the board reach a consensus regarding this challenge, prior to interviewing candidates. Anything less, is guaranteed to hamper the search process.
Unfortunately, I have seen highly qualified candidates withdraw their candidacy once they sense a lack of board unity or consensus regarding the school’s direction. If the board does not “have its act together” during the search process, just imagine how it will impact a candidate’s tenure once he or she is in the school’s driver’s seat.
There are numerous characteristics which school boards must address when considering a potential candidate, the least of which are fine-tuned leadership skills.
These skills are usually predictors of a leader’s effectiveness and impact on the school.
Leadership Skill-Sets
When identifying models of leadership excellence, there are a variety of skill-sets which are essential.
These skills are divided into two categories – “hard skills” and “soft skills”.
Most school board search processes focus on a candidate’s “hard skills”. These are the skills which are highlighted more frequently on resumes and are more pronounced or emphasized in job descriptions or in candidate cover letters.
They include: budgeting, resource allocation and management, strategic planning, data analysis, technology, policy development, curriculum development, performance assessment, compliance, fundraising, plant management, scheduling, and legal compliance, to name a few.
They are “hard skills” because they are concrete and tangible, measurable and teachable though logic.
“Soft-skills” are just as essential as “hard-skills”.
They are those skills which are non-technical, personal attributes that characterize interaction with others. They include: communication, empathy, team building, conflict resolution, critical thinking, or problem solving.
Today, “soft skills” may occupy an even greater level of importance for the following reasons:
“Hard skills” are more easily taught. The more a leader applies “hard skills” the greater level of proficiency. “Soft skills” which can also taught through coaching and mentoring, are anchored in a leader’s personality and deportment.
This makes “soft skills” more desirable and in select cases, even more indispensable.
Serving as a principal requires the both “hard” and “soft” skills.
“Hard skills” can be decentralized, and assigned to members of the school’s senior management team. “Soft skills” on the other hand are very specific to the role and function of a school leader.
As an example, principals with higher EQ’s connect to people in a more direct, sensitive manner. They are more personable, less robotic in their responses to crises, teacher challenges, student needs and parental concerns.
Irrespective of whether one possess hard skills or soft skills, the skill-sets of a school leader must include an ability to effectively apply both.
Other Critically Important Considerations
Many schools hire senior educational leaders with very sparse experience in classroom teaching.
This deficit creates a disconnect as it relates to educational and teaching accountability, credibility and transparency.
The second characteristic is the bridging of the gap between theoretical “textbook knowledge” versus actual boots on the ground experience. To this end, it is essential that the candidate possess hands-on experience as it relates to teacher supervision, meeting the needs of all students, academic assessment, the identification of curricular goals, and conflict resolution.
The third characteristic relates to a candidate’s Jewish role modeling and commitment to Judaic text study. These reflect a level of commitment to the centrality of Torah study, Jewish values and practice.
Conclusion:
The selection of yeshiva day school professional leadership is a tireless undertaking.
When identifying the most qualified candidate for your school, one thing is clear. One size never fits all.
Every Jewish day school has standards and requirements. As such, the type of candidate school boards select is dictated by its selection criteria.
In the final analysis, only time will tell whether a candidate is the best fit for the school, and whether the school is the best fit for the candidate.
Remember, there are few excellent schools with poor leaders; but, there are many poor leaders who are leading mediocre schools.
The rest is commentary.
About the Author:
Dr. Chaim Botwinick is an organizational consultant and senior executive coach specializing in education. He served as president and CEO of the central agency for Jewish education in Baltimore and Miami and as head of school and principal for select day schools and yeshivot. As a Jewish communal Influencer, Dr. Botwinick has published extensively in the field of Jewish education and organizational development and is co-founder of LEV Consulting Associates He is the producer/host of the Chinuch Horizons podcast series.
