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Santa Fe Leadership Center
Monthly Newsletter December, 2011
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Greetings!
As we near the end of the old new year and begin the new,  many of us begin to set goals and resolutions. We ask ourselves, "How can I be better than I was the year before?" This month we encourage you to ponder a very different question and to instead ask, "Who have I recognized and honored lately?"
December is a unique time to celebrate the hard work of faculty and staff, parents, students, board members and alumni, and to recognize and appreciate the impact they have had on the school community. Back in November, Dan Rockwell in his blog Leadership Freak wrote a piece called "One Useful Strategy for Being Useful" (referring to the question Peter Drucker suggest leaders ask themselves, "How can I be useful?") Rockwell suggest that if you want to be useful, honor the contributions of others. In this month's newsletter, both Gary and Tim write about the the importance of recognition and appreciation as well as ritual as central experiences that connect members of a school community and help them to experience the joy of being part of that community.
Speaking of recognition, all of us at the SFLC also want to thank our amazing November cohort who joined us in November in Santa Fe for The Art and Experience of Leadership. The list of the 2011 Fall Fellows is below.
Now back to those resolutions and goals for the new year. If you are thinking about how to be a better, more effective leader in 2012, consider joining the SFLC for one of our upcoming seminars. Visit www.santafelead.org for more information.
We are wishing you all a very happy holiday season. We'll see you in the new year -- maybe even in Santa Fe!
Sincerely,
Carla Silver Gary Gruber Timothy McIntire
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Join us on Facebook
And Linked In
And. . .
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 New Leadership Positions
Listed below are the latest open positions featured on our new leadership opportunity board. New positions will be linked to our monthly newsletter. If you are interested in posting a job on our site, contact Carla Silver (408) 348-8671 or carla.silver@santafelead.org or click here to learn more.
St. Richard's Episcopal School
Head of School
Indianapolis, IN
Click here to view all of the current postings.
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The 2011-2012 Leadership Seminar Schedule 
Interim Headship: Design and Implementation in Real Time, March 3, 2012, Seattle following NAIS Teacher as Leader: Learning Effective Leadership,March 8-12, 2012 Santa Fe, NM WITH GUEST FACULTY: Stanford University Senior Scholar, Ann Lieberman Leadership Unplugged: The Inner Work of School Leaders, April 22-25, 2012, Santa Fe, NM Registration coming soon for: July:The Art of Innovation, Hillbrook School, Los Gatos, CA
October: The Art and Experience of Leadership, American School in London
November: The Art and Experience of Leadership, Santa Fe Visit the Santa Fe Leadership Center Website for more information or contact Carla Silver with any questions. |
SFLC Advisors
"Los Sabios"
Rick Ackerly,
Consultant and Author
Peter Branch,
Head Emeritus, Georgetown Day School, Executive Director, Washington Ballet
Paula Carreiro,
Head of School, Beauvoir
Peter Cheney,
Former Executive Director of NAES
Norm Colb,
Head of School, Menlo School
Lisa Darling,
President, United World College-USA
Phil Deely,
Consultant, Philip Sedgwick Deely and Associates &
Interim Head, The Roeper School
Sandy Drew,
Senior Development Consultant
Richard Kassissieh,
IT Director, Catlin Gabel School
Tony Gerlicz,
Director, American School of Warsaw
Coreen Hester,
Head of School, American School of London
Greg Papay,
Partner, Lake Flato Architects
Mark Silver,
Head of School, Hillbrook School
David Streight
Executive Director,
Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education (CSEE)
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Celebrate, Celebrate - Leading the Dance to your School's Music
As experienced school leaders are want to do, we at SFLC design our communications around themes that reflect the seasons of the year. This month is "Celebrating," and the very day I began working on my article was the same day I heard the song "Celebrate" by Kool and the Gang played three separate times on three different stations.
Pause for a moment and sing the opening:
Yahoo! This is your celebration
Yahoo! This is your celebration
Celebrate good times, come on! (Let's celebrate)Celebrate good times, come on! (Let's celebrate) We are each deeply affected by the rituals of celebration in our lives and in a moment you can think how many of those powerful memories are school-related. Especially today as schools have become more secular and tradition s less valued, we can contrast the rituals we have experienced as students, teachers, and parents and thereby measure in what has been lost at the hands of the disestablishment of rituals as "too expensive in time or money" that which has value. Think of those ceremonies that frame the year: opening all-school assemblies, honor and award days, founders' days, homecoming, examination periods, pep rallies, field days, grading periods, faculty meetings, board meetings, and commencement itself. Think how great teachers structure their courses to include events that mark accomplishments and include celebration. Celebrating is an act of respecting what is valued in the school. A method through ritual of holding up the actual core values, mission, and vision of the school in a fashion that publically and concretely extols, praises, and honors the best character and integrity of the school itself.
What we celebrate in our school communities are the people, current, past, and future. Our celebrations make what we value manifest and allow each member of the community access to the school's shared purposes and aspirations.
Here are a few personal remembrances of celebrations and rituals that may seem mundane but in truth are powerful planned moments that connect me forever to the institutions that I have served. - In boarding school, eating big blocks of shredded wheat covered in green applesauce before the annual game between The Asheville School Blues and the Christ School Greenies.
- At the same boarding school, when holiday's approached, having for dessert bananas that you sliced long-ways, sprinkled with sugar, and finished with freshly squeezed lime juice.
- Interviewing to be the head of Francis Parker School on Halloween when 1,200 students and their teachers were in costume, and meeting with the Upper School Head who was dressed as Gene Simmons with black and white face paint - we talked for forty five minutes and I had no idea what he looked like, but enjoyed a great conversation notwithstanding.
- On an earlier Halloween at a girls' boarding school in Virginia, processing out to the school's cemetery at night with the entire student body to visit the grave of the school's founding headmistress and play a tape of her recounting an apocryphal event involving a radiator and chains.
- Carefully over-planning and rehearsing every commencement exercise as so much of what we promise is delivered in that event, and parents and family are allowed to see the transformative power of a good school.
We believe at SFLC, then, that shared ritual experiences are the foundation for lasting meaning for a community. They feed the senses of memory and build incomparable loyalty and trust. The visual pageantry, the smell and taste of seasonal fare, the pomp and circumstance of student music, tactile connection to the diploma handed from a caring adult to a growing child, these are the hallmarks of ritual in schools that are the celebrations large and small by which we endure. Since the leader can control rituals, there should be good reasons for including celebrating in the cycles of valid school events. Consider the celebrations that legitimately occur for the major constituencies in your school: Faculty, Students, Parents, Board. If they are effective and happy there are celebrations that cap each constituencies work.
Every day when I hear from school leader's they invariably frame their lives with the rituals that they celebrate to make their school's endure. For example, an experienced head in her first year at a new school concluded her email: "All's well and I am personally and professionally happy as the proverbial clam. We're girding our loins for the annual Christmas pageant. I've declared Red and Green Day on Wednesday of next week, the last day before vacation. Best of all, there seems to be lots of positive buzz about the school around the city. I'm loving it!"
Essential to the cycle of quality leadership is celebrating. Yahoo! |
Celebration, Recognition, and Appreciation
by Gary Gruber
Fourteen years ago we held a Summer Summit in Santa Fe for 30 outstanding teachers from all parts of the United States. I recall their deep and passionate commitment to their students, to their schools and to the noble profession of teaching. Some of them were at the mid-point in their careers, others were closer to pending retirement and very few were in the early years of teaching. Experience is still a good tea cher and those of us with many years of experience are still learning. One common characteristic, among others, was these teachers' continuing interest in and commitment to their own personal and professional development.
One of my questions for these teachers was what had contributed to their being accorded the status of "outstanding" and why them and not someone else? The responses varied from their success in the classroom to their contributions to their professional learning communities to their mentoring younger, less experienced teachers. One thing that was apparent in almost all of them was their high level of energy and enthusiasm for their work. They continued to find a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction in their investment of time, talent and resources in their professional practice.
When I posed the question about what it was that they needed most in their work, I was somewhat surprised to learn that it was not about more resources, more compensation, better working conditions, or more free time. What they wanted and needed more than anything was recognition and appreciation for their work and who they were. Those were clearly at the top of their list of needs and they were all in agreement that this would reward them more than anything else. What occurred to me in that moment was that there are so many genuine ways to do this.
They all said further that their being sent to this Summer Summit was a public testimony to their value to their schools and that we should make this experience available to more teachers to celebrate their good work and give them the privilege of meeting with other, like-minded colleagues. While a conference, workshop or seminar has some attendant costs, the public recognition and appreciation is available to all at no cost except for effective communication. The only requirement is that the recognition be appropriate, focused and genuine. Easy enough! Consider also the investment in a Santa Fe Seminar. It will result in great dividends. Celebrate the good work of teachers who give the best of who they are, every day, every week, every month, every year.
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RESOLVE TO GROW PROFESSIONALLY THIS YEAR! Come to a Santa Fe Leadership Center Seminar!
Wish You Were Here? The SFLC Leadership Seminars provide school leaders with incomparable professional growth experiences. Visit www.santafelead.org for a full list of our 2011-2012 school year seminars. At no time in school leadership are opportunity and danger so significant as the term of an interim head. Because the occasion for an interim is yoked with transition, change, and often grieving, it takes skill, foresight, and failure-proof performance in order to cultivate a community of hope for what lies ahead.
Who should attend? - Any head or chief school leader who would be willing to take on an interim role now or in the future
- School leaders who have served as Interims Trustees, Board Chairs, or Search Chairs who will appoint an Interim
- Other school leaders who may be called upon to serve as Interim at the division, department, or group level internally in the school
Please join us for three days of conversation, reflection, and community during which we will explore the transformational possibilities of teacher leadership in our schools. We will discuss the many ways that teacher leadership can take shape in a school - from instructional leadership to department and team leadership to research leadership, among others. Our work together will range from reflective exploration of who we are and want to become as educational leaders to the practical, daily challenges of working as passionate leaders in our schools. Who should attend?
Teachers in all stages of their careers. Whether you are a young teacher energized to lead and create change or an experienced teacher who has worn many leadership hats throughout your career - including department chairs, program directors, class deans, mentor teachers and more. In your role as a school leader, it is critical to develop the inner resources that allow you to manage the many external challenges and demands of your job. On-going personal reflection, open dialogue with like-minded and trusted colleagues, and intentional time away from the busy-ness of school-life are essential practices that reinvigorate and sustain your passion and joy for your work. This seminar, held in the ideal setting of Santa Fe, NM, explores the inner work of the school leader and provides participants time and space to examine and recommit to the core values that shape their leadership practices. Participants will write, talk, reflect, and creatively approach challenges individually and in groups. Time will also be provided for exploring Santa Fe and enjoying the landscape for both reflection and play. Who should attend? School leaders at all points in their careers who are looking to deepen their understanding of their personal leadership. |
Seminar Fellows, Fall 2011
Many thanks to our amazing cohort from our November Seminar. We gained so much from our time together and appreciated your openness and your wholehearted participation. We look forward to meeting again soon!
Lisa Baker Upper School Director The Roeper School
Rick Benfield Director of Finance & Operations The Archer School for Girls
Linda Bratcher Head of School Mountain Island Charter School James Carroll Director of Guidance & Outplacement Beauvoir Elementary School Samantha Coyne Director of the Upper School The Archer School for Girls Stuart Cushman Languages Department Chair The Latin School of Chicago Andrew Davis Head of Middle School Crystal Springs Uplands School Elizabeth English Head of School The Archer School for Girls Jill Enriquez Business Office Administrator St. Hilda's & St. Hugh's
Beth Kemp Director of Admissions The Archer School for Girls Cindy Kirsch Principal Prince of Peace Catholic School
Lance Latham Academic Dean Brooks School Mason Lecky Head of School St. Andrew's Episcopal School, New Orleans Patrick Magee Head of School St. Thomas Aquinas School Christina McIntosh Director of Communications The Archer School for Girls Elizabeth Miller Head of the Upper School Hutchinson School Jim Munger Head of School Marin Montessori School Carol Olsen V.P. Curriculum Director Prince of Peace Catholic School Karen Pavliscak Director of the Middle School The Archer School for Girls Mia Rille Director of Advancement The Archer School for Girls Geraldine Robbins Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow NASA Goddard Space Flight center Lauren Roberts Lower School Head St. Thomas Aquinas School Kevin Ruth Director, eSchool Network Tower Hill School Andrew Salverda Head of Middle School San Francisco Friends School Mark Silver Head of School Hillbrook School Mieke Tonn Head of Upper School Crystal Springs Uplands School Christopher Wilson Head of School Esperanza Academy
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Spread the Word About Your Leadership Positions
The SFLC is connected to a broad network of school leaders,  many of whom are qualified candidates for leadership positions or who are tremendous resources for prospective candidates. Through our seminar program, we work with talented, ambitious school leaders, and we often know of individuals who are looking to take a next step or who might pursue the right opportunity.
Positions that a school might list here include:
Head of School
Assistant Head
Division Director
Dean of Students, Academic Dean, Dean of Studies
Director of Admissions
Director of Development
CFO/Business Manager
Program Directors including: Technology, Athletic, Multicultural, Outreach
High School/College Counselor
Department Chairs/Grade Level Coordinators
Click here to learn more or post a job. All new positions listed within in the current month will be featured in the Monthly Newsletter (see sidebar). |
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About Us
We are excited to meet you. We are the Santa Fe Leadership Center team, Gary Gruber, Tim McIntire and Carla Silver. Click here to read more about our careers and leadership experiences.
Please visit the Santa Fe Leadership Center to learn more about our programs and our other leadership services and opportunities.
Santa Fe Leadership Center
17 Camino Redondo, Placitas, NM 87043
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