By 2019, more than two-thirds of all heads expect to retire or transition out of independent schools, according to a 2009 NAIS study. When only 22 percent of all responding administrators in the study said they had any interest in pursuing a headship, the question looms: Will there be enough leaders in the pipeline to fill the demand in schools?
In studying and serving mission-driven organizations, The Bridgespan Group explored the potential dearth of leadership in the larger nonprofit community through a survey conducted with more than 150 nonprofit leadership teams. Researchers concluded that leadership development and succession planning for senior leader positions is the single greatest organizational weakness nonprofits face.
The corporate sector, also concerned about a potential leadership crisis, has put much more focus on developing leaders within their ranks since the recession. A 2012 study by Matthew Bidwell, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, shows that external hires get paid 18 to 20 percent more than internal employees to do the same job, but they get lower marks in performance reviews during their first two years on the job. Bidwell advises organizations to spend more time figuring out how to promote from within.
However, the NAIS 2009 leadership study found that only 24 percent of school heads and 22 percent of school administrators were hired from within their current schools.
When it comes to younger administrators, more have been hired from within than in previous years. Forty-three percent of administrators under age 40 were hired from within, compared with 29 percent of school officials who were hired from within in the similar 2002 study.
A lack of diversity in the traditional leadership pipeline and among independent school boards poses additional challenges for school leadership. In 2013–2014, 94 percent of independent school heads were white, and women made up just 33.8 percent of the group.
In a 2013 longitudinal study of people who participated in NAIS's Aspiring Heads program, participants noted whether certain attributes were advantages or disadvantages in their job searches. Nine percent said they felt that their race was a slight disadvantage in headship searches. Fourteen percent felt that their gender was a slight disadvantage; 5 percent felt their gender was a significant disadvantage.
With baby boomers about to retire, how will Generation Xers and Millennials lead? In 2014, the Center for Creative Leadership sought to find out by researching whether employees of different generations see the skills of effective leaders differently.
The center asked managers and high-level professionals in the three generations to rate the characteristics below on a scale of 1 to 5 on their importance for effective leadership:
- Hierarchical leadership: placing importance on social rank, following tradition, and abiding by the rules
- Autonomous leadership: self-reliant, working and acting independently
- Humane-oriented leadership: helping others, showing generosity and compassion
- Participative leadership: collaboration and inclusiveness
- Team-oriented leadership: helping teams deal with conflict, working together, and developing cohesion
- Charismatic leadership: strong enthusiasm, ability to inspire and motivate others
All three generations agreed that "effective leaders are participative, team-oriented, charismatic, and humane-oriented. The generations [were] less sure that being hierarchical and autonomous helps a leader to be effective," according to the report.
How is your school handling the leadership changes and challenges ahead?
Resources
The State of Independent School Leadership 2009 (member-only access)
