FAQ'S

As both experienced search professionals and former longtime heads of school/school leaders, RG175 partners are uniquely positioned to execute on the following five fundamentals that distinguish a RG175 search:

• 1. We build a very productive partnership with the board of trustees/head of school over the course of the search process to set the conditions for long-term successful headship/school leadership.
• 2. We share with the search committee/head of school expert professional counsel into what constitutes an outstanding and customized search process that fits the specific needs of the school. We establish clear roles and responsibilities and establish a timeline while communicating regularly with insight and candor.
• 3. We identify a school’s strengths, its priorities, its strategic challenges and opportunities for new leadership and write a compelling and honest appraisal of a school within a position statement that inspires and informs potential candidates.
• 4. We actively recruit candidates who have the skills, experience, and temperament to take on the responsibility of headship/leadership and can discern the candidates who are well matched for a specific position.
• 5. We advise the search committee and the elected candidate throughout the transition (the date of their appointment until the official start date) and provide mentoring for up to 12 months.

Two things clearly stand out as outstanding qualities of RG175: the firm customizes every search we do (all 505 of them and counting) to meet the needs of the school that we are working with. Every school is unique, every school is different and so we customize each search. Secondly, the firm is comprised of 21 well informed and highly successful, former senior administrators and heads of independent schools. In addition to head search, we specialize in senior administrative positions, including advancement. Our partners are located geographically and strategically across the country. We are all proven leaders in the field, both nationally and internationally, and we bring the knowledge and depth to the search process that only those who have experienced the work can impart.

We will spend two full days—more if necessary—on your campus, interviewing key stakeholders, including trustees, administrators, faculty, parents, students, and alumni. Before our visit we study critical information like budgets, accreditation reports, admission statistics, curriculum guides, fundraising statistics, next-school placement, diversity statistics, and more to gain a deeper understanding of the school’s assets and challenges. This vital information combined with the findings from our visit allow us to uncover critical themes that we then present to the search committee for review before writing the position statement. Typically, a small group of search committee members approve the position statement before publication.

RG175 is committed to providing a diverse pool of candidates in every search that we work with. RG175 prides itself that 60% of our placed candidates have been women and/or people of color in the last five years. The firm maintains a significant database of diverse candidates through our substantial network across the independent school world.

Most search committee members define success based on the longevity of the chosen candidate. While this is very important, sometimes it is necessary for a search to identify a leader who brings the necessary skills to achieve success within that school during a certain period. Each school will have different criteria for answering this question. For some that may be establishing the foundation for future success. For others it may be helping the school do a better job of fulfilling its mission. And still for others it may be extending its already significant impact. Ninety-five percent (95%) of our placements in the last five years have remained in their position.

Each of our partners does a thorough and in-depth analysis of a school prior to writing our position statement for each search. This analysis includes reviewing pertinent data, such as enrollment, fundraising, and financials. We do an extensive questioning and fact gathering process while visiting the school, and then we impart that knowledge to the head and the search committee. Often, we are conveying information that the school was not totally aware of. In addition, we do an in-depth survey to all constituents. We put together executive summaries of the survey that provide additional information moving forward. We take all this information and data and report back to the school what it tells us and what priorities the school needs to set in the hiring process.

RG175 handles both types of searches in a similar fashion. Typically, a Head of School search involves the firm working with a search committee of 6-12 people and also involves the entire school community, whereas a senior administrative search is a narrower focus working primarily with the Head of School and a very small search advisory committee. The firm goes to great lengths to include the best practices of Head of School search in our administrative searches.

Search committee members should primarily be board members for head of school searches. Heads of school typically put together a search committee of other administrators and members of a certain division that correspond to the hiring that needs to be done. Character and wisdom are the best measures for membership on a search committee; good judgment, the ability to work with others, time availability, and the discipline to maintain strict confidentiality are key attributes of effective committee members.

It’s easy for us to say that there is no such thing as a typical search proposal or a typical search. We customize our proposals, our position statements, and our search process based upon what’s most important for the school in any given time. Most proposals will include an overview of our process, the deliverables that we bring to the search, identifying fees and expenses, and a detailed example of a search timeline. We also provide bios for the specific consultants who will be working on a search, and a list of our experiences and references.

RG175 consultants are active recruiters and do not rely solely on passive advertising or listings. We have a vast network of contacts and use this network to develop a robust candidate pool. In addition, all 21 partners are often asked for input and suggestions of candidates. We are unique as a firm in that we do not have a competitive edge with one another to hold our own candidates. We share candidates routinely with one another once we know what a school is particularly looking for. It would be easy for us to say that every search has 21 consultants working for the school.

We vet candidates extensively to ensure the search committees are considering applicants who have a baseline of the necessary leadership skills for a given position as the search committees. We narrow the field so they can then focus on candidates whose leadership strengths align with the challenges and opportunities that the school faces and needs.

We have a vast database of over 10,000 educators at our immediate disposal. In addition, all our consultants have extensive personal and professional networks through the independent school world that we use to our advantage. These networks are local, regional, national, and global.

Resource Group 175 consultant Tom Olverson has written extensively about the stumbling blocks in a head of school search. In particular he details the unintentional disregard of evidence to support the search committee’s decision:

Absent the hard work, discipline and rigor of amassing evidence that demonstrates that a candidate has the attributes that the search committee identified as critical for the next head to possess, the search committee instead asks itself the easy question: "Do we like this candidate?"

In addition, Olverson details the failure of search committees to delineate the three or four major challenges facing the school over the next five to ten years as critical criteria for evaluating each candidate. By setting their sights on a more distant future, search committees inevitably become more strategic, leading to better decisions. RG175 co-founder Clay Stites states, “Search committees typically become more conservative at the end of the process. They focus on the short-term appearance of the selection instead of the long-term impact. It’s an easy trap to fall into.”

We listen very carefully in the Discovery Phase of the search process to determine if any internal administrators may emerge as viable candidates. We strategize with the search committee to develop an approach for internal candidates, mindful that their candidacies must be handled in a sensitive manner out of respect not only for the individuals but also for the credibility of the process.

RG175 believes that transitioning new leaders into a new school is almost as important as the search itself. Each RG175 consultant is skilled and prepared to work with each school client in this important component of the search process. RG175 will provide the search chair a document providing information about this process.

The managing partner, in consultation with others in the firm, makes assignments. Factors taken into consideration include: geography, size, and type of school that matches partner experiences and personal connections that partners may have with a specific school.

“You and your partners have turned RG175 into the premier group. I can't quite imagine the number of miles under your wings or the number of shoes and belts you have removed, but I must congratulate you on building an organization that has earned such a truly exceptional reputation.”

–Jay Stroud, Director of the Commission, New England Association of Schools and Colleges