Beyond the Search: Building Trust Between Boards and Consultants

RG175 Search Consultants have implemented effective hiring practices in support of a wide range of searches over many years and understand what is needed for a sustained and successful headship. As both experienced search professionals and former heads of school, RG175 partners are uniquely positioned to design and execute a customized search process. It is precisely because of their prior leadership and deep industry knowledge that they bring additional value to each engagement.

This added value depends on the strength of the relationship between RG175 partners and the Board of Trustees. RG175 partners pride themselves on cultivating productive partnerships grounded in openness, honesty, and trust. With these three elements in place, Boards can take full advantage of RG175’s experience and expertise. Building this type of partnership is essential, and often easier said than done. 

At the beginning of a search, for example, RG175 partners conduct a strategic leadership assessment prompted by a thorough analysis of quantitative and qualitative evidence collected by the partners. The purpose is to identify a school’s strengths, priorities, challenges and opportunities for new leadership. It is to achieve a deep and shared understanding of the current reality of the school.

RG175 partners’ questions for a Board are as difficult for partners to ask as they are for Boards to hear, but partners must tell the truth. They are trained to look for alignment, search for clarity of roles and responsibilities, or uncover narratives that have, over time, become mythologies. Partners identify unvarnished challenges a Board is facing that often remain unsaid, unexamined, and underground and yet their discovery is a foundation for a successful search. 

During a recent search, RG175 partners suggested to a Board that the school’s enrollment picture was of concern and faced potential headwinds adding that the school should engage in a conversation about its value proposition and design a new strategy going forward. This finding was a product of the search process but the partners’ advice directed to the Board transcended it. Initially taken aback, the Board trusted the partners and came to appreciate their candor and has since acted on the advice. 

RG175 partners are able to ferret out these crucial details thanks to their past experience as school leaders and current experience as search professionals. This puts them in an ideal position to provide a Board with guidance, support, and value well beyond that associated with a standard search for a new head of school. This value emerges in instances where a Board and a consultant build a productive partnership, one in which the spirit of openness, honesty, and trust thrives.