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I hope you are enjoying your summer. I just read Dr. Chaim Y. Botwinick’s insightful article about the challenging and changing roles of head of schools. It featured twenty common sense leadership principles. Dr. Botwinick wrote them to help heads of school “evolve, develop and grow as true inspiring leaders, role models and exemplars of leadership excellence.” I share them here in the hopes that some, if not all, will resonate with you.

(Dr. Botwinick is the author of “Think Excellence: Harnessing Your Power to Succeed Beyond Greatness” (Brown Books, 2011)

1. Always strive to delegate and empower others, utilizing the strengths of your team members; channel and direct their strengths.
2. You don’t need to have all the answers; or be the expert in everything; if you don’t have the right answers, seek them out from others who may.
3. Always seek advice and authentic feedback from your staff and faculty.
4. Hold everyone, including yourself accountable.
5. Exhibit Derech Eretz, empathy and compassion for your students, staff, faculty and parents.
6. Be passionate about your job.
7. The school’s core values, mission and vision is your road map and compass, use them wisely and strategically.
8. Take risks, but ensure your decisions are well-informed and data driven.
9. Trust is earned not acquired – it should never be transactional.
10. Admit mistakes, but don’t overly apologize or misdirect the blame (never play the blame-game).
11. Give credit where credit is due – always seek ways to celebrate your faculty and staff.
12. Keep your Board of Directors informed continuously – no surprises.
13. Always keep your team motivated.
14. Act decisively – procrastination will paralyze.
15. Build leadership in others.
16. Think and act strategically.
17. Develop your own professional goals in partnership with your Board of Directors and always manage Board expectations.
18. Articulate your vision with clarity and conviction.
19. Don’t mistake “sizzle for stake” – it’s not about charisma, it’s about substance.
20. Enjoy your leadership role and responsibilities – “positivity” can be extremely rewarding, contagious and motivating.

Click here to read the entire article.

Should you have any questions about marketing, resource development, assessing present materials, crafting compelling stories, utilizing data-driven research to present your case, or any of my day school services, please feel free to send me an email or call me at 516.569.8070.

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman

A Trio of Dollar Raising Tips

Excel at Fundraising

A word I’m hearing repeatedly this November is the word “meeting.” October might have been catch up after Yom Tov month, November seems to be time for multiple, seemingly endless, board meetings. And, more often than not, groans about them. In today’s climate it is not surprising that along with wondering how boards can assist with recruitment and retention come complaints that board members fail to be proactive fundraisers. Some critical steps outlined in Yeshiva University’s Institute for University-School Partnership’s recent report, Developing Jewish Day School Boards that Excel at Fundraising, can help you transform reluctant fundraisers into donors and motivators! As Dr. Harry Bloom, the institute’s Director of Planning and Performance Improvement asserts, “board success at fundraising can become more of a science than an art, within the reach of every Jewish day school board.”

Implement the following three practices and create a supportive climate that fosters strong board involvement in fundraising.

1. Focus on discussions and decision-making relative to committee recommendations on strategic issues (not on day-to-day operational issues). Board members who feel they are integrally involved as architects and implementers of a school’s strategic agenda are likely to feel more ownership of that agenda and a commitment to ensuring it receives adequate financial support.

2. Implement programs to help board members understand the school’s programs and its budget. Collaborative efforts by school administrators and board presidents to ensure board members are educated to understand the special aspects of the school’s program and of its budget, will help ensure that those board members feel comfortable becoming active advocates for the school vis-à-vis potential donors, and are effective in this role.

3. Sign annual agreements to abide by specific conflict of interest rules. Board members routinely maintain high standards that avoid conflicts of interest, there is an important values message in having board members make a 100% public commitment to that standard. Such boards will not only be able to focus single-mindedly on the board’s agenda but will feel an esprit d’corps from having individually and collectively made such a commitment.

(Source: Yeshiva University’s Institute for University-School Partnership’s recent report, Developing Jewish Day School Boards that Excel at Fundraising, authored by Harry Bloom, MBA, Ed.D.)

My team and I are here to help you communicate effectively, increase visibility and loyalty, recruit and retain students, and raise important funds. Should you wish to learn about any of my day school services, please send me an email or call 516.569.8070.

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman