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Dear Subscribers,
If you are a regular reader of “Bright Ideas,” The Woolbright Group’s on-line newsletter, you will notice that our look has changed! In fact, we’ve made significant changes to our website as well and invite you to take a look www.woolbrightgroup.com. It is not just cosmetic, however. The website and newsletter updates herald a new era for The Woolbright Group wherein we have re-focused our services in order to better serve our clients in higher education and the non-profit world. The following interview with Cynthia Woolbright provides more details about the recent changes.
As always, we appreciate your interest and welcome your feedback. Please feel free to contact us at: info@woolbrightgroup.com
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Q & A with Cynthia Woolbright, Principal Consultant, The Woolbright Group
Cynthia, we’ve noticed a whole new look and feel on your website and in your on-line newsletter. What has prompted these changes?
CW: We started with updating the content of the website as a result of some changes in the focus of our work that more aptly reflects the direction we are moving with our clients. From there, it was decided that an updated, more dynamic look for the website would be appropriate, too.
Regarding your consulting services, what specifically has changed?
CW: As work with clients continued, we found that the effectiveness of one’s board has significant impact upon the organization. On the one hand, I’ve known this from my earlier years working with boards, presidents and serving as a senior member of the leadership team. However, as I worked more closely with presidents, boards and staff members, it became clear that a board can have a significant impact upon the mission, vision and overall success of the organization.
The degree to which that impact is positive remains critical. I’m not sure that presidents and staff know how to work most effectively with their boards, nor are board members coming adequately prepared to work similarly. In both cases, there are plenty of skills, talents, intelligence, experience, and much more; however, there is not necessarily an effective process in place that builds exceptional boards. This is something that takes time, guts, struggle and extraordinary dedication for both boards and administration – in particular on campuses today. Having said this, it is time for us to work more effectively with our clients – helping them get to the place where there can be exceptional leadership. In turn, then the staff, its organization and work will emerge much more strongly and effectively.
How do you think these changes will better serve your clients?
CW: Ultimately, the work with the board and senior leadership will impact the results that both are capable of achieving – being mission-driven, developing effective partnerships and thinking more strategically. This leads to stronger support philanthropically for the organization which, in turn, better serves the people and the programs involved.
As a result of your new focus, do you expect to see a shift in the type of organizations you work with?
CW: I don’t think so. It may expand; however I believe our core – higher education – will continue to be our strength, as it’s where we have our experience. Yes, it will be transferable. But we will remain with our core connection.
Your executive search services have taken a higher profile on your website. Has this service become a more significant facet of your business?
CW: Executive search is something new and it fits with the overall focus of working with boards and senior leadership of an organization. As we expand our work with boards and presidents, for example, the vice presidents for development will remain a key player in raising philanthropic support. In fact these individuals will become even a more important part of this team; hence we want to expand to help organizations in their search for highly talented leaders – those who know, understand and appreciate the integral relationships of boards and the senior leadership. By working the William Spelman Executive Search firm, an organization with 20+ years of higher education recruitment, we think we can partner very effectively to provide leaders for these key advancement positions.
As your business grows, how will you balance providing excellent service to your existing clients with the demands of adding new clients?
CW: Our first commitment remains with our current clients and as time and resources allow, we will offer similar services (and commitments) to new ones. To date, it’s been a good balance and we expect it to remain the same.
Where do you see The Woolbright Group in five years?
CW: We expect that working with boards to become more engaged with their campuses and becoming exceptional leaders, coupled with assisting presidents and senior leadership teams to develop more effective partnerships with their boards will continue to be our focus. From there, offering advancement colleagues more professional and personal development programs that will prepare them to serve as vice presidents, assistant vice presidents, and other key roles for institutions--and, then placing these leaders on our campuses--will be a key facet of our client services.
Some will argue that we are in a “talent war” for the best and brightest to lead our institutions and I would not disagree; however I am not sure we’ve done the best job in preparing them for the challenges that come in developing an exceptional board and senior leadership. Here’s where I want The Woolbright Group to make a difference.
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As part of its efforts to expand services to better meet the needs of its clients, The Woolbright Group has teamed with William Spelman Executive Search, a firm specializing in identifying and recruiting highly qualified and diverse candidates for executive positions in academia.
Mr. Spelman’s clients include nationally known educational institutions--both small schools with distinctive academic reputations, and large universities made famous by the depth and diversity of their offerings and research. In a recent interview, Mr. Spelman explained the challenge of placing candidates who not only possess the right credentials, but also meet the cultural and political requirements of the academic institution in which they are placed.
Interview with Bill Spelman, president, William Spelman Executive Search
www.wspelman.com
The Woolbright Group is expanding its services and is now partnering with your firm to provide searches for professionals in advancement/development. Tell us about your firm and its experience in this area.
WS: In the broadest prospective, we have partnered with hundreds of public and private higher educational institutions to identify, recruit and assist in hiring strong professionals for leadership positions. I started with a focus in enrollment management and student affairs over 15 years ago, and we expanded our services to include advancement and development positions as well.
What are the challenges in identifying and recruiting such candidates?
WS: Simply put, the challenges focus not only in meeting the expectations of institutional leadership and their constituents, but also with finding the right fit of the candidate with the institution. This fit includes the individual expertise and talents, as well as a style of management that will work effectively within an institution. These cultural, political and geographical nuances (?) are critical to success for the individual and the institution. All of this, of course, intersects with the candidates’ ability to support and believe in the institutional mission and the style or fit with the president.
Where are some of your recent advancement searches that you completed?
WS: Most recently, the Vice President for Advancement at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, where we partnered with The Woolbright Group for this position. Additionally, we completed searches at The Catholic University of America, Northland College and Dean College.
How will the partnership with The Woolbright Group enhance your services?
WS: Our linkage with The Woolbright Group, a nationally recognized consulting firm in advancement, expands our network of resources to identify highly qualified and talented candidates.
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Building an Exceptional Board
The board chair was clear, “this retreat is the responsibility of the board, not the administration.” Further, he indicated that the board must assume responsibility for the college, along with the president, in ways it had not before. It would be critical to step up with the president and to educate and energize the board around its fundamental roles – a robust board with fundraising capabilities and a strong commitment to the success of the college. It was imperative, in his mind, that the board recognizes their own talents and bias and that their single, most important focus is the best for the college. He used words such as rigor, oversight, and guidance.
Another board member talked about the board’s role as more active, probing. Words like, “constructively challenging, shaping organizational strategies and aligning with the mission and vision” were also mentioned.
With that stated this college’s board of trustees embarked on building itself into an exceptional board. Taking from “The Source 12, Twelve Principles of Governance That Power Exceptional Boards, (BoardSource, 2005), the board began a process of transformation. Such principles include: constructive partnership, mission-driven, strategic thinking, culture of inquiry, independent-mindedness, ethos of transparency, compliance with integrity, sustaining resources, results-oriented, intentional board practices, continuous learning and revitalization.
The first step was the board committee on trusteeship, working with this consultant, to establish the retreat goals, program and format. From assigned readings, interviews and conference calls, the agenda was set and the planning began. Envisioning an exceptional board and its transformation became paramount. Processes and plans were debated and discussed. The retreat format began to take shape. Following the session, wider participation by other board members was undertaken. More readings, more conference calls undertaken and expanded.
The two-day retreat took place and members actively engaged in opportunities to get to know one another, considered the college’s mission and vision were made, reviewed the strategic plan and its future, and debated and discussed these twelve principles. When the retreat ended, the board agreed to three significant objectives, based upon these twelve principles. Responsibilities were assigned. Work began.
Follow up continues. Such significant transformation of a board will require exceptional leadership from the board and the senior leadership of the college. It must occur at the same time the college’s senior team – both administration and board – balance enrollment pressures, campus master plans, academic rigor, IT challenges, competition for faculty and students, fundraising goals, and many other competitive measures. Yet, without taking the steps to transition a good board or even an effective board to an exceptional board, a college or school will miss the opportunity to transform its board and consequently the institution. Exceptional boards can and will transform a college or school. |
Hiring Your Boss
In his book, The First 90 Days, Michael Watkins, associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, offers five propositions for effective leadership transition. He argues such fundamentals are key factors in success - both for the individual leader and the overall organization.
Based upon his research in leadership and negotiation, Watkins’ first proposition states that the “root cause of transition failure always lie in a pernicious interaction between the situation, with its opportunities and pitfalls, and the individual, with his or her strengths and vulnerabilities,” and that “leaders either misunderstand the essential demands of the situation or lack the skill and flexibility to adapt to them.”
So, how does one avoid such a situation? How does one avoid, “it wasn’t the right fit?” In part, the answer may be that you did not effectively hire your boss. Here are two key steps, though not certainly all of the steps, in your hire:
Step 1: Know thyself: when did I last complete a self-assessment? When did I last ask for constructive feedback – inside and outside of work? Assess my leadership style? What is my work style? My strengths? What areas might I improve? How do I perform under pressure? How do I best learn? In what type of organization do I perform best – highly structured, wildly flexible? These and other questions are critical for “knowing thyself.”
Step 2: Read the environment: How can I assess my potential boss and board? What is the organizations’ philanthropy, resources, culture, and politics? What about the relationships? How can I recognize and read patterns and common themes such as ethics, values, team, etc.? Is this a start-up, turnaround, realignment or sustaining organizational position? How does it match my skills? Match my perseverance? Are my values aligned? How might I contribute? What is valued here? How are decisions made? What are the formal and informal modes of communication? What is the strength of the relationships?
While not a complete list, the above steps can begin to lay the groundwork for hiring your boss.
Additionally, it is recommended that you read, ask and listen to whatever you can: mission, vision, strategic plan, campus publications, profiles of president, board members, faculty, alumni and students, budgets & financial reports, donor relation reports. Ask others about the institution, consult with colleagues, etc. What is the geographical and professional culture? What is congruent? What matches? What doesn’t? Will this be a fit for me? Do I want to hire this boss? Hire this institution?
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