Strategic Talent Planning for a Growing Educational Institution
Highlights
Smooth Transition
Defined leadership transitions, ensuring continuity and stability during Head of School change.
Governance Clarity
Addressed church-school governance, reducing donor hesitancy and securing future funding.
Operational Efficiency
Streamlined organizational structure, clarifying roles, and optimizing key personnel workloads.
Talent Optimization
Implemented talent evaluation and succession plans, positioning the school for sustained success.
The Challenge
A rapidly growing educational institution faced a significant leadership transition with the arrival of a new Head of School. This transition presented several key challenges, particularly concerning authority and continuity, which needed to be clearly defined for both internal and external stakeholders. The governance structure between the school and the church also required clarification to mitigate donor hesitancy and potential funding risks.
The school’s rapid growth had strained key personnel, such as the CFO and Assistant Head of School, leading to overextension, operational inefficiencies, and unclear reporting structures that hindered effective management of its expanding operations. These issues were further complicated by external factors, including a competitive educational landscape and evolving donor expectations, necessitating a proactive and strategic approach.
Solution
HireBetter conducted a Strategic Talent Planning (STP) session, delivering a comprehensive strategy to address these challenges and position the school for future success. This involved:
- Defining short-term and future organizational charts to optimize structure.
- Creating talent evaluation (A/B/C players) and succession plans for key roles.
- Developing a detailed onboarding strategy for the new CFO and division leadership.
- Recommending the use of the Predictive Index (PI) tool for improved hiring and team coaching.
Overall Results
The engagement provided both immediate and long-term value to the educational institution. Immediately, the school gained clarity in its organizational design, a well-defined transition structure for the Head of School and CFO, and reassurance for key stakeholders, including donors, the board, and staff. A talent performance framework was also established through the A/B/C player analysis. Looking ahead, the engagement delivered a roadmap for governance realignment, a robust succession planning framework to mitigate future risks, professionalized advancement and finance functions, and improved team alignment and role clarity across all divisions.
