July 1, 2023

On Being New

Structured, proactive support for people new to various positions--from classroom teachers to trustees, board chairs and heads--is one of the wisest investments schools can make, especially considering the worst case outcomes of the obverse: erosion of community trust, institutionally draining remedial support, replacement churn. The cost of any of these far exceeds the the upfront investment in support, a classic case of pay me now or pay me later. I've got perspectives from both sides currently. I'm the new guy myself. I begin my tenure as Interim Executive Director of the Association of Independent Michigan Schools today (more on that in "Parallel Paths"), and my colleagues and I at The Gowan Group have designed a series of year long cohort coaching programs for early career heads, enrollment and marketing directors and school leaders interested in discovering more about DEIB and SEL. We're calling them PODs (Peer Open Dialogue) and have designed them as a series of monthly cohort meetings with a timely curriculum and the opportunity for ongoing personal support.