Chris Pryor is the Founder and Principal of LeadTeam Partners. An independent school graduate and parent, Chris served independent schools for 20+ years before launching his own firm. As Founder of LeadTeam Partners, Chris leads School Partner Connect, an online community for school leaders to easily engage external school partners. In this role, he also oversees the firm’s school partner search, here he streamlines the procurement process for schools looking to engage a school partner. Chris is also the host of The Huddle, a monthly webinar series for school leaders. Learn more at leadteampartners.com.
One of our School Partner Connect members, Adam Hotchkiss of LeadershipOne Technologies, recently shared four reasons why school leaders hire professional service firms. Adam’s working theory is that school leaders hire outside firms due to internal knowledge gaps, expertise gaps, experience gaps, and time gaps. Each “bucket” offers a logical reason to seek outside, professional counsel.
In my experience, schools often conduct two to three major strategic projects over the course of the academic year alongside numerous smaller projects. There are some projects that a school’s internal team can accomplish together; and if that is the case, your team should move forward. However, once you’ve determined that your team needs support from an external school partner, how do you go about finding such support?
As a consultant to school leaders searching for outside professional service firms, I recommend the following framework to make the process easier:
- Develop the Scope of Work
- Identify the Decision-Maker or Committee Members
- Create a Rubric to Evaluate Each Firm
- Research and Determine a Short List of Potential Firms
- Create a Series of Questions to Ask Each Firm
Develop the Scope of Work
It is always good to begin by creating a scope of work. Defining the project’s scope aligns your leadership team around what the specific needs are and the ideal outcomes. This document should clearly outline the goals for your project. If you feel the need to create a Request for Proposal (RFP), be sure to communicate your school’s mission and relevant background information, highlight the goals of the project, request specific firm information, and outline the timeline for your decision. It’s also good to understand that some professional service firms will not respond to an RFP so also determine if a formal RFP is needed.
Identify the Decision-Maker or Committee Members
Another critical component to tackle before starting your outreach to potential external school partners is who will have input in the hiring decision. Is it a small group, the Head of School, or will you employ a committee process? Deciding who has a seat at the table should be determined at the start of any project. Your committee’s first action will be to help develop the rubric to evaluate each firm.
Create a Rubric to Evaluate Each Firm
Think of the rubric like a scorecard with different categories to judge each firm’s proposal. Rubrics will often include the firm’s previous experience, a clear understanding of your school community and mission, the involvement of stakeholders and use of data, a sense of the overall process, and the associated fees. For example, if you are a Benedictine school or a Montessori school, do they have an understanding of your school’s unique needs and culture? Score each on a scale from one to five with five being Outstanding and one being Poor.
Research and Determine a Short List of Potential Firms
When trying to determine the number of firms to approach, you should consider the full scope of the project. For smaller department-based projects, three firms are usually enough, but for larger, school-wide, comprehensive projects, five to six firms are probably more appropriate. I’ve heard of schools meeting with ten firms and I believe that is too many. Do your homework in advance and determine a good list before beginning your outreach.
Most school leaders will call upon peers for recommendations or the Executive Director of their local Associations. Some organizations offer a listserv to submit your questions and seek recommendations. Your team could also consider leveraging social media for input from other school leaders outside of your network or reviewing an external school partners list in the NAIS Directory.
Recently, our firm developed a community of external school partners called School Partner Connect to expedite the process of finding the right school partner. In the end, do your homework on the front-end to make sure you are connecting with experienced firms to help you solve your school’s immediate challenge.
Create a Series of Questions to Ask Each Firm
By having a series of consistent questions for each firm, you eliminate some bias in the process. Each team member should participate in all of the interviews and should score each firm using the rubric. This process allows for each member’s voice to be heard and for the firms to be compared to one another in a fair and equitable manner. Once you’ve narrowed down the firms to your top choices, it’s time to check references.
The project leader should be the one to check references, as they ultimately own the final decision. Once the reference checks have occurred, the committee should gather to review all available data and make an informed decision.
Having buy-in on the scope of work to be completed, a well-defined process to evaluate each firm, and gathering consensus on the selection will empower your school community to feel enthusiastic going into the engagement phase. In the end, cost isn’t the only deciding factor in hiring school partners. When you need an expert, it’s worth paying for their expertise. Good luck.