by Rishi Raghunathan, Head of Upper School at The Wellington School in Columbus, Ohio
I am starting my 4th year as a division head, and I have been reflecting on my journey. Nothing about the last four years has been normal. This is not a post about the pandemic, but I have to recognize the impact it has had on my philosophy and ability to lead a school in a time of heightened uncertainty. When I found myself in a difficult situation, I fell back on the lessons learned at the Gardner Carney Leadership Institute (gcLi).
My two enduring lessons from gcLi are to lead with vulnerability and to create cultures of feedback. Being a vulnerable leader is about being above my ego; it is less about me and more about how I show up as my best self. Within my leadership toolbox, I rely on my strengths, I ask for help, and I am laser focused on the school’s mission.
Feedback has been my friend. Jeremy’ LaCasse’s oft repeated phrase, “Thank you for that feedback” is a mantra. Especially in the last two years, I have worked as division head to solicit feedback from my faculty and to be transparent in the process of how I make decisions. In this blog, I am going to share strategies and stories with you to shed light on how I operate as a division head.
Building Trust with Faculty
When the pandemic began, I hadn’t even reached the 6-month point in my new position. Overnight, I went from addressing technical challenges to an onslaught of adaptive challenges.
I knew how important relationships were going to be in moving the school forward during this time of uncertainty. To better support our students, I instantly began to support and build trust with my faculty. In collaboration with the division heads and the senior leadership team, we delayed the start of school to give teachers time to prep for a new way of teaching. This allowed us to virtually meet with parents, caregivers, and students to set expectations for remote learning.
Over two days, I scheduled phone calls with my teachers, seeking to understand their fears and concerns. I listened to, empathized with, and reassured faculty that we would take this one step at a time; I modeled the behavior that teachers would need to demonstrate to parents, caregivers, and students. There was no playbook for the pandemic, and I was comfortable adapting to a new reality. I leaned on the values that would make my team and teachers effective. I approached solutions, never losing sight of the people that I serve. Processes were developed, and clear values were established that built trust between the parents, caregivers, teachers, and students.
Division Meetings
As a leader, I know that I am only as good as my team. Building capacities in teachers that help them become confident, competent, and connected educators is the best part of my job. The highest joy of being a division leader is in recruiting, retaining, and supporting faculty.
I finish every division meeting with the following three prompts: Give gratitude to someone who is in this room, tell a story of a student who did something that they believed they couldn’t do, or claim the golden plunger. The golden plunger goes to the teacher who took a risk in the classroom and failed. We celebrate failure because there is learning in failure and there is learning in rejecting perfection in pursuit of progress. Once I share the prompts, faculty can choose to participate using one or any of the prompts or just listen. The golden plunger gets claimed once in a while, and when it does, it usually has us in tears of joy and laughter. This ritual builds a culture of gratitude, celebrates the success of all students, and keeps my division connected to each other in the pursuit of our mission.
Feedback from Faculty
Last year, in collaboration with my leadership team (which includes the Academic Dean and Dean of Students), we designed a feedback exercise with our upper school faculty. We first convened as a division, and I made them aware of their options. The entire division meeting was dedicated to this activity. If faculty were done early, they could linger and be in each other’s company or work on their own needs. It also helps to have Lofi girl on Youtube, playing music in the classrooms to set a tone.
In two classrooms, there was giant poster paper on the wall, divided into two categories: what is working, and what needs improvement. There were stacks of post its that faculty could write ideas on and place the post-its on the categories of their choice. One classroom was dedicated to the academic program. The second room was dedicated to our social emotional programs. The post-it feedback was anonymous.
In the third room, there was a QR code (that was also sent in an email) for faculty to give me named feedback through Microsoft Forms. I used the following questions from Daniel Coyle’s The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups:
- What is one thing I currently do that you’d like me to continue to do?
- What is one thing that I don’t currently do frequently enough that you think I should do more often?
- What can I do to make you more effective?
The key to success with the feedback exercise was to create space for anonymous and named feedback. In addition, we wanted faculty to see all the feedback that was written. None of the feedback was a secret, and we wanted to develop a culture of trust and transparency.
The next day, my leadership team met, and we synthesized the post-its. This information allowed us to get a holistic sense of what the faculty was experiencing and to develop strategies to respond to faculty needs.
The named feedback from faculty was equally helpful. Some of the named feedback was reflected in what we saw in the anonymous post-it feedback.
I also received kudos and was asked to stay the course. This activity helped me build trust with my faculty and demonstrate that I wasn’t afraid of feedback. The feedback we received was a gift and would hold us capable.
LEAP Days
During the peak of the pandemic, many school leaders engaged in serious soul-searching about educational purpose and value. I made a promise to myself that I have kept to this day: If we were to ever get past the pandemic, I was not going to go back to the old “normal.” For our children and nation, schools had to do better.
I am proud of the work the upper school poured into creating an innovation. We created LEAP (Learning Exploration and Project) days. LEAP days emphasize wellness, balance, and belonging. This first iteration began as a mental health and catch-up day during pandemic learning.
We discovered that students were using LEAP days to their advantage to catch up on work and to meet with teachers. We were stunned to get feedback from students who found schoolwork to be manageable. The number of students’ missing assignments plummeted to all-time lows.
My team decided to be bold and innovate a better school schedule. In the current iteration, LEAP days are designed for challenge, support, and differentiation. The first half of the day is dedicated to activities by grade level that range from independent research, cultural competency classes, advisory and college counseling. The latter part of the day is for students to work independently and to make choices that support their academic and emotional wellbeing. The Middle School and Lower School now have their variations of LEAP days.
Throughout the process, we made multiple changes to the structure of LEAP days, and we will continue to make changes and adapt to the needs of the students. This innovation has been integral to empowering students to graduate from Wellington with healthy life skills, habits, and strong academics.
I love being a division head. No day is the same, and there is no greater joy than working with young people.
Like that famous Rene Magritte painting, we see the egg and know that the being inside will turn into a confident and competent bird. We get to help young people learn and to launch them on their path of discovering their purpose.
Another great joy as a division head is that I have the unique responsibility of creating and nurturing a culture in collaboration with my teachers. We can’t live the mission without our teachers, and my teachers inspire me to hold myself capable to high standards. I am grateful for the opportunity to collaborate and nurture a dynamic and committed faculty in pursuit of our school’s mission.
–
Rishikesh Raghunathan is the Head of the Upper School at The Wellington School in Columbus, Ohio. Rishi also leads the Wellington School’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts by serving as a board and faculty liaison. He is faculty sponsor to the Pawprint, Wellington’s school newspaper and the Assistant Coach to the Varsity Bowling team. He is most proud to work in a division where students are held capable of doing their best; students are challenged and loving it. He has served as a Trustee on the Independent Schools Association of Central States (ISACS) and chaired the ISACS Equity and Justice Committee. He earned his B.A. in International Relations from the University of Cincinnati. Rishi is a graduate of the gcLi Leadership Lab and served as a Visiting Scholar in 2018.