Selecting the Right External School Partner
One of our LeadTeam 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 and numerous smaller projects. There are some projects that a school’s internal team can accomplish, 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 / Request for Proposal
It is always good to begin by creating a scope of work. This aligns your leadership team around what the specific needs are and the project’s ideal outcomes as well. This document should clearly outline the objectives and deliverables for your project. If you feel the need to create an RFP, be sure to communicate your school’s mission and relevant background information, highlight the purpose and goals of the project, request specific information from each firm, including any proposal requirements, and outline the timeline for your decision. It’s also good to understand that some professional service firms will not respond to an RFPs so determine the scope of the work first to determine if a formal RFP is needed.
Identify the Committee Members
Another critical component to tackle before starting your outreach to potential external school partners is who will have input in the decision. Is it a small group, the Head of School, or a committee process? Who has a seat at the table should be determined at the start of any project so that they can 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, alignment with your school’s mission, the collection and use of data, the overall process, the associated fees, the involvement of stakeholders and any other specific attributes your school is looking to consider. For example, if you are a Benedictine school or a Montessori school, do they have an understanding for your school unique needs and culture? Score each on a scale of 1-5 with (5) being Outstanding and (1) being Poor.
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 a 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. Additionally, school leaders can consult the NAIS Directory for a list of external school partners. Some organizations also offer a listserv to submit your questions and seek recommendations. You could also consider leveraging social media for input from other school leaders outside of your network.
Recently, our firm developed a community of external school partners called School Partner Connect to expediate the process to find 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 on the pre-developed rubric. This 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 a handful, it’s time to check references.
The decision-maker for the project should be the one to check references, as they ultimately own the final decision. Once the reference checks have occurred, the decision-makers should gather to review all available data and make an informed decision.
Having buy-in on the scope of work to be completed, the process to evaluate each firm, and gathering consensus on the selection will enable your school community to feel positive going into the negotiation phase. In the end, don’t select a firm solely because of price because when you need an expert, it’s worth paying for their expertise.
Chris Pryor is the Founder and Principal of LeadTeam Partners. Learn more at leadteampartners.com.
This article was originally published November 6, 2024 in K12 Digest.