The Puzzle: Blog

Senior Consultant, Karen Neitzel, had the privilege of sitting down with Heads of School, Jacques Weber and Ariane Baer-Harper. Karen worked with both candidates in their Head of School searches, supporting Jacques’ placement at Dallas International School and then partnering with the Austin International School board to replace him at Austin International with Ariane. She got to know them both during the searches and was interested in learning more about the unique transition opportunity they had last year.

We are here to discuss the unique opportunity the two of you had with Ariane’s transition to the headship at Austin International School. You both have been heads of school previously, how was this transition different?

Jacques: When I first came in to AIS, there was not an opportunity for myself and the outgoing head of school to have structured thoughtful conversations and so it was challenging. With most transitions there is an opportunity to have some connections with the outgoing head of school and so having to dig through files and learn as I was going was not ideal. Having Ariane present for almost 3 months at AIS allowed us to do transition work.  It also allowed me to do transition work at DIS since she was already on campus.

Why do you think this partnership worked so well?

Jacques: The reason this worked is that Ariane came in with a learning mindset, wanting to learn everything she could prior to me leaving.

Ariane: This is my second time in this situation. Being there in person, gives you a sense of the school culture and gives visible credibility/validity to the new leader. This is because the school community saw us together and knowing that Jacques trusted me, it instilled trust in the broader community. By the time Jacques left, I knew everyone and they knew me so it was really seamless. It also gave me the chance to read the room during faculty meetings and other meetings before I actually started running the meetings myself.  Building trust is so key and it can take time, I have never quickly worked so well with a leadership team.  When the community sees that the Board has invested in seeing a “relay handoff”, it is really powerful.

I also appreciated being able to understand the cultural and community context and be informed about the way things get done. There was no opportunity for anyone to say that Jacques did it a certain way to manipulate a situation. It doesn’t feel like I just finished my first year. I got the buy in almost immediately which was the payoff of the three month investment.

What are the takeaways from this that would be helpful for other boards and schools in similar transitions?

Ariane: Boards should do everything they can to mindfully create community events where the person can be on campus for multiple days if there can’t be more overlap.

Jacques: Even if you can’t be there in person, there should be opportunity for connections if you take a lot of pride in the institution. You want to leave it better than you found it.

Ariane Baer-Harper also thought about the partnership with her new board chair at AIS.  She attended the Carney, Sandoe & Associates inaugural meeting of The Green Mountain Institute this summer.  This professional development opportunity allowed participants to strengthen the governance relationship between board chair and head of school. She has taken some thoughtful and actionable steps toward setting herself up for success at AIS. Karen Neitzel and everyone at Carney Sandoe wish Jacques and Ariane the best of luck in their new roles.

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