The Puzzle: Blog

In our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Mission Statement, we state that “we are committed to the importance of increasing equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging – both within our own organization and among the educational communities with whom we partner.”

Initiatives like our annual FORUM/DEIB, Women's* Institute, and HBCU and HSI recruitment program are just the tip of the iceberg in doing that work. To create truly diverse and inclusive school communities, diversity needs to start from the top.

The makeup of a leadership team is a huge signifier to a school community and speaks volumes about school culture. Leadership that represents the cultural and ethnic groups that make up our society is crucial to student success because the world they will join as adults is richly diverse. Accordingly, as schools become more culturally and ethnically diverse, it is essential to have a school leadership and management team that reflects that diversity.

Exploring wider and more diverse candidate pools in a leadership search is not a new concept. Unfortunately, identifying and eliminating the unavoidable unconscious bias that accompanies a search committee's hiring process is not common practice — yet it is critical.

Announcing Implicit Bias Training for Search Committees

To further our commitment to our DEIB Mission Statement and an inclusive leadership search and hiring process, our Search Group is excited to announce the option to participate in implicit and cognitive bias training for search committees engaged in a head of school or key administrator retained search with Carney Sandoe at no additional cost. This work is imperative in building an inclusive hiring process for historically underrepresented candidates and in demonstrating to school communities that the hiring process is fair and equitable.

Led by members of our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Consulting Practice, this training helps us take a practical step in supporting schools and organizations create hiring processes that support a more diverse talent pool. Identifying and interrupting bias is critical to achieving the best possible outcomes in a search process. This work with search committees is an important next step in Carney Sandoe's efforts to support excellence in the schools and other communities with which we partner.

In addition to eliminating bias and creating a more inclusive hiring process, the effects of this training can be seen beyond its immediate value.

“One outcome of the work that some might not expect is that search committees who have gone through this training simply function better. Why? They develop a greater sense of common purpose, operate cognizant of their collective strengths and blind-spots, and build stronger individual and collective accountability to follow equitable and inclusive practices,” notes Chris Boyle, Carney Sandoe consultant. “This difference is frequently palpable to the candidates in the search and the school community.”

“I believe schools will gain not only a stronger understanding of inclusive hiring processes, but also tools to make their community more inclusive as well,” adds Brandon Jacobs, Practice Leader of the DEIB Consulting Practice.

Chris, and Brandon are also joined by Seliat Dairo, Heather Flewelling, Cathy Shelburne, and Martha Neubert in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Consulting Practice.

Learn more about implicit bias training for search committees and Carney Sandoe's Search Group.

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2 Comments

Nadine Richards 9/19/2020 at 11:45am

Excellent. Love this!

Jon Herzenberg 9/27/2020 at 9:38pm

This is great news. Looking forward to learning more. What a great team, too.