Underlying Themes in the Economics of Waldorf Schools, Werner Glas

In this first chapter of the book Economic Explorations, leading Waldorf educator Werner Glas provides an overview of the basic themes facing Waldorf schools and economic life in light of Rudolf Steiner's social ideas. This is a general overview and introduction of the Threefold Social Order and its relationship to school organization.

From the beginning of the chapter:

"Each Waldorf School evolves and changes its organization and administrative structure as it moves from infancy to maturity. Many factors, quite unique to the character of a single school, have to be integrated as part of this process. Important shaping influences can be attributed to the cultural sett ing of the school, its geographical opportunities and limitations, the level of its community involvement, the local economy, political relationships, and legal requirements. Most important of all, Waldorf Schools do not educate children in the abstract. They are dedicated to the children entrusted to their care, and the needs of children may vary. It is therefore not surprising that, as a matter of principle, each school is autonomous; develops its own identity; and has to carry the legal, economic, and spiritual responsibility for its own life. Nevertheless, there are other vital considerations which unify all Waldorf Schools. These deserve attention from the moment a school is conceived and throughout the many phases of its development. In order to be a Waldorf School in spirit, as well as in name, the fundamental principles and practices of Waldorf Education must be central, bringing form and substance to the educational tasks undertaken and to the organization of the institution as a whole. The social impulse of Waldorf Education is best served when all the policies of the school are an integrated whole.

It is perhaps a novel thought for some that economic policies and educat ional policies can and should have more than a superficial relationship with each other. We are so used to compartmentalization and specialization that we easily forget the whole experience of an institution and focus on its specific parts. What is the place of a school in society? How should it relate to parents and the close geographical community around it? How should it relate to culture, the job market and the lifestyles of its time? What are its economic and legal responsibilities?

Four months before founding the first Waldorf School, Rudolf Steiner asked such questions in a book which is the cornerstone of his social thought."

Economic Explorations is a publication of AWSNA, made available to the public online by the Online Waldorf Library, a project of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education. This publication is available in ebook form as a free download EconomicExplorations. The book is also available in print form at AWSNA Books and More and through Amazon.

Economic Explorations-CH 1- Underlying Themes - W Glas

Parent Associations, Effective Practices, AWSNA

This part of the module on Working with Parents surveys the many aspects of a parent association in a school.

The contents include: (click on a topic to go to the module on the AWSNA Website.)

1. Does your school have a Parent Association? If yes, describe its primary areas of focus or responsibility.
2. Who is a member of the Parent Association, and how do they join?
3. Does your Parent Association have a written charter/mandate/constitution that describes its role, including descriptions of its authority and responsibility? If yes, describe how this statement was developed and attach a copy of this document.
4. What are the areas where the Parent Association has decision making authority in the school? Where is authority shared with other decision making bodies/individuals?
5. Describe the leadership and operational structure of the Parent Association.
6. Describe the key elements of your school’s philosophy in relation to its Parent Association.
7. What about your school’s Parent Association is particularly effective?
8. If there were something that you could change in relation to your school’s Parent Association what would it be and why?

Read the whole module here: Parent Associations

Effective Practices is a project and Publication of AWSNA.

Welcome Orientation

Welcome to LeadTogether

Communications Flow for Increasing Enrollment, from NAIS Independent Educator

This article by Jeff Hansen is a clear and refreshing discussion of the power of personal and ongoing communications in increasing enrollment. This article echos the wisdom of Siegfried Finser in his book specifically for Waldorf schools "Full Enrollment". Hansen outlines his process for increasing consciousness about perhaps the most important aspect of the enrollment process - the ongoing flow of communications between the school and the prospective parents. - MS

INTRO

Enrollment drives the financial health of independent schools. When I began as an admissions director several years ago, this point was emphasized to me numerous times by our head of school. “Get more students,” he declared, “and we can solve our financial problems.” After I kindly brought up the realities of our competitive market, the global economic downturn, our stressed budget, and our declining enrollment trends for the past five years, he once again echoed: “Get more students.”

Not deterred, I started hunting for a cost-effective, systematic, research-based, yet highly personal, method for turning the tide of our admissions woes. After talking with several mentors and doing a bit of research, I stumbled upon a solution that is both simple and highly effective: a good conversation. In enrollment management, we just call it a “communication flow.”

Building Your Communication Flow

A communication flow is a series of communications about your school delivered to prospects over time. They can be designed and implemented on a shoestring budget with the help of some coaching and a bit of technology. Here’s how to do it.

1. Make a list of the distinct advantages of your school.

Call it strategic positioning, your niche in the market, or simply what you’re good at, but you need to write down the top characteristics that make your school unique in your geographical area. It may be a uniquely diverse student body, a renowned science department, or a commitment to year-round community service. These will form the heart of your messages, and will be highlighted in your communication flow to prospective families.

2. Plan out your conversation.

Now, with your strategic advantages as the center point of your communication plan, what else do you want to say? Is financial aid important? How about an invitation to an open house? Think through each major item you’d like to communicate to a prospective family, and make a list. Now pick a time frame to execute your communication flow (three to five months works for most schools). This plan is your intelligent, long-term conversation with a prospective family. It is the curriculum through which you teach to your student (the prospective family) all about your subject (the school).

3. Mix your mediums of delivery.

Now you need to select how you want to say these things in your communication flow. I suggest a combination of emails, letters, videos, postcards, and phone calls. These will vary from school to school, but the key is to say something unique with each “touch” and to present messages to the family in various mediums over time.

4. Produce the content.

Now you need to request help from your school community. Ideally, you’ll have a combination of teachers, parents, students, alumni, administrators, and admissions officials producing the content for your communication flow. If you have a cooperative team, imagine the end result: A new family leaves from a tour, and over the next four months, the family receives a personal letter from a teacher, an email from an administrator about spiritual life, a phone call from admissions about financial aid, a postcard invitation to an open house, an email from an alumnus about the influence his school had on his career decision, and a parent’s testimony via video. If spaced at proper intervals, this will not be “spam.” For those who’ve opted into this conversation, it will look like the entire community wants this prospective family to attend your school.

5. Automate your communication flow.

Finally, you’ll need the help of technology. Nobody will remember to do this entire sequence on his or her personal planner. With hundreds of inquiries, it would quickly become overwhelming. Instead, it must be a part of an automated system. At my school, Front Range Christian School, Colorado, with the click of a button we automate a “drip marketing campaign” (a communication flow) through an email marketing program and a handy piece of customer relations management software. Over the next four months, emails are sent automatically, reminders are sent to the admissions department to send letters or postcards, and phone call prompts are sent to administrators or teachers to chat about topics ranging from financial aid to foreign language (depending on the prospective student’s interests).

This automation means we can know the quality of follow-up each inquiry receives, and we can bet on improved results for student enrollment next year.

Why It’s Worth the Effort

Designing your own communication flow will likely take about a month. But it’s well worth the effort. Consider the benefits. Now a family will learn about your school from a variety of important perspectives. Because this learning will take place over time, when families are making hard decisions about what school to attend from among the array of educational options, the communications will be a steady reminder of the quality of your programming. Plus, the frequency will have built trust between the school and the family, and multiply the opportunities for families to apply. Meanwhile, the admissions team will have greater peace, and the executive team can know exactly the type of communication each and every inquiry receives. For those who use this system, the ultimate benefit is obvious: more students.

After the first month on the job as an admissions director, I was overwhelmed with the task of reversing a double-digit enrollment decline that had persisted for four years. So I sought out a mentor. Because this mentor was the vice-president of student enrollment at a theological seminary that had increased enrollment by an average of 15 percent per year (at a time when peer seminaries’ enrollments were dropping at an average rate of 4 percent per year), his words held some weight for me. He proceeded to explain the idea of a communication flow. Toward the end of our lunch he slyly grinned, as if he knew something I didn’t, and said, “The comm flow will take you a long way.”

Last year, Front Range Christian grew by 4 percent, and by the grace of God, we hope to double that figure this year.

Jeff Haanen is the director of admissions at Front Range Christian School, Colorado(www.frcs.org). He can be reached at jeff.haanen@gmail.com.

The Communication Flow: Increasing Enrollment Through Strategic Conversation

This article appeared in Fall 2012 issue of Independent Education, a publication of NAIS.

Preparing for Crisis Communications, from NAIS

Author Jane Hulbert, provides a comprehensive look at how to prepare for communications in a crisis.

This document is designed to give schools a blueprint for crisis communications planning. Given the variety of schools, there is no “one size fits all” plan, but there are steps that every school can take in advance. The key to successfully managing a crisis is advance preparation.

Use these guidelines as you edit or update your own crisis plan. If you don’t have a plan yet, this will help you get started. Remember, when faced with a crisis, time is against you. You must move quickly, make key decisions, and communicate to your constituents. If you don’t prepare, your school will suffer more damage and it is very difficult and expensive to get your good name back once it has been tarnished.

This outline has been prepared to answer the most basic and important question in times of crisis, "what do I do if?" Whether it be a natural disaster response, difficult situations or business continuity, planning is key. Prepare, prepare, and prepare. From NAIS,

Crisis Communications Guidelines for Independent Schools

9 Steps to Stronger Board Performance, from Associations NOW

9 Steps to Stronger Board Performance is a collections of resources from Associations NOW that clearly outline practices essential to successful board work. The key areas are relevant to large or small boards. For boards of young schools or schools that have regular turnover of board members, the basic processes of healthy board development are often left behind. These resources can help a board focus on activities that strengthen their work as a group and individuals. - MS

ASSOCIATIONS NOW, January 2011 , Intelligence

Summary: Managing the performance of your board is a constant cycle of foundation, action, and evaluation. Read to find out how each fits into the cycle.

Editor's note: This article originally appeared in the January 2010 Associations Now Interactive

Take care of the fundamentals of board service. "Board members are entrusted with individual responsibilities and obligations. This job description is frequently missing in action from board manuals and orientation programs. The results are high levels of ambiguity at best and dysfunctional behavior at worst." —"The Art of Responsible Boardmanship," by Nancy Axelrod, Associations Now Volunteer Leadership Issue, January 2009

Define both goals and metrics by which to measure progress toward those goals. It's hard to measure success if you haven't defined it in advance. Success metrics will be unique to every organization, but when the board outlines its goals for the association, it should quantify success and specify the board's role in achieving those goals.

Get the board on board with evaluation. A board must be committed to the value of measuring and evaluating performance. It may take some convincing, though. "Prepare ways to present governance evaluation as a positive and constructive experience—emphasize that governance is intended to be developmental, not judgmental." Anne L. DeCicco, CAE, Achieving Excellence in Association Governance, ASAE, 1996

Build accountability into all aspects of board activity. When board members' roles and tasks are clearly and openly defined, they know success will only result from their actions. For example, the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants' Strategic Plan Metrics Dashboard (see sample) features a column titled "Responsibility," which lists the individual board members and committees tasked with individual goals.

Put board activity and progress on record. Board meeting minutes "should reflect that the board members were prepared, participated actively, and decided issues without undue haste or pressure. ... Board minutes provide evidence of the level of care, obedience, and loyalty that the members exercised in carrying out their duties." "Directors & Officers — The Importance of Board Minutes," Croydon Consulting, 2005

Communicate early and often with your board chair. Keeping the board on task is as much art as science, and your board chair is your number-one ally. An idea from one CEO: Hold an informal weekly call, "a time for the chair and CEO to discuss any topic in private without being restricted by an agenda or an audience in the room."—"Critical Conversations," by Whitney Redding, Associations Now Volunteer Leadership Issue, January 2009

Ask the board to evaluate itself. This step can range from the simple (see sample 15-category evaluation) to the complex (see Self-Assessment tool from BoardSource.org), but the process of the board reviewing its own performance will give both CEO and board tangible feedback about where strengths and weaknesses lie. http://www.boardsource.org/Bookstore.asp?Item=184

Include an opportunity for personal reflection. Board members should evaluate their own individual performance as well (see sample self evaluation), to call attention to the importance of their personal contributions (or lack thereof) to the board's work.

Use evaluation results to start discussion on how to improve (and start the cycle again). "The instrument used is less important than the quality of interpretation of responses, discussion of findings and implications, and development of a performance improvement strategy." Glenn H. Tecker, President and CEO, Tecker Consultants LLC, July 30, 2008, ASAE Executive Management Listserver

Global Trends Affecting the Capacity for Organizations (including Waldorf schools) to practice collaboration

Global Trends Affecting the Capacity for Organizations (including Waldorf schools) to practice collaboration, an article by A. DeMeyer.

I found this article by A DeMeyer from 2009 important for a deeper understanding of the trends in business and culture that are affecting the need for and practice of collaborative work in organizations at all levels. While the article is focused at a global scale, the insights De Meyer’s shares are relevant to our school movement. His introduction could easily be a description of the new qualities we need in school leadership. He is aware that the current definitions and literature about leadership are often conflicting or incoherent as are many approaches to and understanding about how to prepare the coming generation of leaders (in our case young teachers) to face the challenges of the degree of change they will face in their teaching career. De Meyer points to the need to help young leaders develop new capacities for meeting and adapting to change. And while this premise is not new, he continues to propose that developing skills and competencies for collaboration are essential if our institutions are going to survive thrive.

Here is a list of his trends.

1. Globalization

2. Fragmentation of the value chain (in school terms: More groups and volunteers taking on important tasks in the operation of the school)

3. More knowledge workers (more specialists than generalists)

4. The increasing demands (and skepticism) of society (of Parents)

5. Dispersion of the sources of knowledge and innovation

6. Changes in the structure of multinationals (from pyramidal to collections of networks)

7. Increased importance of risk management (considering the dynamics of actions and looking ahead)

8. The increase of social networking and information overload

For a discussion of them and their relevance to Waldorf schools, read the review of his article here.

To read the entire original article, Collaborative Leadership A D 2009 final.

A Guide to Full Enrollment, Siegfried Finser

1 Comment

A Guide to Full Enrollment is a guidebook for Waldorf Schools, at all stages of maturity, interested in achieving full enrollment. As it takes a whole, healthy school, united with purpose and courage to have full enrollment, this guide was written especially for Trustees, Teachers, Administrators, Enrollment Directors and Parents. The future demands that the Waldorf school transform itself into an organ for social renewal with all parties working together. (None of us can do it alone.)The Guide describes the 10 basic steps of a healthy enrollment process, listing ways to improve them. The two steps most needing improvement, “getting more inquiries” and “follow up” are described in great detail. Focus is provided on one particular approach for reaching full enrollment that is known to be successful from direct experience. It has worked wonders in at least three Waldorf schools.

Weaving through the entire Guide are suggestions, exercises and alternative attitudes for all of us together to take up and explore. Few of us completely understand what the founder Rudolf Steiner intended. Let’s stop pretending to be “authorities.” Instead, why don’t we become “leaders in human development” and model the education of the future. All striving beings should be able to find a home in the Waldorf school.

What the world mostly knows as “Education” is near the end of its evolution. Waldorf education is just at its beginning.

The above description comes from Finser publications. Please visit the Finser Publication website for this and other books by Siegfried.

Forming School Communities, The Renewal of the Social Organism, M Karutz, AWSNA

Forming School Communities - Contents Intro - Mathiaas Krutz

Forming School Communities - Renewal of the Social Organism - Contents Intro - Mathiaas Krutz

Empowerment in Organizations: The Theory and Practice of a Mandate System, C Pieterse

As reflected in the reviews below and in the table of contents, this book explores the essential aspects of community and organization building. Cornelis focuses on two main topics: the understanding of the growth and development of organizations through phases; and the structure and practice of mandates. Both of these are central topics at the heart of every waldorf school and small nonprofit. Cornelis furthers an understanding of them with clarity and experience.

Contents

Conceptual Framework

Systems Thinking

The context in which we find ourselves

Phases of Organizational Development

Leadership in the Third Phase

Living and Working in the Third Phase

Tools for Change

The Mandate System

Conversation Guidelines

Facilitation and Meeting Effectiveness

Decision making and Group Dynamics

Community Vision Building and Planning by Consensus

Conflict Management

Group Exercises and techniques

Epilogue

Cornelis Pieterse

About this Book

Empowerment in Organizations is a seminal work about organizational transformation and redefined leadership roles. Veteran facilitator Cornelis Pieterse provided an insightful description of developmental phases in organizations, as well as a clear road map to alternative management practices. It is an articulate academic proposal, supported by the author’s many years of experience in practice as well as theory. His lively writing style simplifies the subject of governance in nonprofit organization by breaking it down into digestible components, facilitating an easy read.
—Kerry Drohan
Metropolitan Editor, The Boston Globe

This book provides a thoughtful and understandable introduction to the world of systems theory and its application in organizational consultation. While this subject is often treated as an arcane art, accessible to only the intellectual elite, Pieterse allows the reader a glimpse into the actual workings of systems through the presentation of real life experiences. The author has a profound understanding of the interconnectedness of the world and insights into the universality of the general principles of systems work.
—Michael Conforti, Ph.D.
Jungian Analyst, Founder and Director of the Assisi Conferences
author of Field, Form and Fate: Patterns in Mind Psyche and Nature

Cornelis Pieterse’s clear descriptions of the mandate process can serve organizations suffering from becoming stuck in a particular phase. If I had read this book twenty-five years ago, how much more productive and satisfied I would have been in my organizational experiences. This is a highly readable and helpful guide that can be especially useful in schools and other organizations. Strongly recommended.
—Betty Staley
Waldorf High School Teacher Training Director, Rudolf Steiner College

If the social art is the highest art form, as suggested by Rudolf Steiner, then Empowerment in Organizations is a clarion call to organizational learning and the practical applications of the social art in community. It offers us the tools to meet in new ways, to work in horizontal organizational structures. Here lies the future!
—Elaine Mackee
High School Faculty Chair, Vancouver Waldorf School

I think Cornelis Pieterse has done a service to the field of organization development. I trust experienced practitioners will find themselves reexamining aspects of their practice they long ago thought they had mastered. By placing practical matters under a microscope, Cornelis moves in such a way as to make them clearer than before. Those new to the field will recognize someone has done them the favor of articulating theory and years of experience in a cogent way.
—Dino Biris, Senior Consultant
Semasea Organization Development

About the Author

Cornelis Pieterse, senior partner and owner of Lemnis Associates in Wilton, New Hampshire, is a consultant who works with Waldorf schools, small businesses, civic organizations and corporations.