Pub. 2 2012-2013 Issue 1

21 C harter schools are very unique entities. On one hand they act like a nonprofit and on the other hand they run like a business and are subject to regulations. They require a variety of professionals with different backgrounds to operate and overcome the complexities of running a charter school. Just like in any business, charter schools need to develop a solid strategy of succession planning. The Utah Association of Public Charter Schools visited with Zions Bank’s Human Resources Director George Myers and discussed tips on succession planning, and creating good leadership and culture that every good HR professional needs to implement, whether they are planning for a large corporation or bank, or for a nonprofit or charter school. This interview is part of our new partnership with Zions Bank called Charter School University, which plans on providing charter schools throughout the state with additional tools and resources to enable them to more successfully and efficiently operate their unique and individual charters. According to Myers, succession planning looks at using long term plans to strengthen the viability and success of whatever organization with which you have responsibilities. It can be at a macro level, involving all Utah charter schools, or it can be at an individual level involving only one charter school. The goal should be to determine how viable the idea is and how successful it will be in the future. “I like to use the term advanced planning — not pre-planning; preplanning is ordinary, kind of at the elementary level,” saidMyers. “Advanced planning is taking core concepts up to an advanced state, and that increases the viability and success of the concept. I use what I call the ABC’s of succession planning.” Myers’ ABCs of succession plan- ning are “Attracting Talent,” “Building Competencies,” and “Conserving Resources.” The ABCs A –ATTRACTING TALENT: Don’t attract just any talent. First you have to look at what you need to be successful. Pull together specific skills that are critical to running your school. If you have an orchestra, for example, do you have all the different instruments? A hundred random people in an orchestra won’t be able to replicate the sounds of Mozart. You need to organize it into a structure that you can evaluate the skills and what you need. In your charter school, identify several skills and critical positions you need. “Focus on the function you need, rather than the individual,” said Myers. “The director, or principal, is one of those, but they can also play a role in other areas, if they have some background in finance, accounting, human resources or marketing.” It’s not “Bill’s” role, it’s the director’s role, the marketing role, the accounting role, and so on. Charter school staffs are relatively small so you may have one person who wears two or three hats, but be sure to be balanced. “Make sure it’s all covered and that you don’t have bottlenecks where one person has so many responsibilities that realistically it would take 200 hours a week,” said Myers. Give each person two or three responsibilities and let them be the backup for another two or three. That way, if you lose one person, you aren’t losing five or six functions. B –BUILDING COMPETENCIES: A successful charter school needs to have more people helping to build the organization, rather than just building individuals. “An individual may be capable of being the CFO, but you may need them to dedicate the majority of their time in specific areas and BY SHAUNA SMITH, The NewsLINK Group LLC SUCCESSION PLANNING The ABCs of Just like in any business, charter schools need to develop a solid strategy of succession planning. CONTINUED ON PAGE 22 UN IVERS ITY CHARTER SCHOOL Charter School University sponsored by Zions Bank presents