No shortcut in academic leadership

All Saints' College principal Belinda Provis credits a businesslike approach to management for many staff members’ successful transition to executive roles outside the school.

She says the college has created a pipeline of leaders, resulting in a handful of departures in recent years.

Esther Hill, the head of All Saints’ Fremantle-based Studio School, is among those to announce she is leaving the co-ed private college.

Ms Hill will start her new role as principal of The Friends’ School in Tasmania in January 2024.

In January, former All Saints vice-principal Peter Allen started as Guildford Grammar School principal.

Former All Saints marketing and community relations director, and former media adviser to former federal minister Ken Wyatt, Ben Dahlstrom, left to become chief executive of MPA Skills in 2021.

Another move came from former All Saints vice-principal Helen Aguiar, who was named principal at Perth College in 2019, while Steve Davis, who was previously student wellbeing dean, was appointed principal of St Mark’s Anglican school in 2018.

Ms Provis said there was no shortcut in creating a workplace culture that generated leaders.

Principal of the Bull Creek school for 10 years, she said members of its leadership team had knowledge of running a complex organisation, seeing the school both as a community and as a business.

“In terms of why our leaders are becoming principals and CEOs … added to that knowledge of how an entire entity runs and the highly collaborative approach that facilitates that, often I think senior leaders or executive team members don’t have effective access to, or exposure to, the workings of governance,” Ms Provis told Business News.

“That’s something we can do to give our leaders that experience.

“I regularly asked our board members for opportunities for our leadership team to sit on board committees and to present at board level in their portfolio area.

“The leadership team are very au fait with the governance of an organisation and what’s required at that level.

“When one of our leaders sits in an interview for a principalship or a CEO position … I would imagine that the recruitment panel or the board gains a great sense of confidence from that person’s knowledge of the running of an entire entity.”

Ms Provis said the school encouraged staff, particularly those in the leadership team, to pursue projects out of their portfolio.

“Ben [Dahlstrom] for instance, who’s gone on to be the CEO of MPA, completed his MBA while he was with us and we’ve benefited enormously from that as his learning group,” she said.

“We have networks [that are] really useful for our leadership team members for their contacts, for their understanding of seeing how education sits within the wider ecosystem, of all different industries and sectors and so on.”

All Saints is one of two Western Australian schools on The Educator magazine’s 5-Star Employers of Choice 2023 list, revealed in late May.

“The thing we feel proud of … is that the finalists are determined by staff survey data, not the marketing guy writing some flash stories in his office,” Ms Provis said.

WA’s other school to make the list is St Stephen's School, which has campuses in Carramar and Duncraig.

Principal Donella Beare also referenced leadership as a focus at St Stephen’s, but said it was primarily directed at the students.

“As an independent school we are lucky to have the ability to hire the best people for our community,” Ms Beare said.

“I am also a big believer in asking the question of ‘How are our staff expected to mould the next generation of leaders into well-rounded young people if they aren’t valued or encouraged to excel themselves?’

“I know how much pride and hard work goes in to creating a welcoming workplace … and to know the awards are based on quantitative and qualitative data gathered directly from our staff, which includes more than 320 people, is a real achievement.”

Ms Provis similarly said attracting good people was important for All Saints' College, particularly in representing diverse views.

“I’m very conscious of recruitment in terms of who we’re looking for, making sure that we do not employ just like-minded people,” she said.

“It’s really important that we employ a diverse team, and we have that in terms of gender and generations on our leadership team.”