Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial!
—Cassio in William Shakespeare’s Othello
More than a few school leaders have felt Cassio’s sentiment. And while a bit dramatic, it’s true that a school’s reputation is both consequential and fickle. A reputation can unravel overnight, and not necessarily for good reason.
Reputation isn’t what you say about your school. It’s what others say when you’re not in the room. Leaders who internalize that lesson – and who work actively and consistently to build and maintain trust and credibility with key internal and external stakeholders – will be the ones best equipped to protect and strengthen their school’s reputation over the long term. Those who recognize the difference between brand and reputation (and that one cannot solve reputational issues with branding solutions), even more so.
This is especially true when a crisis strikes and threatens your ability to meet your goals for enrollment, giving, employee retention and other key business indicators. How you engage, communicate and lead in moments of high concern and low trust – when your stakeholders may be angry, worried and suspicious of what you have to say – can affect your bottom line and culture for years.
Getting it right isn't optional, it’s essential.
The Changing Nature of Reputational Risk
Independent schools today face reputational risks from multiple directions: questions about financial transparency; heightened expectations around inclusion and belonging; challenges related to student discipline; and ever-present social media pressures, to name just a few. And when one of these risks blossoms into a crisis with the potential to inflict reputational damage, we confront increasingly loud, boisterous and contentious communities.
Today’s families are more assertive and more willing to challenge school leaders – from curriculum and tuition to discipline and school culture. “Compassion fatigue,” a phenomenon initially studied for its impact on veterans and first responders, now affects, well, everyone. Compassion fatigue sufferers become desensitized to the experience of others. (Sound familiar?) And it’s becoming more common and lasting longer.
When so much of our caloric allotment of news comprises online misinformation and rumors, we are more prone to react emotionally rather than rationally and to lead with distrust and combativeness rather than caring and compassion. Moreover, news consumers have lost a third of their attention spans since the digital revolution, and our rapidly diminishing attention spans force us to react freely without thinking critically.
Leaders must understand how they’re perceived — by those inside and outside their walls. This perception will determine whether or not they believe you to be a trustworthy and credible source of information.
When reputations take a hit, the consequences can be swift, damaging and bottom-line oriented, whether it’s a dip in enrollment, a sudden leadership transition or staff disengagement. Whatever capital a school may have deposited in its figurative “trust and credibility” bank can dissipate quickly. Leaders must understand how they’re perceived — by those inside and outside their walls. This perception will determine whether or not they believe you to be a trustworthy and credible source of information when the school’s reputation comes under attack or needs repair.
The Four Pillars of Trust and Credibility
An institution’s reputation operates on a parallel plane as the reputation of leaders. Both are vitally important. School leaders need to be credible to be effective messengers.
Stakeholders rarely separate the school from the people who lead it. A family’s trust in the head of school, for example, quickly becomes trust in the institution itself, and the reverse is equally true.
Informed by the work of Dr. Vincent Covello, director of the Center for Risk Communication, there’s a mnemonic that can help school leaders remember the four key pillars that people use to judge whether they perceive someone – or some institution – to be trustworthy and credible:
- Caring and empathy – whether people believe you genuinely understand and acknowledge their concerns and emotions.
- Openness and honesty – whether you’re seen as being as truthful and transparent as the situation allows.
- Dedication and commitment – whether you’re engaging because you truly want to engage, not because you have to.
- Expertise and competence – whether you have the background, knowledge or credentials to be taken seriously.
Understanding how people judge your level of trust and credibility is one thing, but assessing where you stand in the wake of a pivotal moment is another. Being able to measure trust and credibility and identify gaps in perceptions between organizational leaders and stakeholders is the key to developing a stakeholder engagement plan that can repair reputational damage.
In Schools, Caring Comes First
The four pillars of trust and credibility carry significant implications for independent schools. Consider the moments when business or operations leaders are called upon to communicate directly with parents or faculty: a decision to raise tuition; a facilities project that causes disruptions; a disciplinary incident that prompts tough questions about school policy.
In these situations, stakeholders aren’t just evaluating the information you provide – they’re calculating whether you understand their position and emotions as a precursor to deciding whether they’re going to accept, believe and potentially act on information that you hope to share.
Small gestures like personalized messages and emotional attentiveness go a long way to proving that expectation is being met.
Leaders must lead with caring and empathy, every time. It should be the first thing you say or write. Not as a platitude, but as a sincere acknowledgment of how others may be feeling. For example: “We understand that conversations about tuition are emotional and deeply personal for families who’ve entrusted us with their children’s education.”
Even better, use stories that demonstrate your capacity for empathy. A relatable experience — whether from your own life or from someone with whom you’ve worked — goes a long way. Like this, potentially: “You’re not alone when it comes to worrying about tuition. In fact, my sister called me recently very upset, because her son’s school had just announced a significant tuition increase. Let me share with you what I told her.”
In schools, the bar for empathy is high – families and faculty don’t hope you’ll care; they expect it. Small gestures like personalized messages and emotional attentiveness go a long way to proving that expectation is being met.
In a time when independent schools are expected to be transparent, accountable and deeply human in their response to challenges, business officers and operational leaders play a crucial, sometimes underappreciated role. Trust and credibility don’t come from having all the answers. They come from showing you care and proving it, every day.
