By Cécile Doyen, CIS Head of Professional Learning & Development

A first-of-its-kind initiative in 2025 arose from a strong desire for my CIS colleagues and I to address a longstanding issue: school leaders consistently citing their relationship with their school board as their greatest professional challenge.

This overall challenge takes many forms:

• Navigating boundaries: Many leaders struggle with boards that blur the line between governance and management, leading to confusion about who is responsible for strategic direction versus day-to-day operations.
   
• Managing conflicting priorities: Heads often work with boards whose priorities might differ, making it challenging to align on the school’s mission, educational philosophy, or long-term goals.
   
• Building trust & transparency: Some leaders report a lack of open communication, which can result in misunderstandings, mistrust, or even adversarial relationships.
   
• Responding to external pressures: Boards may be influenced by external stakeholders—parents, owners, or government bodies—whose expectations do not always align with the realities of school leadership.
   
• Handling change & crisis: Whether it’s financial uncertainty, enrollment shifts, or global events, heads of school must work with boards to make difficult decisions under pressure, often with limited time and information.

Is it enough to simply acknowledge these challenges as facts or, in some cases, as fate? Or should we shift our focus to what actually makes these relationships thrive?

We focused on the latter and launched a developmental learning initiative to support our school leadership community.

Here are three key insights from the Socially Responsible Leadership: A Developmental Learning Programme for School Governing Bodies & Leadership Teams, and our collective journey for any school leader seeking to strengthen collaboration and shared purpose in school governance and leadership.

1. Moving beyond roles & responsibilities: Building shared purpose through deep engagement

Traditionally, the relationship between school leaders and boards has been defined by clear conventions such as roles, responsibilities, and the familiar mantra of “staying in your lane.” While this clarity is important, our experience this year has shown that the most resilient and effective partnerships are those that move beyond checklists and formalities.

The real strength lies in a shared approach to fulfilling those responsibilities, especially in aligning on the purpose of education at the highest level and on a shared vision for learners at the school community level.

This deeper engagement requires ongoing balancing of dialogue, negotiation of meaning, and the cultivation of shared understandings. It is not a static agreement, but a dynamic process, one that cannot be reduced to a list of tasks.

When leaders and boards co-create and revisit their guiding statements with their community, they foster a culture in which mission and vision are lived, not just stated. This is where true alignment and collective efficacy begin to take root.

2. Responsible innovation: The hallmark of strong board-leader relationships

Another defining feature of strong governance-leadership partnerships is their capacity for responsible innovation. Surfing rapid change and managing uncertainty, schools must adapt strategically while remaining anchored in their core values.

The CIS programme introduced tools to help schools plan, implement, and monitor change in ways that are collaborative, transparent, sustainable, and aligned with their mission.

Strong relationships between boards and leaders are characterized by sound processes for innovation, processes that invite diverse perspectives, encourage thoughtful risk-taking, and ensure that new initiatives are both ethical and impactful.

When boards and leaders work together to gather insights, set intentions, implement strategies, and assess impact, they create a culture of continuous improvement and nurture a sense of collective efficacy that benefits the entire school community.

Ref: Adapted from Vincent-Lancrin, S. (ed.) (2023), Measuring Innovation in Education 2023: Tools and Methods for Data-Driven Action and Improvement, Educational Research and Innovation, OECD Publishing, Paris.

3. Cultivating complex leadership competencies

Perhaps the most profound learning this year has been the recognition that effective governance and leadership require ongoing development of complex competencies. This does not stop once someone is appointed to the board or recruited as the school leader.

The courage to embrace continuous learning, to cultivate culturally responsive and inclusive approaches, and to engage the whole community is essential.

The CIS programme for boards and leaders emphasizes four categories of leadership competencies: ethical, adaptive, collaborative, and culturally responsive.

Leaders and boards who are willing to reflect on their practices and challenge their assumptions foster environments where everyone can belong and thrive. The tools for self-reflection and dialogue provided in the programme have been invaluable in guiding ongoing, more personal development.

As we look ahead to 2026, I invite all senior leaders and governing bodies in the broader CIS membership network to engage in conversations that go beyond compliance.

What are the essential dialogues that need to take place to ensure our schools are not just meeting standards, but truly living their values? How can we, together, create the conditions for socially responsible leadership that is inclusive and future-focused?

Let’s move beyond simply naming the challenges and looking for quick fixes. Let’s commit to the ongoing work of building trust, fostering responsible innovation, and developing the competencies that will shape the future of education.

Key questions this blog answers:

• Why do relationships between school leaders and boards often present the greatest professional challenge?
• What strategies can strengthen collaboration and shared purpose between boards and school leaders?
• How can boards and leaders develop the competencies and processes needed for effective, future-focused governance?