Episode 87: Can the Board See How You Would Work With Them?

Try the Complimentary Decision Chain Analysis™A school board isn't simply interviewing someone to run the district.They're selecting the person who will become their superintendent.In this episode of Executive Interview Intelligence™, we examine the third element of the Upgrade Formula™: Governance Evidence.A candidate can give a strong response about leading staff, managing change, solving organizational problems, or navigating community conflict while giving the board surprisingly little evidence about what it would actually be like to govern alongside them.There's a distinction there.When a major decision involves the board, your response may provide evidence about how you communicate recommendations, respect governance boundaries, navigate disagreement, and distinguish between the superintendent's executive responsibility and the board's governing authority.Using a real superintendent interview case study, we examine a candidate asked how he would approach a district-wide change such as adopting new curriculum.Rather than immediately describing what he would change, the candidate says he would first understand the district's existing policies and procedures, determine what prompted the issue, involve the leadership team's expertise, and seek staff input when the decision directly affects them.There's substantial executive evidence in that response.But the Governance Evidence lens asks another question:What does the board learn about how this candidate would operate with them once the decision reaches the governance level?Not every superintendent interview response needs to mention the board.But when governance was genuinely part of the experience, leaving it out may also leave out some of the strongest evidence that you understand the position you're seeking.After more than 250 hours analyzing superintendent interviews and studying over 200 real superintendent interview questions and candidate responses, the research continues to reinforce an important distinction:A board can hear how you lead an organization and still be left wondering how you would lead with them.Most superintendent candidates prepare for interview questions.School boards are evaluating something else