If you’re a fan of professional basketball, you might remember when the Philadelphia 76ers began using the phrase “Trust the Process.” It happened when their new general manager wanted to emphasize process over outcome. When the team suffered several losses, many fans wanted to abandon the idea of process and trade it in for wins. But the team continued to “trust the process” and after a few years they ended up third in the conference and went on to the playoffs.

As teachers, we know the importance of the process and must often convince parents and others of its importance. This is particularly true when teaching the visual and/or performing arts. To create an art project, we want our students to take the time to think about their creation. What does it mean? Why is it important? What mediums will be chosen to best serve the purpose? The product ends up being the culmination, not the purpose of the lesson. The same holds true when dancers or musicians are working on a performance. The practice becomes more important than the performance because it is during practice that performers grow and become truly appreciative of the art. 

As a new search consultant, “trusting the process” has become my mantra. At first, I questioned if all the steps we outlined for a head of school search were necessary. At RG175, we have a distinct process that works to benefit both the schools and the candidates. While we do not tell schools what to do, we do ask our client schools to trust our years of experience in doing this work because we have validation for what we do. We advise schools on how to choose their search committees; we visit campuses early in the process to understand the culture of the school; we interview all the candidates; we assist schools in choosing their semi-finalists; and we set schools up for their finalists’ visits to ensure successful visits that produce the best fit choice for their schools. While we personalize and customize this process for each school, we are committed to assisting both schools and candidates throughout this process. Because our consultants are former heads of schools, we can be counted on to understand what it takes to secure strong leadership whether it is a head of school or another school administrator. We know the ins and outs of a school and when schools partner with us, they will hear “trust the process” quite often. It’s the best way we’ve found to get the best result possible.