BIG Questions Institute Update

September 5, 2025, No. 190 (Read Online)​

Introducing VISTA: A New Approach to Leadership Evaluation and Goal-Setting

You know the drill: This is your third new Board Chair and they have decided to launch a new Head of School evaluation. When you were hired you created an evaluation process because there wasn’t one in place. But it is being ignored. They have a corporate framework of KPIs in mind based on their international company that seems completely unsuitable for educational leadership support. You face an ultimatum: go along with it or leave.

This scenario and countless others like it illuminate what’s wrong with current Head of School/Director/Superintendent evaluations:

• Traditional (well-intended) models often focus narrowly on limited outcomes and quantitative metrics that are more attuned to a dated educational model, misaligned with the modern needs of education, and removed from the unique contexts of your local community.
• Board members, not steeped in education structures, theories, and practices reach for lessons from organizations that produce a “product” (and parents increasingly expect “customer service” from schools). They aim to implement KPI’s or business metrics on a wide range of K-12 educational practices.
• Meanwhile, few school directors have extensive business (or other shared professional) experience. When expectations and language mismatch, this impacts trust and the sense of “success.”
• At best, current evaluations generally ensure business as usual, not a bold vision for growth, transformation, and relevance in a changing world.

A Missed Opportunity

As we observe the shifting needs of schools around the world, not only are we alarmed by the high turnover of leaders (for example, NAIS reports that approximately 20% of new independent school heads leave their positions within three years or less, and a significant percentage of heads have reported strained relationships with their boards, around the world), but we also see a missed opportunity for something better. Director evaluations (and goal-setting) hold huge potential to nurture meaningful, sustainable growth and mission alignment, and most importantly, to create a positive culture that fosters learning and joy for students.

Alternately, well-functioning, capable Boards are often creating evaluation tools in isolation and “reinventing the wheel” so that effective practices don’t have the opportunity to incubate and develop further, or when key people move on, the practices are forgotten.

What if you could access a protocol to help orient your Board as well as your Head of School to reach for great leadership, to focus on what’s important to be transformational, not simply transactional, and to model learning across your organization? And what if you could learn from a community of other schools, Boards, Directors, and “critical friends” to understand more clearly what practices work and which ones don’t, so you can focus on what matters most - your students?

Enter VISTA

Against a backdrop of complex and critical challenges, the Big Questions Institute has developed a protocol designed to meet the real needs of school leaders. We are delighted to share the VISTA Leadership Evaluation and Support Framework – a bold reimagining of how schools and Boards can nurture, assess, and sustain leadership.

Unlike traditional evaluation models that reduce leadership to narrow metrics, VISTA invites leaders and Boards into a shared journey of reflection, resilience, and transformation. Rooted in research from psychology, neuroscience, and systems thinking, and inspired by the fearless inquiry of the Big Questions Institute, VISTA emphasizes values, innovation, systemic coherence, technical stewardship, and adaptive leadership.

In a time of leadership burnout, turnover, and global uncertainty, VISTA offers Boards a framework that balances accountability with flourishing. It centers belonging, courage, and purpose—helping schools move beyond compliance to co-create thriving learning ecosystems. By adopting VISTA, schools commit to leadership growth that is human-centered, future-focused, and aligned with mission and community well-being.

Join Us to Learn More

There’s a lot to discuss here, but we wanted to take this opportunity to share with our newsletter readers about this exciting new protocol and offering. Kathleen and Homa have spent the past year developing the tool, talking to leaders from schools around the world about their challenges and ways VISTA can support them. While we are continually refining the tool, we also are hearing about breakthroughs from the early adopters who have begun using VISTA.

If you’d like to learn more, join us for the Global Leaders Conversation through AAIE on Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 8 am US Eastern time, to reimagine Director Evaluation (and goal-setting). There is no charge to join the session. You can register here for the link to join.

You can also reach out directly to us if you’re interested in learning more. Email: kathleen@bigquestions.institute.

More Reading to Fuel Your Leadership Development:

​Where Traditional Succession Planning Falls Short , Harvard Business Review, July 22, 2025, by Jeff Rosenthal and Molly Rosen.

This piece focuses on the huge potential upsides of effective succession planning for companies, but there are some good lessons for schools, too. Although most succession planning processes have become pretty outdated, organizations can make a few key adjustments to derive far more value from this effort, like: moving from replacement planning to future proofing, from calibration to preparation, from exercise to execution, and from leaders as talent assemblers to leadership producers.

​Leadership as Relational Phenomenon - Branson & Marra 2019

Branson and Marra argue that leadership is not a title or position but a relational phenomenon that emerges through trust, authenticity, and shared values. Leaders earn their influence by fostering meaningful connections, engaging others openly, and co-creating vision and direction. Their framework emphasizes that effective leadership grows from the quality of relationships, not just technical expertise—reminding us that true leadership is built through trust, collaboration, and human connection.
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​Systems Thinking to Transform Schools: Identifying Levers that Lift Educational Quality - Fuller & Kim 2022

In their policy brief, Fuller and Kim explore how systems thinking can reshape educational quality by identifying key organizational levers within school systems. They argue that improving outcomes requires more than inputs—it calls for understanding the dynamic interactions among leadership, curriculum, assessment, teacher development, and governance. Drawing on global examples—from Kenya’s governance reforms and data systems to Vietnam’s teacher mentorship and decentralized learning networks—they highlight how strategic leverage points inside the system can elevate teaching and learning across classrooms. Systems thinking, they suggest, encourages leaders to map these interdependencies and act on the levers that can foster sustainable, systemic improvement, rather than piecemeal fixes.

Learn (and Partner!) With BQI

Are you ready to work on a new strategic plan for your school? Does your Board or Senior Leadership Team need up-skilling? Are you striving to build a more joyful, welcoming, futures-embracing culture? Or do you need coaching to reach your next professional milestone?

We love accompanying schools and leaders through their unique challenges.

Contact Homa Tavangar: homa@bigquestions.institute or Kathleen Naglee: kathleen@bigquestions.institute to schedule an exploratory call.