Fixing Friction: How Heads of School Can Navigate Dysfunctional Boards

When a school board relationship works, it’s a powerful force for good - visionary, collaborative, and deeply student-focused. But when it doesn’t, Heads of School can find themselves isolated, strategic planning stalls, and staff morale starts to erode under the surface.

It’s not uncommon for governance to get messy. Sometimes the dysfunction stems from role confusion, other times it’s due to inexperience, cultural mismatch, or revolving door membership (hello, embassy appointees). Regardless of the cause, a fractured board–head relationship isn’t fixed by chance. It takes calm leadership, careful choreography, and a few well-placed boundaries.

Here’s where to start.

1. Reset the Relationship with Clarity

When trust has eroded or roles are blurred, clarity becomes the most powerful intervention. Start by returning to the source - your school’s constitution or governance handbook. Are the roles of governance (strategy, oversight, compliance) and management (operations, staffing, day-to-day decisions) clearly differentiated? If they are, are they lived out in practice?

If not, co-create a refreshed, shared version with your Chair, ideally a one-pager that everyone can reference. Use plain language and real life examples. This isn’t about legalese; it’s about helping everyone stay in their lane without sounding like you’re policing the traffic.

Then, audit your board meetings. Are they structured for strategic conversation, or bogged down in the weeds? The Head's Report should be reflective and directional, not a list of administrative updates. Agenda items should be framed as decisions or strategic discussions - not operational downloads. Structure shapes behaviour, and meetings are where culture is formed.

2. Hold the Line - Kindly

Even experienced board members can overreach. It’s usually not malicious—it’s curiosity, anxiety, or a desire to feel useful. But if left unchecked, operational interference can erode authority and confuse staff.

When it happens, don’t get defensive. Offer a redirect that keeps the relationship intact – 

"That’s a great question and definitely one for the leadership team to unpack. I’ll circle back with an update next month."

These kinds of statements reinforce professional boundaries while showing respect. Think of boundaries not as barriers but as frameworks for functional relationships. They need to be clear, consistent, and maintained with kindness not prickliness.

3. Induct, Educate, Repeat

Many dysfunctional boards aren’t acting in bad faith, they just don’t know any better. New board members, especially those appointed externally or rotating through embassies or corporates, often arrive with minimal governance knowledge.

Meet them early, one-on-one. Share your school’s purpose, the current strategic plan, and a short governance primer. Offer a two-page resource that outlines "what great board members do" and “what they don’t.”

Invest in annual board development. If possible, bring in a third-party facilitator to run a board governance session. Even a 90-minute refresher on governance vs management, decision-making roles, and strategic oversight can recalibrate the room. And don’t underestimate the power of curated reading or webinars between meetings - just-in-time learning goes a long way.

4. Choose Transparency Over Triangulation

When relationships fray, it’s tempting to withdraw, to go quiet, avoid confrontation, and hope the politics blow over. But that only breeds resentment and confusion. Transparency, even when uncomfortable, is a much better path.

If you sense tension, raise it with the Chair -"I’m noticing some confusion or frustration around recent decisions, can we talk through how we might address it openly at the next meeting?" If a board member undermines or oversteps, don’t gossip about it to other members or staff. Go directly to the Chair, outline the concern, and agree on how to respond. Document the outcome. Governance relies on courageous conversations and your leadership sets the tone.

5. Play the Long Game

Fixing a fractured board culture isn’t quick work. It might take six months just to establish consistency and another year to see real shifts in behaviour. Sometimes, you’ll only get partial wins, but even small gains in process, language, or tone matter. They accumulate over time.

Think of each improvement, clearer agendas, better onboarding, more respectful dialogue, as a seed you’re planting for future Heads and future Councils. Done well, this work protects the school from instability and sets up the next leadership chapter for success. That’s a legacy worth leaving.

If your board feels off-track, don’t aim for a total overhaul. Start with one small fix, clarify the roles, reset the rhythm of your communication, or host a governance refresher. One honest conversation can shift the tone of an entire year.