Synthesis Partnership

St. George’s Independent School

Strategy   Identity   Capacity

St. George’s Independent School was an Episcopal lower school on a single campus. The board of trustees decided to expand by adding both a middle/high school and a second, inner city, lower school. The vision of the board was to provide substantial scholarship assistance to an inner city population and join it with their suburban population, creating a single community. Inherent in this vision was the understanding that a commitment to excellence in education necessitates an environment enriched by racial and socio-economic diversity.

The need was clear for a long range plan to inform the growth and development of each of the three St. George’s campuses and to bring them together into one school.St. George’s retained Synthesis Partnership to guide the planning process. We worked with senior staff and the board to develop a detailed and ambitious plan that addressed the distinctive needs of this unique school. The plan draws much of its strength from the deep commitment and extraordinary efforts of the planning committee, its subcommittees, and the staff and board leadership. Synthesis Partnership provided expertise and guidance, facilitated two retreats and three parent meetings, and conducted a survey, but the majority of the planning work was done by the school itself with guidance and facilitation by phone conference and e-mail. This approach developed staff and board knowledge of and experience in strategy, which will serve them well in implementing and renewing the plan.The school has now grown from 384 students to over 1200, and has launched its second major capital campaign to fully realize its vision.

Moses Brown School

Strategy   Identity   Capacity

In 2006 the Board of Overseers of Moses Brown School determined that it was time to engage in a strategic planning process, in part to address some specific issues, but largely to pull the school’s constituencies together into a productive discussion. Synthesis Partnership guided the board and the faculty through separate processes of strategic and academic planning. We developed and conducted surveys of current parents, alumni, parents of alumni, faculty and students. This discussion brought to light varying perspectives on and levels of understanding of the school and its mission. The process identified areas where parents and alumni needed to be better informed, and the perceptions from parents were helpful in offering the faculty new insights about their own work.

The school’s Quaker commitment to consensus was incorporated into the planning process without slowing it down, and it was completed on schedule. The process was an exemplar of the Synthesis Partnership definition of strategic planning: the development, through inclusive engagement of all constituencies, of awareness and consensus around mission. In one sign of effective consensus, the mission statement was reduced from 137 words to a powerful, compelling, and memorable 24 words. The new statement encapsulates the mission of the school and focuses attention on the essence of the school’s commitment to its community.

The Winston School

Strategy   Identity   Capacity   Facilities

The Winston School is a small school for students with language-based learning disabilities, founded in 1981. The level of demand for its services has increased to the point that its current facility is inadequate. The school retained Synthesis Partnership to guide it through a process of integrated planning in preparation for acquisition of a new facility that will accommodate a doubling of the school population. The planning process included a strategic plan, an academic plan, a business plan and a financial model to aid in decision-making. Synthesis Partnership also worked with the board of trustees on board development and with the faculty on an accreditation self-study. We continue to work on issues surrounding acquisition and development of a new facility.

The International School of Boston

Strategy   Identity   Capacity   Facilities

In 2004 the board of ISB (at that time Ecole Bilingue) had identified a number of critical issues, but were unable to frame them in a way that could lead to clear evaluation and consensus within the board, much less across all of the school’s constituencies. The school asked Synthesis Partnership to design and facilitate an inclusive, transparent planning process that would result in a coherent and achievable vision for the school.

Through documentation, benchmarking and analysis, Synthesis Partnership helped the board to understand its options and framed them in a way that encouraged broader discussion. We facilitated meetings of faculty and parents, and worked with the board to shape focused goals and an implementation plan. We provided analysis for and advised in the school’s purchase of the facility they had been renting, its name change to the International School of Boston and the many less dramatic aspects of the plan.

In 2006 a new board chair and a new head asked Synthesis Partnership for assistance in initiating a process of board education and development, beginning with a board retreat to examine trustee recruitment policies and procedures. In 2008 we began to work together on a new strategic plan.

Northwood School

Strategy   Identity   Capacity

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Northwood School had been rescued from severe financial difficulties by a resourceful headmaster who kept the institution going and even managed to develop a modest endowment. By the mid-1990s, different approaches were required to address new problems. In the summer of 1998 Synthesis Partnership was asked to conduct a study of the school’s situation, issues, resources, and needs. We identified and analyzed several interrelated critical areas in which the school needed to improve its performance to compete effectively, especially in the vital cycle of student retention, alumni loyalty, alumni giving, financial aid, and student recruitment. Our findings guided the governing board in developing their understanding of the school and its competitive context.

In the fall of 2000, Northwood was ready for a full-fledged strategic planning process, and engaged Synthesis Partnership to plan and facilitate it. The plan was implemented effectively, and in 2005 we were asked to facilitate new round of planning and board development. Since then we have continued to advise the school in refreshing aspects of its plan.

The Wheeler School

Strategy   Identity   Capacity   Facilities

In March 1995 the Board of Trustees of the Wheeler School in Providence voted to explore a capital campaign. The school had almost doubled in size since its transformation in the late 1970s from a girls’ boarding school to a co-educational day school, and some facilities were strikingly inadequate. The Board of Trustees found there were too many variables for them to approach critical decisions with the wisdom they wished to apply. Synthesis Partnership was retained to guide the planning process. Over the course of several projects over the next twelve years, we

• designed a transparent planning process with an action-oriented agenda
  (which gradually became a comprehensive Ten-Year Plan)
• examined the physical plant, maintenance budget, space needs, and program objectives, and framed capital expenditures in terms of institutional goals
• developed an architectural program and budget for several projects
• developed a business plan for non-tuition revenue programs that would draw on and contribute to the school’s brand
• created a financial model that showed how non-tuition revenue could expand the capacity of a capital campaign
• guided the selection and oversight of architects and landscape architects
• created a master plan for the school’s 120-acre farm
• established working procedures that continued to function after their initial goals were achieved, and
• guided a campus master planning process

Child Development Center

Identity   Facilities

A steering committee charged with planning for the Corning Child Development Center was large, unwieldy, and deadlocked on programming, site selection, and architect selection. There was little sense of what was to be expected of a physical facility, and no consensus on strategies or procedures. We presented the committee with better choices of architects, helped them to evaluate options, and mediated among the project manager, the stakeholders, and the architects throughout the process. We developed a consensus that a well-designed new facility could provide significant benefits to Corning Incorporated as a vivid representation of its values, as Synthesis Partnership founder Sam Frank pointed out in his remarks at the ground breaking ceremony: “Innovation is essential to corporate success, especially for a company based in research and technology; in new materials and ingenious processes. If we think to ask where innovation comes from, we are led directly to the inhabitants of this building. If its design can stimulate the imagination and the curiosity of our children; if it can help them to learn to work and play together productively, we will have truly made a significant corporate investment in the people of this community.

“The individuals cared for in this building are our future; the way we decide to address their needs - either by warehousing them during the day while amusing them as best we can, or by using our imaginations to challenge theirs - says everything about our values and our destiny. There is no excuse for demanding any less of the building than we do of the curriculum or the staff. Beyond all the preconceptions and tastes of corporate sponsors and adult care givers, the architects have put their priorities in order, and have taken as their guide the wise words of that most reliable parental figure and sage, Dr. Seuss’ Horton the Elephant, who said without equivocation, ‘A person’s a person, no matter how small.’ ”

The building has been published in Architecture (cover article), House Beautiful, Metropolis, and GA Documents (Japan). It serves as a prime benchmark for corporate day-care facilities, adding luster to the company’s reputation for employee relations and work / life balance.