PODCAST | Embracing Transitions in Christian Education (Feat. Dr. Mike Hayes)

Resources:

https://www.vanderbloemen.com/schools

https://www.worthingtonchristian.com/

Transcript:

Christa Neidig:
Welcome to the Vanderbloemen Leadership Podcast. I'm your host, Christa Neidig Senior Marketing Coordinator here at Vanderbloemen. In today's podcast our executive search consultant, Brian Jensen talks with Dr. Mike Hayes. He's the head of school at Worthington Christian Academy. And he previously served as the Vice President of Student Development at Lee University, where he's also spent time as a counselor, coordinator of academic assessment, and director of student development. In this conversation, Dr. Hayes shares about his transition from higher ed to K12 education. He expresses the need to embrace a new transition and trends that he currently sees facing Christian education. We hope you enjoy this conversation.

Brian Jensen:
Welcome to today's podcast. And today I'm talking with a new friend and if you've been listening recently you know that we were talking with Dr. David Tilley and he shared that we needed to get a conversation with Dr. Mike Hayes. And so Dr. Hayes has just graciously agreed to join us. So thank you for being here, Mike.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Thank you, Brian. It's a pleasure and I appreciate the opportunity and always appreciate the referral from Dr. David Tilley.

Brian Jensen:
Good. Well, Mike Hayes has just assumed, I think you're in day one or something like that at your new job. So you've just assumed the head role at Worthington Christian School in Columbus. Is this week one?

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Yes, this is literally week one. We're actually fortunate that there are books and bookcases behind me.

Brian Jensen:
Making quick progress.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Yes.

Brian Jensen:
Yeah. Good. Well, I'd love to open it up and some people know you, some people may not know you. Tell us your story in sort of the broad strokes and how you ended up where you are today in this new job this week.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Yeah, sure. I think it's important for everyone to know that I'm an original Ohioin. So I grew up in a small community in West Central Ohio. So this is kind of full circle for me in a lot of ways. But back when I graduated from high school, I went to Lee College at that time down in Cleveland, Tennessee, and did my degree there. That's actually where I met David Tilley. And then after we graduated, we, meaning my wife and I moved to Toledo, Ohio to work in a church there and start the counseling ministry. And then we went back to Cleveland and for four years I worked in the local mental health center, was promoted to the manager of that area of the state, then ultimately in 1995, moved to Lee College at the time in their counseling office, and then moved through the administrative ranks to finally wind up being the vice president for student development for the past 12 years. So we just wrapped up 27 years at Lee University in Cleveland. And again, this is the first week here at Worthington Christian School.

Brian Jensen:
Wow. That's amazing. So one of the things I want to talk about is transitions and a number of people have gone through transitions. Well, it's not a new phenomenon. We know that, but it just seems like people have gone through a lot of transitions over the last couple of years. And I'm fascinated. We were just chatting before we started. I went through a transition out of Christian higher ed into what my education friends say, the dark side of consulting, which is where I find myself now. But I'm fascinated by your transition. And I've seen it a handful of times, but I don't see it a lot. So what does this transition feel like right now going from Christian higher ed to K to 12,

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Right at this point, it's interesting because we're smack dab in the middle of the summer. So I'm able to actually do some acclimation work that I might not be able to do if I were to assume this role at another time of year. I'm very grateful for the timing of this. So I think right now it's still drinking from a fire hose, but not as rapidly as it otherwise could be. However, it is intriguing to shift to a much younger student, the taller and smaller students as people like to talk about.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
So a lot of people have asked me why in the world would I make this shift? And ultimately it really came down to this idea that I've always felt a sense of calling in terms of helping to change the trajectories of students' lives. And we really feel called just at the center of our beings to help students know they matter. So it's been intriguing over the past year as we've worked through this process to think through, okay, for 27 years, we've helped students know they matter in the higher education area, but now in the K12 area. So for me, it's kind of an adjustment thinking through different developmental lenses, but we're very excited about the transition and again very grateful for the timing of it.

Brian Jensen:
Yeah. Was K to 12 something that had been in your mind as maybe I'll do that someday, or was this kind of a new, wow. I hadn't thought about and now here I am.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
I have thought about it down through the years. In fact, Dave Tilley, again, he's talked with me for years about doing that shift. Also, my wife is an elementary school assistant principal, and she, and I get to share stories. She talks about five to 12-year-olds and I talk to 18 to 22-year-olds or talk about them with her. So we've always shared that in terms of a passion together. And I think it's important to know that, again, this isn't a new thought, but it's definitely a thought that we've had to engage in much greater detail and much greater depth over the past year as we've entertained this possibility.

Brian Jensen:
Yeah. I know that decisions like this aren't exactly made in one night or overnight, but was there something, and again, I'm sharing this with people that might be thinking about a significant transition. What was it, or was there a moment where you thought, I think I know this is what I'm supposed to do and I think this is still going to be in my conviction of calling, but I think it's a new space. Was there something that clicked for you that made that transition just bright as day?

Dr. Mike Hayes:
I would say that it was a series of things that clicked there. Wasn't a significant 180-degree pivot moment, but I think there were variations in terms of turning to where ultimately we came to the conclusion that this is something that we want to do. I think a couple of the critical things were knowing the institutional fit that we would have with Worthington Christian and what they're called to, what we feel called to, but also in terms of looking at where Christian K12 is at this point, knowing full well, some of the issues that they're facing and some of the issues that we faced in Christian higher education over the past couple of decades. So I think when I saw alignment there, and again, felt a clarification of calling that it wasn't just for higher education students, but also for K12 students. Those were some of the really critical pieces of determining that this was a transition we wanted to embrace.

Brian Jensen:
Yeah. And I want to get into some of the things about Christian education and where it's going, but before I do, I do want to ask you what's got you excited about this new role specifically.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
So Worthington Christian is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and it is a significant milestone for any Christian K12 School to reach 50 years. The church that birthed the school is now called Grace Polaris. And they have been a beacon of light around Columbus and specifically in the northern part of Columbus for a long time. They again birthed the school about five decades ago. So I'm very excited about celebrating that, looking back at the heritage, but also charting and inspiring vision forward. That's very exciting at this time. Also, I think coming back to the heart of Ohio, again, I'm an old Ohio guy and I look forward to coming back to this point. I also am very excited about what the school is doing in some of the growth and opportunities that are available around the Columbus area. A lot of industry growth, so significant opportunities are there for development.

Brian Jensen:
That's good. That's good. So let's talk a little bit about Christian education. What about Christian education? And I would love for you to reflect on this in the K to 12 space, the higher ed space, and there's probably overlap, but how do you feel about it right now? And what's exciting about its future.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
I think that Christian education broadly at all levels is at this unprecedented phase of opportunity. There are clear sociopolitical religious pressures that all institutions that our K12 or higher ed Christian institutions are facing right now. I think we have a wonderful opportunity to help engage our culture in thoughtful and mindful ways, ways in which we don't apologize for the gospel, but we actually know that we need to engage the culture in a winsome fashion. So I think broadly for all levels of Christian education, again, there are so many brand new opportunities in terms of where the culture is for us to engage it as faithful disciples.

Brian Jensen:
It's one of the fascinating things I've seen. I haven't seen any hard data points, but I talk to a lot of heads of schools across the country. And over the past two years, many of them have seen enrollment growth. Now particularly the Christian higher ed institutions can't say much of the same, but in the K to 12 space, we've seen enrollment growth almost across the board. And I think that's for a variety of reasons, but what it also brings with it is a number of families joining a Christian school for maybe a variety of reasons that we haven't seen in the past. Is that true at Worthington? Are you starting to understand some of that and how do you address that?

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Very much so. In fact, as we were researching the opportunity to make the transition, we talked with various friends around the country who were involved in Christian K12 education. Clearly, I had my fingers on the pulse of Christian higher education and observing what you've already alluded to and that is shrinking enrollments for most of the peer institutions of a place like Lee University. On the flip side, and again, contrary to that would be the Christian K12 explosion the way that some people have identified it. And I think several reasons do contribute to that. I read an article a few months ago talking about the triple pandemic. Obviously, we have COVID. We also have all the civil and racial unrest in the country. And then also what many people are referring to as the mental health pandemic. I think all three of those forces, particularly when they're layered upon one another, I think makes Christian K12 schools even that much more attractive at this time.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Going back to the sense of trajectory change in students' lives, I think a lot of folks like me are interested in that because I've been able to see what we were receiving in terms of 18-year-olds for 27 years. And part of our decision-making matrix was if we get involved a little earlier in the game maybe we can make some significant change. So I think what you're seeing is all these forces converging to make Christian K12 education even that much more inviting, particularly within the times in which we live.

Brian Jensen:
Yeah, and as I've talked to some heads what it seems to be doing, I'd be interested to hear what your thoughts are moving into. Again, this transition is fresh for you and moving into taking the reins out of school, but what has been one of the difficulties, I know there's been a multitude of them through the pandemic has been for a number of months or years plus heads felt like all they could do was COVID. Every agenda item in any meeting was just COVID response, COVID response. The frustration was we didn't get to focus on the mission. We wanted to get back to focusing on mission alignment and furthering our mission. And what I've heard is that many heads now this past year getting back to that. There's more excitement and what that is doing in light of what you just said. It seems all the more important that heads have to focus on mission and furthering the mission of the institution in its 50th and beyond years. Right?

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Right. The mission is absolutely critical. And I think obviously making sure that the way we, in a disciplined fashion, live that mission out, I think is more critical than ever before. Again, given so many of the social pressures that our schools are operating in. I actually like to think about some language by Simon Sinek, particularly out of his more recent book, The Infinite Game. And he talks about individuals and organizations pursuing their just causes. And when I think about a place like Worthington Christian I think about, okay, what's the just cause. So there are definitely elemental pieces of the mission that obviously are expressed in that just cause, but it really invites people to think more long term may be in more broad and intentional ways that will make more of an impact in society. So I think that language and those ideas may actually be even more beneficial to us as we move forward because we're about living out our just cause. What's the sense of justice? What bigger contributions do we want to have? So again, yeah. Being missional or being people who are committed to adjust cause I think is absolutely critical today.

Brian Jensen:
Yeah. So to get into that work and further the reach and the impact you're having on your students we could sit here and talk about all the challenges. We could talk about the triple pandemic and that's not going to be much of a surprise to a number of people leading Christian schools or working in Christian education. What are you seeing, or maybe have you given some thought to some new creativity, some innovation, or maybe were there things you were trying at Lee to further what Christian education is doing right now?

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Right. I think there's got to be a recommitment to public service. I think one of the things that institutions have struggled with mightily over the past two plus years has been okay, how do we be the hands of Christ when we're being told to stay away from people essentially. And I think that is a golden opportunity right now for a place like Worthington Christian, but I think for institutions across the country. So as Christian institutions living out those just causes, I think that's again, a wonderful opportunity for us to reengage our express mission in our communities. I also think it's a wonderful time for us to clarify our biblical values.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Clearly, a lot of different ideas are creeping in, and specifically, let me mention something that I've actually been talking with a couple of board members about the last two days while I've jumped the sharks so to say. And that is our young people are hearing a great deal about social justice and we clearly want them to be people who enact justice going back to even the just cause language. So for me, what we've been doing over the past couple of years at Lee, and one of the things we intend to do here at Worthington Christian is to help students understand what biblical justice is and how that might stand over and against social justice particularly in the ways that perhaps things are enacted to promote justice in our community. So I think that's a wonderful opportunity and that does tie back into this just cause opportunity. I also think mental health, specifically with athletes, it's one of the strategic priorities that we've already identified here at the school. So athletes on all layers are struggling with performance struggles struggling with all the layers that mental health has been affected over the past two years specifically.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
It's really interesting moving here to Columbus. You actually have a very strong movement with the Ohio State University football team, Coach Ryan Day, and some of the things that he's doing with his athletes, in fact, many of our listeners might be aware of the story of Harry Miller. One of the offensive linemen for Ohio State, who was struggling a great deal with suicide, but because of some of the networks that Ryan Day and others there at Ohio State have developed Harry Miller basically credits the coach and that system with saving his life. So we're here at one of the epicenters of helping athletes deal with mental health. And again, we've already got some wheels in motion in terms of helping our kids here deal with that as well.

Christa Neidig:
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Brian Jensen:
And it's such an opportunity. I want to hang out there for a second because I think it is such, you mentioned it as kind of one of the three legs of the stool right now that schools are dealing with. And I hear that all the time. So what can schools be thinking of? Because it's such an important thing to pay attention to, and it's not new. We know that and for those of us that worked in student development for years, it seemed like that was all I was doing some days. So what can schools do if they don't live in the shadow of an Ohio State, right? Or I should say The Ohio State and they might feel strapped for some of those resources. Are there a couple of things that you want to suggest to people?

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Yeah. I think making sure that all staff is equipped with basic mental health first aid. So if people are in need of a specific referral, one of the things that I've seen effective over the years is this system called QPR question persuade refer, and people can be trained on that pretty quickly, but that way people know what to look for. They also know specifically what to do. And one of the specific things to do is to make sure you don't get in over your head and you make informed referrals. So I think training all staff in that area is critical, but it's also one thing to talk about making meaningful referrals.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
It's another thing to have a robust list of referral opportunities. So it makes no sense to talk about QPR without a good referral option. So I think schools need to be doing that. And I'm always a fan of early intervention. Again, this goes back to those student development days. Definitely don't wait for the need to build a hospital down at the base of the mountain, build a fence at the top to try to prevent as much as you can.

Brian Jensen:
Yeah, that's good. We did QPR training as well with our staff at the college, and I would suggest that it's not cumbersome. And I think it made a difference with our staff and how they felt. At least felt more equipped to respond should they find themselves in that particular situation. So I want to ask you, what do you think Christian education leaders need to keep in mind right now? If you had a group of aspiring heads of schools or young Christian education leaders in a room and you wanted them to keep in mind one or two key things as they're getting ready, everybody's ramping back up, at least while we're talking, I don't know when this will go out, but right now people are ramping up to go back to a new school year. What do you think they need to keep in mind?

Dr. Mike Hayes:
The thing that consistently comes back to my mind at this time is the bubble. So specifically the bubble of Christian education, I think all of us who have worked in Christian education, whatever level, perhaps our institutions have been referred to as the bubble. So at Lee University, it was the Lee bubble. Having been on the job up here for a few days, but going through the whole process over the past year you hear about the WC or the Worthington Christian bubble. And again, I've heard so many places it's just a blank university bubble. You just kind of fill in a blank.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
So for me, I think it's really interesting because you do have a significant number of families wanting to get their children into a safe place. So how can we actually create a sense of safety to where people feel like their faith won't be ridiculed all the time and perhaps even kids being bullied because of their faith. So I think we've got to make sure that we create safe environments, but we can't stay secluded in these environments. So again, I think as we start to navigate this point, particularly the COVID pandemic, I think it's important for us to talk about how can we make sure that we appropriately work outside of that bubble in safe ways, but again, making sure that we're not just engaged in education within a fortress mindset. So how do we keep people safe, but how do we also encourage them to risk and move out?

Dr. Mike Hayes:
I think another thing that's absolutely critical is fiscal responsibility. A lot of schools struggle with paying their faculty and staff enough. So what do you do? Is it a significant development opportunity? Do you raise tuition to where you actually kind of price yourself out of your traditional market, but how do you pay and take care of your people well enough to where they don't resign and go work at a restaurant to where they can make 15, 20 bucks an hour and have less stress so to say? So I think that is significant. The human resource is by far the most important resource. And I think that every school around the country is struggling with that. So I think if anybody's thinking about switching from Christian higher ed to K12 that's an even more pressing reality in some ways.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
I think a third way that people have to kind of get their heads around Christian education is really getting at the truth and not engaging in apologizing for the truth, but oddly enough, engaging in effective apologetics. So how can we say, this is what we believe, but this is how we can artfully defend our faith in a way that is like Paul in the Areopagus in this big arena of ideas. So how can we help our kids to be brave, to be founded in very strong, deep theological convictions, particularly in a day and age where they might again be ridiculed or even bullied, whether it's in person or on social media. I think again in Christian education on all levels we have an unprecedented opportunity.

Brian Jensen:
Yeah. Yeah. There's certainly a lot of opportunity and it's not work for the faint of heart. I know that. So here's maybe one more question and you're in real-time, first week on the job. You're a new head of school and there are a lot of new heads. I know some of them. So there are people like you who have just assumed a new head of school role and the clock's ticking. August is coming.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Right.

Brian Jensen:
What encouragement would you share to somebody who just went through a transition and is ready to start ahead of school role at a new school or maybe they're going to be ahead for the first time, what's your encouragement to them right now?

Dr. Mike Hayes:
My first point would be to encourage humility because for those of us who might be making a shift from college to K12 we've got to embrace these opportunities with the utmost humility and say, you know what? There are some things that we do need to learn. So approaching it with a posture of learning, but clearly a posture of leadership. So for me, it's about coming in with, with a sense of, hey, I want to serve you and I want to serve with you. So I think humility is absolutely critical. I also go back to the language of inspiring a shared vision. I think starting this role I want to hear about this community's dreams and I want to work together to achieve those dreams. So again, it's about inspiring a shared vision, not my vision, but listening to their dreams and articulating a vision that I can embody and I can champion, and I can go to work developing some resources to make those things a reality.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
I also think too, it's absolutely critical, particularly for anyone coming into an organization where the organization may have a different way of viewing reality, organizationally, I'm a fan of the work of Bolman and Deal with reframing organizations. I think everybody ought to be aware of their go-to frame or frames and making sure that we are looking through all the other lenses. In fact, we've often talked about using quad focals to make sure that we're looking through all four lenses when we need to. So making sure we're doing the work structurally, engaging the human resource lens, making sure that we're engaging politically and symbolically. And again, I think what I've found and what I've taught over the years is most of us have a go-to lens that we're primarily comfortable with. And I think that we've got to make sure that we are looking through more than one or two and we're effectively leading broadly from all different aspects.

Brian Jensen:
That's good. Yeah. And I would just add as well be encouraged. We've talked about so many things just in this short span of time. There are a thousand things on your to-do list and probably keeping you up at night but be encouraged. It's good work but it's really hard work and it's necessary work right now. And a lot of excitement comes with the beginning of a new school year but there can be fear and trepidation as well, but be encouraged in your work. Mike, I'm just honored that you spent time with me today. Thank you so much.

Dr. Mike Hayes:
Well, Brian, thank you so much. And thanks for this opportunity and I'm going to commit to praying for all my peers, all my new colleagues, and I would cherish it if they would do the same.

Brian Jensen:
Amen. Well, thank you, sir, and blessings on your day and this coming year.

Christa Neidig:
Thanks for listening to the Vanderbloemen Leadership Podcast. At Vanderbloemen, we help Christian organizations build their best teams through hiring, succession, compensation, and diversity consulting services. Visit our website vanderboelman.com to learn more and subscribe to our Vanderbloemen Leadership Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts to keep up with our newest episodes. Thanks for listening.