Empowering Mission-Driven Compensation Strategies

At NBOA Advisory Services, we understand that compensation is more than just numbers – it’s a reflection of your school’s values, culture, and strategic priorities. That’s why we’re proud to offer Compensation Consulting, a new service designed specifically for PK-12 independent schools.

Our Offerings

Compensation System Assessment
Compensation System Overhaul

Compensation System Assessment

COMPENSATION SYSTEM ASSESSMENT

Mixed-Methods Analysis of Perceptions & Priorities

7-9 Month Engagement

This offering begins with an in-depth internal review of your current compensation practices. This helps you better understand your current compensation system and prior decision-making practices as a basis for potential system renovation moving forward. This offering also includes the development of multiple benchmarking groups within a dynamic tool that allows you to evaluate the fiscal impact (at the individual employee and collective levels) of attaining various compensation targets relative to peer institutions. This analysis provides invaluable information to guide mission-aligned decision making and to support fiscally sustainable compensation system renovation.

Next, we engage in the systematic collection and analysis of multiple forms of data to support your leadership team and Board with the identification of strategic near-term and longer-range options for refining your compensation and benefits systems. Working closely with a core team (HOS, CFO & HR Director) and a Task Force (that is intentionally composed) we will first support you in the development of a Philosophy of Compensation & Benefits statement. Building on this foundation, we will develop, administer, assess, and synthesize results from a customized survey and a set of in-person focus group conversations to illuminate faculty, staff, and administrator perceptions of, and priorities for, your compensation and benefits systems.

Next, we model out the costs associated with implementing an array of identified priorities to support your strategic decision making and budget allocation. In tandem with the internal equity and benchmarking analysis, this work provides your leadership team with a comprehensive picture of your current compensation practices, a detailed portrait of employee perceptions and priorities about your systems, and detailed awareness of the financial implications of addressing priorities within the compensation and benefits systems, at both the individual employee and aggregate levels. These data informed insights provide your leadership team and Board with the information necessary to make strategic decisions to support human capital development and compensation and benefits decisions that are fiscally sound and mission-aligned.

Compensation System Overhaul

COMPENSATION SYSTEM OVERHAUL

Develop a customized, mission-aligned compensation system

10-20 Month Engagement

This offering provides schools with the opportunity to develop a customized, mission-aligned compensation system that meets the needs of your evolving workforce and ensures your school remains on a trajectory of long-term fiscal viability. The duration of this partnership depends on how much of the work referenced in the first offering has already been completed by your school, and the extent to which you desire a system that is tailored to various employee roles within your school.

Decades of research and experience working in schools affirm that there is no single best compensation model or system, but instead, our team can help you identify and develop a compensation system that is intentionally aligned with your strategic priorities, workforce needs, market realities and mission. Should a performance-based or banded compensation model be desired, we have the capacity to work with you to develop performance measures for any role within your school and can support you in the refinement of processes to implement your system with fidelity.

In doing so, we’ll engage in a collaborative process involving your leadership team, faculty, and staff – as this work must be done in ways that builds trust and exemplifies the core values at the heart of your school’s culture and community. Now more than ever, independent schools must operate efficiently, responsively, and in ways that are mission-aligned and fiscally responsible. Let us help you develop a compensation system that aligns your greatest asset and your largest budget line-item (your human capital) with your strategic priorities.

Meet Our Compensation Expert

This service is powered by a partnership with Dr. Patrick Schuermann, a nationally recognized expert in independent school compensation strategy.

Patrick is a leader who helped shape NBOA’s Mission-Anchored Compensation Strategies research and brings decades of experience to your school’s unique context.

Patrick Schuermann, Ed.D.

Read Patrick's Bio + about Patrick Schuermann, Ed.D.

How We Work

NBOA Advisory Services is an experienced team of independent school partners who bring deep expertise and a collaborative spirit to every engagement.

We work alongside school leadership teams to address complex challenges both strategically and comprehensively. In a world where the pace of school life and the volume of daily decisions often lead to fragmentation, we offer something different: an opportunity to work with a team focused on helping you achieve system-wide alignment and integration through transformative collaboration. We work closely as a team – and with you – to ensure that your systems and processes are not only refined, but also intentionally aligned with your strategic priorities and mission.

Our work with you honors these core values:

Keeping People at the Center

We never lose sight of the people – the faculty, staff, and leaders – who bring your mission to life.

We model empathy and resilience, helping your community navigate the discomfort and opportunity that comes with growth and transformation.

A Capacity Building Approach

Refine and adjust as your school evolves.

We seek to build your internal capacity to thrive long after our engagement ends. Our developmental approach models the mindsets and skillsets that empower individuals, teams, and communities to meet future challenges with confidence.

A Commitment to Your Culture

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

That’s why we pay attention to the cultural dimensions that can sustain meaningful change within your community. It's not just about optimizing systems – it’s about honoring and enhancing the culture that makes your school unique.

A More Holistic Perspective

Schools are complex ecosystems. Growth in one area inevitably affects the whole.

Our systems-thinking approach ensures that every solution we co-create supports sustainable progress and organization-wide flourishing.

Mission Anchored Progress

Every analysis, insight, and recommendation we offer is designed to connect your most valuable asset – your people – to your school’s mission.

We help you refine systems and processes so every member of your community can experience the value of living out your mission.

Let's Get Started

Ready to explore how a mission-anchored compensation strategy can strengthen your school?

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