LEADING YOUR FIRST HOUSE TEAM

For many incoming Housemasters the role may if they haven’t first been a Head of Department or worked in industry before teaching - be their first experience of leading a team in the workplace. Yet in the excitement and preparation for the House move, getting to know your new boarders, and implementing your new ideas for the House it’s a huge part of the role that can easily be overlooked.

by Rebecca Jarrett Senior Girls Housemistress Marlborough College Malaysia

Of course, House structures vary widely but a typical model could have a core team of the Housemaster assisted by a Deputy Housemaster and perhaps a resident tutor, alongside a Matron or Dame. The House might be visited through the week by a series of tutors carrying out a weekly evening duty who form the rest of the House team and perhaps act in a personal tutor role for individual boarders in the House. It is impossible to overstate how absolutely vital your House staff are and how much your relationships with them will determine the atmosphere and smooth running of the House. Your team could span many decades and cross the spectrum of academic disciplines, sporting and extracurricular interests, personalities and genders. So how to successfully lead this eclectic bunch?

Embrace the diversity. Your boarders will be all the better for the diversity and so will you as a leader.

Learn from that melting pot of backgrounds and personalities. Listen to their opinions and experiences. Ask their viewpoints and remember they will each bring a slightly different insight into a boarder. They may have lived with these boarders for four or

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five years by the time you move in. This is not to say you always must follow their opinion, but they need to know it was genuinely considered and valued. Let them try things their way even if it is not necessarily your own style.

Share your vision with your team. Model how you want things to run and demonstrate this in the consistent way you interact with your charges and deal with crises. The team can only help to enact that vision when they know what it is.

Be open. Of course, there will be sensitivities that can’t be discussed, but in general, I have always found it beneficial to keep the team in the loop as much as practically possible regarding house matters. Ensuring more pairs of eyes can be looking out for each boarder.

Be seen to pull your weight. It is helpful for your relationships with both the staff and boarders if they see that you are happy to get stuck in and there is no suggestion of ivory towers; sometimes there is simply no choice but to grab a bucket and start mopping! Rather than dashing off when the duty tutor comes in, take the time to have a quality handover and to ask after them as a person.

...But know when to give them space to get on with their job! This breathing space demonstrates your trust in them and how much you value their ability.

Meet together regularly without too much on the agenda. If at all possible, my ideal agenda for fortnightly house meetings would read: ‘What’s coming up’ and ‘the girls’ , and armed with the house list, we just talk through them systematically. Many important nuggets come to light in these chats, often adding context for what might otherwise be somewhat abstract interactions with weekly duty tutors.

To build the respect of a team takes time and can’t be forced, so don’t be disheartened if it doesn’t come naturally in the first week. Remind yourself that ultimately, you’re all on the same page, with the boarders’ best interests at the forefront. Over time, the team will come to recognise and respect that in you.