The Art of Delegation

You can't do it all yourself! You can't. You can try. It won't work! 

I became a Head of Year at the start of a spring term. In the April of that year, I lead a brand new residential trip for four days with ninety odd children and twelve members of staff. Trip Leader? Yep, me. 

The day after that trip, I woke up at 14:30. Not got out of bed at, but woke up at! About 17 hours sleep...

I thought nothing of it. I'd been tired after every residential trip I'd been on and, this time, I had more responsibility. Of course, I needed more sleep.

No. 

It was earlier this year that I realised what had happened. For the fourth time, I lead that same trip. I returned home, cuddled toddler daughter, checked heavily pregnant wife was ok, slept and got up (07:00) - the same time as the rest of my family.

Difference?

In the first trip, I checked every seat belt and counted every child every time we got on a bus, I spoke at every meal time, always ate last, was at the forefront of every activity. I've since learned how and what to delegate to others. 

And, like me, I think this is unfortunately just something that comes with experience...

TeachMeets at home

We love a good TeachMeet. The people, the ideas and the sharing all add up to fast, in depth and engaging CPD.

We have taken the model, stripped it back and are using it for a few staff meetings each term. Firstly, we decide on the topic (most recently formative assessment tools), put out a sign up sheet to avoid repetition of ideas and then set the stage.

The great thing about this method is that every member of staff can contribute. This week, we had ideas from our most seasoned staff and our newest, three-days-on-the-job NQTs. Every participant got something out of it even if it was only a reminder of a tool they had neglected, every member of staff was listened to and clapped and, as it was so fast-paced, we were all able to stay engaged throughout the meeting.

Bring a TeachMeet to your staff meetings and watch the ideas roll in.