People Power

By Ms Louise Strachan, Director of People and Culture

The goal of the Toowoomba Grammar School Strategic Plan’s People Pillar is to “build a

high-performing culture that supports the wellbeing and development of staff, who exemplify the TGS values and share our commitment to the growth of our boys”.

Our strategies to support this goal include:

» attracting and selecting the best workforce; » developing and retaining the best staff; » driving performance through leadership, culture and values; » promoting a culture of wellbeing and safety; and » maintaining operational HR excellence. As a HR professional, my people and culture practices focus on the employee experience. I believe that if an organisation provides its staff with an employee experience that supports them to achieve their personal and professional best, they will be successful in their jobs and promote the School as a great place to work.

Employees are a touch point in an organisation’s interactions with its customers and in our environment, our customers are our boys, their parents and carers and the wider community. Our employees have the ability to be great brand advocates and a strategic approach to employee experience is key. A strategic approach to the employee experience breaks down barriers between the School, its employees, and its customers. Positive employee experiences lead to employee engagement, consistency with the employer value proposition and employer brand, and business results.

The TGS People vision is to be the school that teachers and operational and support staff desire to be a part of; and that existing staff are fueled by pride, job satisfaction, and personal and professional growth. They understand how they personally contribute to the education of our boys, and they passionately drive an outstanding experience for our students and parents; while future staff recognise TGS as a leader in boys’ education and an irresistible environment in which to work.

Working towards this vision, this year the TGS staff participated in activities to workshop their desired culture and identify core values and behaviours that they consider to be essential to the success of the School and achieving of our vision. The desired values and behaviours will underpin our ability to create a culture that is most likely to enable our success as a team; enable individuals, teams and students to thrive; and enable achievement of our vision and strategic objectives. Together, staff members have identified the values of aspiration, kindness, collaboration, respect, integrity and accountability as those that most closely represent how we will work together to build our culture.

Ms Louise Strachan

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about Staff Excellence at TGS

Mr Michael Hall, Head of House - Boyce Boarding Mr Mike Sharpe, Deputy Head of Junior School Miss Connie Coverdale, Assistant Head of Department - Mathematics

Mrs Kellie Dixon, Head of Junior School Music Mr Jamie Lee, Junior School Teacher Mrs Linda Adamson, Laboratory Technician