Tag: procedures

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The Importance of Leadership

The Importance of Leadership

Leadership – it’s a natural skill for some, can be learned by most and is so important for the effectiveness of any team.

I recently returned from the USA and attended the Leadership Connections – National Leadership Conference. This event, run by the McCormick Centre for Early Childhood Leadership, specialises in bringing together leaders in early childhood education to inspire one another and build skills in a variety of sessions. The conference inspired everyone to consider how important leadership is when it comes to the success of any team.

Positive, strong and inspiring leaders and management are crucial to overcome the challenges facing many directors and principals every day. The conference highlighted the importance of providing opportunities for leaders to learn, grow and network.

Let’s explore the three main ways that good leadership can benefit your team – we’re considering the information from an early childhood education perspective, but realistically this applies to any team.

Empower Your Team

Effective leaders will empower the team to have their say, work together and identify ways to make everything more efficient and effective.

Maintain Stability

Systems and procedures can make life a lot easier, and leaders can ensure they are put in place and help teams to utilise them to everyone’s advantage. Tension in teams can be avoided with a central leader to guide everyone. Stress can’t be entirely avoided, but is only exacerbated when we are lacking direction – stability keeps a team feeling confident and better equipped to achieve goals.

Stay Focussed on Goals

Leaders are essential for setting and tracking goals. Without leaders to monitor progress and work with feedback from the team, goals can be forgotten and sometimes never achieved. With a leader who is working with the team to set and then plot out the path to achieve goals, amazing things can be achieved.

These are just a few of the points carried from my time at the Leadership Connections. To the entire team at McCormick Centre for Early Childhood Leadership, thank you for the warm reception and congratulations to you all on an outstanding conference. The venue and expo were exceptional, and I absolutely loved the structure of the conference. Such a unique opportunity to connect, support one another and share knowledge – and these are things we can all benefit from doing more of.

Take a look at photos from the Leadership Connections Chicago event here on Facebook.

If you’re a director or owner and you’re ready to empower your team and your centre, learn about our breakthrough formula here.

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Make life easier with systems and procedures

Make life easier with systems and procedures

While we all enjoy a little spontaneity and flexibility in our days, one thing is for certain – you can make life easier with systems and procedures.

This definitely applies to the way childcare centres are run – having systems in place reduces stress for educators, management, families: everyone! They are also vital for a successful operation of a centre, and can save money, time and headaches.

Systems and Procedures in Centres

Just about every element of the average day in a childcare/early learning centre needs to run to a schedule with a system in place to govern it. With so many children to guide and nurture, effective systems are a must for a centre that runs smoothly and successfully. Systems and procedures are also important for your NQS Rating – in fact, Standard 1.1 and Standard 7.3 specifically outlines the need for systems and processes in various areas of centres’ operation.

Here are some suggestions for systems and procedures to make sure your centre is set up to meet its full potential:

For Staff

  • Checklists – these are a fantastic way of tracking necessary tasks and systems on a daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly basis. So simple, so effective
  • Ensure educators have set days/times for planning and documenting children’s progress and a system of how to do this eg a book, template etc
  • Document all systems and procedures – a folder with standard operating procedures and guides for everything should be informative and accessible
  • Display procedures where possible: for example, have a script taped near the phone for answering calls and what to do with new enquiries etc

For Children

  • Transitional songs are an excellent element to add to your daily routines – whether it’s for packing away toys or washing hands.
  • Depict systems for arrival with clear images, steps and flowcharts around the centre. Eg reminder to put bag in its spot upon arrival, packing up bedding etc

For Parents and Families

  • Create a system for arrival and pick-up to ensure children’s safety and minimal disruptions to the other children
  • Provide families with a calendar of events well in advance to allow for adequate planning time (for centres and families)

Systems and Procedures in Life

Identifying patterns and turning them into systems can make your life less effortful and more enjoyable in a broader sense too…

With any systems and procedures, there should be an element of flexibility – it’s important to assess regularly and be open to change if something could be done better in some way. The goal should be to empower through effective systems and make life easier with more time for the fun things!

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