10 Tips To Rebuild Your Child Care Team

Hey, guys. Erica Sacosio here with the child care director's chair, and I'd love to talk to you about 10 tips to rebuilding your child care team. I know many of you are facing the challenges of rebuilding your child care team, but don't worry, you're not alone. Rebuilding a team can be a daunting task, but with the right approach and mindset, you can create a strong, cohesive group that will provide exceptional care for the children and also help you with your business goals as well. Here are 10 tips that I can think of to help you rebuild your child care team and inspire them to excel. Now, I'm sure There's more than 10 tips, so you may have some of your own, but I thought maybe I would just help give folks a place to start. Number one is you have to foster a positive and supportive environment. Creating a positive and supportive environment is essential for rebuilding a child care team. You have to encourage open communication. You have to actively listen, and of course, mutual respect among team members. That means no chatting at the water cooler. Even if somebody needs a little more redirection, they should never hear negativity from the leadership. I need you to celebrate achievements big and small and provide constructive feedback to help people grow.

How often are you doing one on ones with your staff? You really need to make sure that you're setting that time aside to do that, because if you don't, people will quickly and quietly disengage. And, you know, supportive environments look like more than, you know, pizza parties on a Friday. They really need to be meaningful. And so usually conversations.

Either verbally also, you know, positive notes on paychecks, positive things in the staff newsletter that you should be doing monthly. Every kind of way that you think you can communicate to me that fosters some type of support, whether it's coaching, whether it's collaborating together and having people work on teams, whatever you can do to provide that supportive environment is extremely important. The other thing is, if you're allowing people to be toxic in that environment and you don't address it, that's gonna go like a wildfire. So you really have to make sure that you nip that in the bud immediately, because if you don't, it says that you approve of that behavior.

Number two is leading by example. As the leader, your actions speak louder than words. So I want you to show your team what it means to be dedicated, more compassionate, and certainly professional. So you have to lead by example and demonstrate the values and behaviors that you from your team members. Do your team members even know Your values. How often do you talk about your core values and your mission and then how your actions implement those within your program? So for me, we have four core values. It's family. So that means everybody that comes to my program, I treat like family. I know a lot of companies say that it's kind of almost a tagline for everyone, but I really, truly mean it. Also, community. Giving back to my community is something that's very important to me. I grew up in the community where my program is. I live in the community where my program is. And I know I'm not the only one. For many of you, that that is true professionalism. Professionalism is just something I really, truly believe in for myself, certainly and foremost. And then for the team that works along the side of me, I believe it's super important for us all to be professional as much as we can. And then passion for teaching. If you have people who are not passionate about teaching, that certainly can kill your environment. You need all of your team to be a players. And I know that's really hard. And so with, you know, the staffing shortage right now, you have to find people who are excited to work with children and are excited to learn as well. So I think the best teachers are ones that continually.

Learn and, you know, really hone their craft. And you may have to find some folks who have never worked in child care before, but are really passionate and are fun and have skills that they can bring to the table and then you help them in the areas that they need additional training.

Number three is encouraging professional development. You have to invest in your team's professional growth and provide opportunities for training and development.

Encourage them to attend workshops or have workshops on site at your program.

Conferences are another great way to have your team learn some skills. And webinars, and I would say when you're looking at these, they don't all have to be child care related. Think about what other skills do great leaders on your team need. Do they need to know how to communicate better? Do they need to know how to understand budgets? Do they need to know how to provide great customer service? Do they need to know you know.

The best? You know best practices not only in the field of childcare and early education, but do they need to know best practice in business in general? So there's so many different things that you can have your team participate in that might get them recharged and excited. Who knows who you might find? You might find a teacher is really excellent at bookkeeping and maybe they help you after hours with Your, you know, quickbooks or filing or organizational skills. I know at my center, I am probably not the most organized. Well, I'm definitely not the most organized, but I have some folks who are really super organized in whether it's the classroom, whether it's, you know, filing, whether it's just putting things together. I'm more of a big picture kind of person. And big picture people need people who really pay attention to details, reel them in sometimes. So look at those skills that your team has and encourage professional development on the areas that we need continued growth as a group. The other thing is, as a leader, you should be attending these professional development opportunities with your team. It shouldn't be like, yeah, you guys go to this and let me know how it goes. You should be part of that. Which segue segues into, sorry about that. Segue into promoting collaboration and teamwork. Building a strong team requires collaboration and teamwork. So encourage your team members to work together and share ideas and support each other. It also helps foster a sense of camaraderie and unity, and it will help improve communication, problem solving skill, and overall productivity. So some examples of working together could be maybe you do something fun like have a bulletin board contest where you have all of your toddler teachers come together to create the best bulletin board, or all your pre K team come together to put, you know, the best bulletin board or a contest or some type of promotion where all the teachers share their ideas and then the team as a group picks the top three and then you implement those ideas. And you could do that on an ongoing basis as a way to get new ideas that are not just coming from your desk, but coming from everybody. Also problem solving. So I know sometimes, I don't know, I'll just throw this up there, like biting maybe sometimes toddlers bite. And that's a problem at, you know, many centers across the country. So maybe it's you have a task team that finds all the best resources for teachers, for parents, for the community, around how to resolve or how to diminish biting in a classroom. And then maybe you put together a workshop and your team presents it to families. So there's so many different ways to promote collaboration within your center. My fifth tip would be recognizing and appreciating efforts. Everyone likes to be recognized and appreciated for their hard work. Everybody likes it, maybe differently. So sometimes people like it in private, sometimes people like it public. So really understand how your staff like to be acknowledged. An acknowledgement of the efforts of the team members regularly has to be on a continual basis so whether it's a simple thank you note, a shout out during a team meeting, or an employee of the month program, recognizing their contributions will boost morale and motivate them to continue to give your best and their best.

Number six is fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Encouraging your team to embrace a growth mindset and strive for continuous improvement. This provides opportunities for them to share ideas and suggest improvements and participate in the decision making. By fostering a culture of continuous learning, you'll create a team that is adaptable and always seeking ways to enhance their performance. I know for us, we use the Rhode Island Early Learning Standards as one way to continually improve our program. Many states have their qrs. I find that those tools are essential and really the process of it, it's not even necessarily the star rating that's kind of the byproduct, but the working together, whether it's quality rating systems, whether it's accreditation, it's everybody working towards the same goal and having a piece of that. And the more of the piece of the pie that your staff have, the more ownership they will take, the more accountability they will take. And again, it just helps create an environment where people can grow because it isn't just about growing your children, it is also growing your team and parents even get a little piece of the quality rating systems or accreditation as you create boards and allow families to come in and be part of the program, participate, give valuable feedback. Many times they offer resources, whether it's their time, energy, money, skills. Really again, the more that you invite the community in and invite people to take on parts of your.

Center, the more engaged they're going to be. So it really just does propel your business to the next level. The next thing is prioritize a work life balance. I think now more than ever after Covid and and how quickly people saw that lives could change instantly, that we definitely prioritize a work life balance. So recognize that your team members do have life outside of work. Encourage a healthy work life balance by promoting flexible schedules, offering support for personal commitments and providing resources for self care. Because I believe that when your team feels supported and balanced, they'll be able to engage more and stay motivated in their roles. Now with that being said, I do know that I have spoken to many directors and feel that sometimes they have been taken advantage of when it comes to the work life balance. So you know, the work part is also in that sentence. So you know you want to make sure that everyone gets equal time off because your A players typically will be the last ones to ask for time off or they'll reschedule appointments that they've had for months on their calendar. You really want to make sure that you make every effort to make sure that your A players also get time with their families, also get time to do things that are important for them. And in terms of self care, you can even do some things at your program like maybe have a smoothie day or have a time where your staff goes to a spa or creating a walking club or a fitness challenge or instead of pizza in the lunchroom, maybe you guys do, you know, salad and wraps. So think about whatever kind of ways that you can really promote that work life balance and help your team stay, you know, at top prime condition. You know, we all need a brain break. We all need to take care of our mind, our body of spirit, and a great employer recognizes that and will do that. Tip number eight is build trust and empowerment. Trust is the foundation for any successful team. Building trust must be transparent, honest and reliable. Also delegating responsibilities and empowering your team members to make decisions and take ownership of their work. Because I feel like if you they feel trusted and empowered, they will go above and beyond to meet your expectations. So for example, could be something as simple as cross training, you know, 12 people in your program to do a tour. The director is not the only one who knows how to do a tour or certainly shouldn't be the only one who knows how to do a tour. I think all of your team should know how to answer a phone, how to give a tour to a family, how to what they should do during hor in their classroom, if you're bringing somebody in their room. So there's just different things that you can do to really allow them to take on some of the roles and responsibilities in the program. And that builds trust that you believe in their skill and it builds empowerment that you're going to let them take charge of some things that maybe aren't normally in their job description. And then again, you know, trust is the foundation of a successful team. And when trust starts to break down, you have to work really hard to rebuild it as you would in any relationship. Tip number nine is foster a sense of purpose. Help your team members connect with purpose and the impact of their work. Remind them of the positive influence that they have on the children's lives and the families that they serve. And when they understand that significance of their role, they'll be motivated and committed to providing exceptional care. And I think that that is something that drives so many of us and Is that why for us, especially those who came into the teaching field with the purpose of being a teacher and really wanted to make a difference for children.

And lastly, celebrate successes together. Finally, celebrate success as a team. Whether it's we reach a milestone.

We have positive feedback not just from parents, but maybe from each other or somebody outside the community or achieving that goal. The collective goals that you guys have put together as part of your strategic plans, as part of part of your monthly staff meetings. And it could be simple. It could be this month. We want everyone who hasn't had their CPR renewal done by the end of the month. And by the end of the month, everyone on your team is currently certified with a CPR and first aid. It could be something simple. It doesn't have to be a big pie in the sky. And this will foster a sense of pride and unity, strengthening the bond among your team members. So those are 10 tips that will really help you rebuild your team. We'll just recap. One. Foster a positive and supportive environment. Number two, Lead by example. Number three, encourage professional development. Number four, promote collaboration and team teamwork. Number five, appreciate and recognize the efforts of your team. Number six, foster a culture of continuous improvement. Number seven, prioritize work life balance. Number eight, build trust and empowerment. Number nine, foster a sense of purpose. And number ten, celebrate your successes together. So I hope that that this information has been helpful for you. I hope that you were inspired to re energize your team. Make sure you get rid of the D fires because they are killing your vibe and hope you tune in tomorrow. We'll see you then for our next tip. Have a great day. This has been the child care directors champ.