Leading Your Early Childhood Business Like The CEO You Are Meant to Be Into a Fabulous Fall
Welcome to the final week in our 6 Weeks in 6 Days Back to School Challenge. Here on the Early Childhood Business Made Easy podcast we have spent the last 6 weeks of summer together reviewing many of the key strategies and systems that will help you be successful. Our goal with this Back to School Challenge to get you prepped, prepared and ready for a fabulous fall.
Last week we covered 3 Key Steps to Nurture An Amazing Team That Will Not Want to Leave and we talked about 3 things needed to nurture your team:
Create a positive and supportive culture.
Invest in your team.
Communicate openly and frequently.
It’s hard to believe that we are now 1 week away from back to school. Some of you may have already started back. This is WEEK 1 of the Back to School Challenge. In the challenge, you will find those last-minute operations reminders. And today we are talking about strategies for shifting our mindset from managing our business to leading it like the CEO you are meant to be.
Now, be sure to download and follow along each week with the resource-packed workbook we created for you to use. It is loaded with weekly checklists for marketing and operations, fill-in worksheets, and to-do lists to keep you taking action as you move forward. All to get you in the CEO mindset of preparing your early childhood business today to be ready to fill with enrollments this fall. You can find it and all of the related challenge info at kelleypeake.com.
It is so true that some of the busiest days of the year for our teams are the weeks leading up to the new school year, as well as the first few weeks of school. Even with lots of planning, it still always seems as though you are running in multiple directions at once and constantly putting out fires.
If you have followed all of the Peake Creative back-to-school checklists in our Back to School Challenge, chances are, you are ready, but are you ready to truly go from good to great? What should you do to take your “We are ready” to “We are the parent’s first choice for a quality early childhood experience.”
Well…what makes your Early Childhood business stand apart from all of the others? A leader that knows how to help her team shine. One who leads her business and not merely manages it.
Developing a relationship with your team and families involves credibility and trust. Both are essential when building relationships that will help grow your business.
Rita Pierson, an early childhood education guru, gave an inspiring TED talk about what it means to build a legacy of relationships and powerful connections. While discussing the importance of the early childhood experiences, she said,
“Every child deserves a champion – an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.”
This is such a powerful statement. If you have time, the entire TED Talk is about 8 minutes. So powerful and worth watching.
I truly believe that this concept of the power of connection and building relationships applies to team management too. Champion team members deserve champion managers!
Not only do managers in early childhood support and nurture the children they serve, they also support and empower their team. A true leader knows how to help her team shine.
How do they do it? What’s the secret? There are 6 key habits that highly effective owners/managers of Early Childhood businesses have in common.
They put the needs of their team equal to the needs of the children and families.
Ensuring your team feels safe, listened to and valued, with opportunities to grow and develop professionally is the recipe for a successful, happy environment.
They give sincere praise regularly.
Giving praise not only makes others feel valued, it almost guarantees good working habits and behavior. Instead of just saying ‘nice job!’, shining star managers give specific, detailed praise to make their message relevant and meaningful.
They treat their team members as equals. Effective managers command respect by giving it.
They don’t allow their position of authority to make them feel that they are above others, and they don’t hesitate to jump in and get their hands dirty when needed.
Successful Early Childhood business owners/managers take time out for themselves to recharge.
If you want to maintain a high-energy, long-term, effective management style, you need to take time out to balance and renew your spirit.
Great managers communicate openly and often.
Communication is a fundamental element of business management with a team of any size. Successful Early Childhood business managers demonstrate leadership qualities that support collaborative decision-making and open communication encompassing team members, children, and their families.
They look for ways to build on other people’s strengths.
Shining star owners/managers know that by combining the strengths of their team, they can achieve goals that no one could have done alone. It’s important to know what the individual strengths of your team members are, and look for ways to nurture and encourage them.
Now that the last week of summer is upon us and we are headed for a busy back-to-school week, how can we implement some strategies to start developing these 6 habits?
The easiest thing to do during this busy back-to-school week is to lead your team. Come together as a team, plan ahead, and lift each other up!
First, Plan a Leadership Team Gathering:
Within every Early Childhood business, you have your point people. Gather them together and plan on what the week will look and feel like. Remind them of your vision, mission, and values for your school. Help them take ownership in every aspect so that they are able to share it with the rest of the team. It would be amazing to have these Leadership Team gatherings on a regular basis throughout the school year.
For more check out our amazing resource, the Early Childhood Business CEO Vision Planner which will help guide you through all of this if you haven't identified your mission, core values, brand promise, hidden assets, and more.
Then, Host a Team Gathering:
Focus on team building and creating a culture standard. Start off your school year by setting the example of the culture you want to see and feel. Building a culture and creating an environment of belonging will help your school thrive.
Again, be sure to check out WEEK 2 of the Back to School Challenge where we go over hosting a team meeting in more detail.
Third, Spend Time Together on Building + Classroom Prep:
Having a clean building is KEY to taking an ordinary school or center and creating an amazing one. Make it a fun task and assign team members to different parts of the building to make it shine! Once complete, allow your team a good amount of time to get their classrooms shining as well.
And Finally, Your Curriculum Chats:
Allow your team to meet with the other classes (within the same age group) to plan + review the curriculum. It is a great chance for the teams to talk about the curriculum for the year ahead and address any changes that were made in the prior year.
I discuss all of this in more depth in the episode above, so make sure to give it a listen!
Key Notes and Quotes
A leader that knows how to help her team shine. One who leads her business and not merely manages it.
Champion team members deserve champion managers!
A true leader knows how to help her team shine.
Shining star owners/managers not only understand the power of connection, they practice it regularly.
Effective managers command respect by giving it.
The best thing for growing your business is a happy, motivated team
It’s important to know what the individual strengths of your team members are, and look for ways to nurture and encourage them.
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