[Guest Share] Setting Expectations for and Connecting with Your Child Care Staff

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There’s a subtle but important difference between high standards and high expectations. Contrary to how it may feel, you can maintain high standards while still having developmentally appropriate expectations for the meeting of those standards.

Let me give you an example to show you what I mean. When it comes to cleanliness standards in your center, you likely expect teachers to keep their classrooms relatively organized and sanitary for the health and safety of the children.

But if you walk into a classroom of 2-year-olds and are surprised to see toilet paper on the floor, you better check your expectations! 

Maintaining high standards that align with your center’s values is important, but what’s even more essential is having appropriate expectations about how those standards will be met.

In a situation like this, you have a choice: you can either penalize the teacher for something outside of her control and risk damaging your relationship, or you can accept that making messes is young children’s M.O. and trust that she’ll clean things up when she’s able to.

When you learn to lead from this perspective, you can cultivate a healthier culture within your school, keep your teachers and staff happy, and reach new levels of excellence.

For this week’s podcast, I’m sharing a recording of an interview I was part of, where we talk about how to create culture and community in early childhood education centers.

During the interview, we touch on a variety of topics, including:

• How to set appropriate expectations for staff while maintaining high standards
• Shifting the focus from taking care of others to taking care of yourself
• Identifying what grounds you so that you make better decisions for your center
• What it’s like to work with me and Schools of Excellence

When you learn to maintain high standards that align with your center’s values while also managing your expectations, you nourish a healthy sense of community that keeps your staff happy and pushes your school toward new levels of excellence.

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

Have you considered learning how to cultivate your school’s community within a community of other leaders just like you? As part of our Owner’s Only HQ and Director’s Inner Circle membership programs, you’ll receive exclusive training, tools, and resources among a supportive group of owners and directors who are on similar journeys.

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More about the show:

If you are an Early Childhood director or owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 little kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies – equipping you to build schools with higher staff retention, teacher motivation, parent partnership, collaborative culture, and beautiful quality of life.

Every week, Chanie shares the truth about the journey to excellence, the strategies that are working TODAY, and the mindset about the critical decisions and choices that you make every day which impact yourself, your teachers, parents, family, and children who you serve every day.

In addition to weekly solo episodes, she’ll also be inviting industry leaders and the changing makers of the landscape of education to give listeners the inside knowledge of what it takes to sustain excellence.

Don’t miss an episode, subscribe today for everything you need for your leadership journey!