The Key Takeaways from 'See You Later Croc-A-Gator' Apply to Your Business, today.

How 'See You Later Croc-A-Gator' Applies to Your Business.

The book included practical tips and strategies for managing uncertainty and promoting team unity & connectedness. Although these are written through the lens of a parent-child relationship, here’s how they apply to Childcare leadership: 

• Be a Good Listener: Instead of telling center directors and staff how something should be done, try asking how they think it should be done. Take it a step further by implementing a scoring matrix or model with your leadership team to get buy-in on new projects.  
  
  
• Validation of Feelings: Feelings... we all got ‘em. And sometimes, staff just want to know that theirs have been heard. Managers and their direct reports should have a weekly time slot that allows for open and honest communication to address personnel issues before turnover rates increase. 
  
  
• Reassurance and Repetition: Annual company-wide meetings or conferences are not enough to inspire your Directors and Teachers towards organizational goals. Through meaningful conversations and regular check-ins – your management staff can keep employees motivated and aligned.
   
• Out of Sight, But Not Out of Mind: Try establishing a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) that you and all your staff can easily remember and go back to. An example for a childcare enterprise, like yours, with all your locations could be: ‘we want to serve 30,000 students by the year 2030’. Then, you can build goals around enrollment, child safety, acquisitions, and more based on that mantra. 
  
  
• Memory Object: Similar to above, how do you keep your goals top of mind? But this time, with a physical object... Is it an employee handbook, a poster on the center’s office wall with your BHAG, or a staff newsletter that gets sent out every month? Whatever it is: make it stick by being consistent. 
  
  
• Silver Linings: Find the positive in any situation and share it with your teams. Did you bring on a new President? Start centralizing enrollment at the corporate level? Or maybe you adopted a new technology for nurturing leads, communicating with parents, and managing operations... Whatever it is – share the benefits of this change with the staff who it affects the most so they can see the light, too.