Return on investments

One childcare I collaborated with was having a tough time. One of their new hires was leaving in one week. And it’s hard to find supply teachers, because no one wants to work there.

Why?

There are many obstacles. Here’s a small list of children’s challenging behaviours:

·      Bolting indoors and outdoors

·      Swearing to staff members and each other

·      Not listening to the expectations

·      Hitting

·      Pretending to fight with guns

·      Destroying materials

So of course, the staff feels overwhelmed. They sometimes feel they don’t even know where to begin. Or they try different things with little to no success.

We gathered for a 60-minute strategic planning meeting. Our goal was to figure out what we could do to get our biggest return on investment.

To begin, we started with a powerful question.  

1)    Flash forward 6-8 months from now. We’re sitting together at the end of the school year. In your mind’s eye, what does a successful school year look like?

This exercise works best when we don’t let our rationale brain chime in too much. It’s meant to act as a brain dump. No editing or inner bully welcomed. The purpose of this question is to bring clarity to a messy situation.

Here’s a few of examples of what they noted as success indicators:

·      Feeling like they’re not running a weapons class

·      Less swearing, more respectful language to staff

·      Supply not scared and eager to work

·      Children engaged and having fun

·      Children staying with their group

2) After we mapped out a clear picture of success indicators, we prioritized.

We brainstormed this question: What would be the most important goal to begin with?

When we start with one (1) goal, it allows us to put on our blinders and become intentional. For this exercise, the teaching team chose to prioritize safety. More specifically they wanted the older group to stay together indoors and outdoors. Once we narrowed a goal, we chose a few strategies to embody.

They brainstormed root causes of their dilemma.

After they discussed: What might the next step look like for you? They focused on three foundational pillars:

·      What they can do as a team to support each other (mindset)

·      What they can do to make their environment better (tools)

·      What their approach will be (educator responses)

These questions help us break down a goal in small manageable and realistic steps.  Because we need to feel ready and motivated to start.

Here’s where the hard but fun work begins.

Because we laid down the first track for where we want the train to go. With predictability, consistency, repetition, and time, we’ll be ready for the second track.

And if we notice it’s not helping, we can make tweaks. It’s a practice of assessing, guessing, applying, and measuring.

And of course, believing that it’s possible.

With all my love,

Alex