Latest / ChildCare Conversations / 369: Are You Really Preparing Your Early Childhood Staff or Just Checking Boxes?
Transcript
- 0:00Childcare Conversations: Welcome to Child Care Conversations, the podcast where early childhood leaders like you get real-world strategies, honest talk, and a whole lot of support.
- 0:10Childcare Conversations: Whether you're running one center or many, we're here to help you lead with confidence and clarity.
- 0:17Childcare Conversations: This episode is brought to you by this quarter's sponsor, Playground, the all-in-one child care management software.
- 0:25Childcare Conversations: We're all about managing monkeys and saving you time at your center.
- 0:30Childcare Conversations: With this platform, you can.
- 0:32Childcare Conversations: We're proud to partner with a team that's as committed to your success as we are.
- 0:37Childcare Conversations: Learn more at tryplayground.com.
- 0:41Childcare Conversations: Now, let's get into today's conversation.
- 0:44Childcare Conversations: One we think you're really going to love.
- 0:47Kate Woodward Young: Welcome back to Childcare Conversations.
- 0:50Kate Woodward Young: I'm Kate Woodward Young, and well, today is another soapbox episode.
- 0:54Kate Woodward Young: And hopefully you will be able to take away just a couple of tips.
- 0:59Kate Woodward Young: I'd go grab some paper and pencil because we are going to talk about one of my favorite subjects.
- 1:05Kate Woodward Young: And well, a signed handbook does not prove someone knows what to do when a child is unsafe, a parent is upset, a coworker is frustrated, or a classroom is falling apart at 4:45 on a Friday.
- 1:21Kate Woodward Young: A handbook is not a training plan.
- 1:26Kate Woodward Young: Now, I want you to think of this pattern because it is a common pattern, and I see it all of the time.
- 1:32Kate Woodward Young: Someone is hired, and after they're hired, and they're maybe told a little bit about how to do a background check or fingerprinting or some of those logistics, it still comes back to paperwork.
- 1:43Kate Woodward Young: And then they're told about the policies and maybe some online manuals.
- 1:48Kate Woodward Young: Possibly they will shadow a shift.
- 1:51Kate Woodward Young: And my favorite line of all is let us know if you have any questions.
- 1:56Kate Woodward Young: Now, sometimes, and we've all been here, we don't even know what questions we might ask.
- 2:02Kate Woodward Young: And I've actually heard directors and owners call that orientation.
- 2:07Kate Woodward Young: But you know what?
- 2:09Kate Woodward Young: Just because you've sent them through orientation doesn't mean you've actually prepared them for the job.
- 2:14Kate Woodward Young: I want you to think about this.
- 2:15Kate Woodward Young: I'm going to make three distinctions, okay?
- 2:18Kate Woodward Young: Orientation tells people where things are and what rules exist.
- 2:24Kate Woodward Young: Training teaches them how to do the work.
- 2:27Kate Woodward Young: Onboarding helps them become a part of the program over time.
- 2:35Kate Woodward Young: For example, a policy says active supervision matters.
- 2:41Kate Woodward Young: Now, training shows them what active supervision looks like in a real toddler room.
- 2:50Kate Woodward Young: Onboarding helps a new teacher show no.
- 3:09Kate Woodward Young: Completing the training does not equal competence.
- 3:15Kate Woodward Young: I'm going to repeat that because I really want you to hear that.
- 3:18Kate Woodward Young: Completion is not competence.
- 3:23Kate Woodward Young: Just because they have marked the box doesn't mean they know how to do it.
- 3:31Kate Woodward Young: All right, directors, you're not going to like this because I'm all about standard operating procedures and policies.
- 3:38Kate Woodward Young: Part of the reason this keeps happening is that directors, you're overwhelmed, and I get that.
- 3:43Kate Woodward Young: You're covering classrooms, and I get that.
- 3:46Kate Woodward Young: You inherited systems that you thought worked.
- 3:50Kate Woodward Young: You were never actually taught how to train adults.
- 3:55Kate Woodward Young: You never were taught how they learn.
- 3:59Kate Woodward Young: You have compliance pressure and a little bit of time.
- 4:03Kate Woodward Young: And then we think, well, we told them, and somehow we told them means they know it.
- 4:11Kate Woodward Young: Now, if this was the case, we wouldn't have a need for middle school, for high school, or for any college, right?
- 4:17Kate Woodward Young: Because think about how many things you've been told in your lifetime that by the time you're 21, you don't remember.
- 4:24Kate Woodward Young: Most directors are not failing because they do not care.
- 4:29Kate Woodward Young: You do, you care, you care about the adults that work with you.
- 4:33Kate Woodward Young: You might need you might even know exactly the different learning styles for adults.
- 4:37Kate Woodward Young: You might know your learning style.
- 4:40Kate Woodward Young: However, an adult learning lens is different than understanding a learning style.
- 4:45Kate Woodward Young: Designing intentionally training for the adults is very similar to what you do when you intentionally design coursework learning opportunities for toddlers.
- 5:01Kate Woodward Young: Because that looks very different than intentionally designing the same topic or lesson for a three, four, or eight-year-old.
- 5:11Kate Woodward Young: When I first became a CPR instructor at the age of 16 and a trainer of trainers at 17, nobody handed me a manual and said, good luck teaching this.
- 5:21Kate Woodward Young: I had to know the material.
- 5:26Kate Woodward Young: I had to watch somebody teach the material.
- 5:30Kate Woodward Young: I had to do the teaching in front of somebody else twice with check marks, with observation, with feedback, before I ever taught a course on my own.
- 5:44Kate Woodward Young: The expectation was model the skill.
- 5:48Kate Woodward Young: Explain why it mattered.
- 5:50Kate Woodward Young: Do you realize how many things that happen every single day that might be classified into unconscious competence?
- 6:00Kate Woodward Young: In other words, we don't actually explain why it matters.
- 6:05Kate Woodward Young: Why does it matter to the teacher that all of the kids wash their hands before they eat?
- 6:13Kate Woodward Young: When's the last time you actually explained the why, instead of assume that they understand?
- 6:18Kate Woodward Young: So you're going to model the skill, you're going to explain why it matters, you're going to let people practice, you're going to correct the mistakes, have them practice again.
- 6:29Kate Woodward Young: Observe the readiness, right?
- 6:32Kate Woodward Young: Are they coachable?
- 6:34Kate Woodward Young: And then you're going to repeat and you're going to reinforce.
- 6:37Kate Woodward Young: This is not a one-time training.
- 6:40Kate Woodward Young: If somebody has to know what to do under pressure, you do not train them once and hope they remember.
- 6:46Kate Woodward Young: You build practice into the process.
- 6:49Kate Woodward Young: There is a reason.
- 6:50Kate Woodward Young: Let's think about the annual training.
- 6:53Kate Woodward Young: There are some topics that every single year we have to know.
- 6:56Kate Woodward Young: Why do you think that is?
- 6:58Kate Woodward Young: Why is there some training that you have to be taught every single year?
- 7:02Kate Woodward Young: It's because if you don't build that practice into the process, then, and if you never use it, you lose it, right?
- 7:08Kate Woodward Young: We've heard that phrase before.
- 7:10Kate Woodward Young: So as you are starting to think through the conversations that I've just said, I want you to pull out your piece of paper and your pencil.
- 7:18Kate Woodward Young: Because what your actual staff need is an onboarding sequence before day one, before they show up for their first day of work.
- 7:30Kate Woodward Young: Make sure that they are very clear on their role.
- 7:33Kate Woodward Young: Make sure they're very clear on their schedule, the expectations, what to wear, what to bring, and who they're going to meet.
- 7:42Kate Woodward Young: During that first week, talk about safety, talk about routines, explain the why behind the safety and the routines.
- 7:51Kate Woodward Young: Understand the communication, the internal communication amongst staff, the communication between that adult and the children, the communication between that teacher, that adult, and the parents.
- 8:05Kate Woodward Young: They should not know how to do any of this independently.
- 8:08Kate Woodward Young: This is their first week.
- 8:10Kate Woodward Young: At the end of the first week, there's probably very little that they are truly competent to do.
- 8:16Kate Woodward Young: Doesn't mean you haven't trained them, but are they competent?
- 8:19Kate Woodward Young: Over the course of that first 30 days, support the practice of those conversations between two staff.
- 8:27Kate Woodward Young: Support the conversations between staff and parents.
- 8:31Kate Woodward Young: Support the active supervision.
- 8:34Kate Woodward Young: Support the engagement with the children.
- 8:37Kate Woodward Young: Support the classroom rhythm.
- 8:40Kate Woodward Young: Give them feedback.
- 8:42Kate Woodward Young: Build that relationship.
- 8:44Kate Woodward Young: Over the next 30 days, so from day 30 to day 60, this is where they're going to start to grow their independence.
- 8:51Kate Woodward Young: Look at the different skills.
- 8:53Kate Woodward Young: And are you coaching them on those skills during that first 30, 60 days?
- 8:59Kate Woodward Young: And those skills can include things like sanitizing toys, sweeping the floor, cleaning the bathroom, do they understand how to know how to make play-doh?
- 9:11Kate Woodward Young: How much fun do they have when they are engaged with the children, doing activities in the classroom?
- 9:19Kate Woodward Young: Yes, that's a skill.
- 9:21Kate Woodward Young: Some people, they learn that skill, they love that skill, it's why they're there.
- 9:25Kate Woodward Young: Other people, they may like kids, but maybe they've never been around a child that age and they don't really know, or maybe they have a cousin that age.
- 9:35Kate Woodward Young: Then over the next, in other words, from day 60 to day 90, strengthen the gaps.
- 9:41Kate Woodward Young: Identify the gaps.
- 9:42Kate Woodward Young: Because here we're putting together their future training plan, the training plan for the rest of the year.
- 9:48Kate Woodward Young: Every single staff person needs to have their own training plan.
- 9:52Kate Woodward Young: You need to have your own training plan.
- 9:54Kate Woodward Young: It needs to identify where you are right now and where do you want to go?
- 9:58Kate Woodward Young: Do you personally know what things you don't do very well?
- 10:02Kate Woodward Young: Or do you grab, like a lot of us do, that professional development around the things you want to learn, the things you like?
- 10:10Kate Woodward Young: Or do you go to the workshops around the topics that make you a little uncomfortable?
- 10:14Kate Woodward Young: Yeah, like compliance.
- 10:16Kate Woodward Young: I did a workshop this weekend on compliance.
- 10:19Kate Woodward Young: It was amazing.
- 10:20Kate Woodward Young: It should have had every single person in the conference should have been in that workshop.
- 10:24Kate Woodward Young: But you know what?
- 10:25Kate Woodward Young: It wasn't.
- 10:27Kate Woodward Young: Compliance is a topic that makes people go icky.
- 10:30Kate Woodward Young: Right?
- 10:31Kate Woodward Young: You don't really want to be there.
- 10:33Kate Woodward Young: Part of that onboarding sequence also is is that person a good fit for that role?
- 10:41Kate Woodward Young: Are they a good fit for your culture?
- 10:43Kate Woodward Young: Are you sitting here going, yeah, they're gonna be with us for a long time?
- 10:48Kate Woodward Young: Or are you like, well, I don't know about this one.
- 10:52Kate Woodward Young: It's kind of it's gonna be kind of like throwing darts.
- 10:55Kate Woodward Young: We'll have to see.
- 10:56Kate Woodward Young: New staff should never have to guess what good looks like.
- 11:01Kate Woodward Young: Now, here's what I want you to do, okay?
- 11:04Kate Woodward Young: I want you to think about your current, your most recent hire, your current hire.
- 11:09Kate Woodward Young: And I want you to think about your onboarding process, the way you currently have it written.
- 11:13Kate Woodward Young: Who owns the launch of this person?
- 11:17Kate Woodward Young: What must they know before they are independent in a classroom?
- 11:22Kate Woodward Young: What can they read versus practice?
- 11:25Kate Woodward Young: And what happens if they aren't a reader?
- 11:29Kate Woodward Young: Do you have other options for that learning?
- 11:32Kate Woodward Young: Can they watch it on a video?
- 11:33Kate Woodward Young: Somebody reading it to them?
- 11:34Kate Woodward Young: Can they do an auditory version of it?
- 11:37Kate Woodward Young: Remember, not everybody learns the same way.
- 11:41Kate Woodward Young: You need the different components, the different touch points.
- 11:44Kate Woodward Young: Okay.
- 11:46Kate Woodward Young: When and by whom do they receive feedback?
- 11:50Kate Woodward Young: Hmm.
- 11:51Kate Woodward Young: So do you have a staff person who has started, who worked with a mentor teacher, but then got their feedback from you, and maybe you actually never saw them in a classroom?
- 12:04Kate Woodward Young: That you took the notes from the from the master teacher who trained them?
- 12:10Kate Woodward Young: Well, that's just tacky.
- 12:12Kate Woodward Young: Okay?
- 12:12Kate Woodward Young: So I'm just gonna call a spade a spade, right?
- 12:15Kate Woodward Young: No, you should not be giving feedback to somebody if you didn't observe it.
- 12:20Kate Woodward Young: Okay?
- 12:21Kate Woodward Young: Now, yes, I know your master teachers are busy and I get that.
- 12:25Kate Woodward Young: So work with them together to provide the feedback, especially if they're not comfortable with it.
- 12:32Kate Woodward Young: Your master teachers need to learn how to have uncomfortable conversations just like you do.
- 12:37Kate Woodward Young: And if all of this only occurs in your head, then you know what?
- 12:42Kate Woodward Young: There's no onboarding system.
- 12:45Kate Woodward Young: That means that you can't delegate, share the load of this responsibility.
- 12:50Kate Woodward Young: Now, don't get me wrong, handbooks and policies absolutely 100% matter because compliance matters.
- 12:56Kate Woodward Young: Remember when I've talked, you've heard me talk about in other episodes about lifeguarding, about healthcare, nursing, certified nursing assistance.
- 13:06Kate Woodward Young: You've also heard me talk about working at, you know, restaurants and hospitality.
- 13:12Kate Woodward Young: Do you know what?
- 13:12Kate Woodward Young: Every single one of them, they have compliance.
- 13:15Kate Woodward Young: They have health inspections, they have safety inspections.
- 13:18Kate Woodward Young: Guess what we have in childcare?
- 13:20Kate Woodward Young: Safety inspections, health inspections, compliance matters.
- 13:25Kate Woodward Young: Nobody on your staff is going to become a capable adult because they signed the handbook.
- 13:29Kate Woodward Young: Nobody's going to become a competent adult in the role of early educator if all you're doing is giving them a couple of videos to watch.
- 13:40Kate Woodward Young: Even if you've upgraded your training program and now it's an interactive little video, a little reading, a little answering questions, maybe there's a situation for them to think through.
- 13:53Kate Woodward Young: They become capable because somebody shows them, lets them practice, gives them feedback, answers their questions, stays close enough to learn so that they can become confident.
- 14:09Kate Woodward Young: We cannot build a stronger childcare profession by helping people rise to the role.
- 14:15Kate Woodward Young: We have to create intentional ways for people to enter, learn, grow, and stay.
- 14:23Kate Woodward Young: What are you doing at your program to create an intentional entry path?
- 14:30Kate Woodward Young: Intentional learning and professional development.
- 14:34Kate Woodward Young: How is your retention intentional?
- 14:37Kate Woodward Young: I am so excited that you joined us for today's episode.
- 14:40Kate Woodward Young: We will be back in a couple of days with our guest for next week, and we hope that you come and hear all of the amazing things that our guests had to say.
- 14:50Kate Woodward Young: Have a great day.
- 14:52Childcare Conversations: Thanks for tuning in.
- 14:53Childcare Conversations: We love bringing you real talk and fresh insight from the world of early childhood education.
- 14:59Childcare Conversations: Be sure to follow us on social media to stay connected and catch all of the latest episodes.
- 15:05Childcare Conversations: And if you're planning a conference, training, or special event, Kate and Carrie would love to speak to your audience.
- 15:12Childcare Conversations: You can learn more about their keynote sessions and workshops at kateandcary.com.
- 15:18Childcare Conversations: If you learned something today, share the show and leave us a review below.
- 15:23Childcare Conversations: We'll see you next time on Child Care Conversations.