The Child Care Business Podcast
Season 4, Episode 7: How to Develop Leaders in Your Child Care Center's Staff, with Beth Cannon
Beth Cannon is the owner of 13 Stretch-N-Grow child enrichment franchises and is an expert in early childhood education working as a speaker, trainer and coach. One of her talents is teaching child care center leaders how to develop talent from within their current staff, which is especially important as owners and directors struggle to retain high quality staff.
In this podcast, Beth shares her tips for identifying staff who are ready for more responsibilities as well as the importance of job titles. On the other side of the coin, she shares what NOT to look for when developing your leadership bench (hint: education is not an automatic for career advancement!).
Beth goes further and tells us HOW to help employees grow into new roles and to accept that some employees are happy doing their current jobs ... and that's okay too.
To reach Beth to see what she can do for your child care business, visit bethcannonspeaks.com.
You also can find her on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn!
Beth Cannon is the owner of 13 Stretch-N-Grow child enrichment franchises and is an expert in early childhood education working as a speaker, trainer and coach. One of her talents is teaching child care center leaders how to develop talent from within their current staff, which is especially important as owners and directors struggle to retain high quality staff.
In this podcast, Beth shares her tips for identifying staff who are ready for more responsibilities as well as the importance of job titles. On the other side of the coin, she shares what NOT to look for when developing your leadership bench (hint: education is not an automatic for career advancement!).
Beth goes further and tells us HOW to help employees grow into new roles and to accept that some employees are happy doing their current jobs ... and that's okay too.
To reach Beth to see what she can do for your child care business, visit bethcannonspeaks.com.
You also can find her on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn!
Welcome to the Childcare Business Podcast, brought to you by ProCare Solutions. This podcast is all about giving childcare , preschool, daycare, after school , and other early education professionals. A fun and upbeat way to learn about strategies and inspiration you can use to thrive. You'll hear from a variety of childcare thought leaders, including educators, owners, and industry experts on ways to innovate, to meet the needs of the children you serve. From practical tips for managing operations to uplifting stories of transformation and triumph, this podcast will be chock full of insights you can use to fully realize the potential of your childcare business. Let's jump in.
Speaker 2:Good morning everyone, and welcome to the Childcare Business Podcast. My name is Leah Woodbury. I'm the head of content here at ProCare Solutions, and I'm very happy to have you all join us today. Um, on this podcast, we're thrilled to have Beth Cannon with us. She owns 12 Stretch and Grow franchises. Um, that's an international children's motor development and enrichment provider that directly serves childcare centers. She's a speaker, a coach, a consultant. She has a lot of ECE experience in a lot of areas, and today we're gonna pick her brain about how you can develop leaders within your childcare business . Welcome, Beth.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be back with you all.
Speaker 2:Great. Alright , so let's start where we always like to start these podcasts, getting a little background on our guests. Can you talk about how you got into ECE?
Speaker 3:Yes. Well, you , you know, you mentioned that I, we've got multiple stretch of your franchises. We now have 13. We've acquired, we just acquired another one. Um, but that is, I was a school teacher and, and what they called it back in the day, an aerobics instructor and , um, had spoken at, you know, you know, conferences here and there just on education things. Anyhow , uh, started doing stretch and grow quickly. We grew, I became the corporate trainer and just really delved into this , um, joy of training business owners. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and training leaders and, and pouring into the people who are pouring into children. And so, you know, spoken at conferences probably for, you know, over 20 years now and, and teaching and training. And then , um, you know, when Covid hit, I began to shift a little bit more into the strategy piece of leadership because it was so evident that there was such a gap in leadership training in early education. And so, you know, the , the business side of it, you know, we just kind of scrambled and I thought, gosh, I , I can help, I can help my people . And so just began to develop some different strategy courses . And then of course , you know , the , the world blew up and, and so much more exposure came about during, during that time. And so for the last four years, I've really been focused on doing leadership retreats, speaking at conferences, team building, and then doing, I've got a couple of, you know, courses that I do, a learn to lead leadership certification, and then stuck to strategy, which is an operations program that we do online.
Speaker 2:Wow , that's really great. It's always good to hear when, when you see a need in ECE and then you step up to help other people in the field. I feel like this field is so supportive of each other, which you don't really see in other, in other industries.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it , it really is. And you know, I'm a , I'm a true teacher at heart. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So if I know a thing, I like to teach the thing. And so I just, you know, I love our industry. I love what we do, and , um, and it, it feels so good to be able to help them and to see them get traction in their businesses.
Speaker 2:Yes. So let's shift to what we're talking about today , um, developing leaders within your childcare business. Um, can we begin with identifying the staff who might be ready for advancement? What, what traits are you looking for in a , in a teacher or another staff member in your center to see who might be ready for more responsibility and more growth ?
Speaker 3:Well, I think the first thing probably really is to look at who is taking initiative. I think initiative is so, so important because you, you, you look around and when you, you , you pay attention to the tension, right? That's one of , that's one of my favorite things to , to , for when you're looking to develop leaders. That's one of my favorite things is to tell leaders, you know, school owners, school directors to do, is to look around and pay attention to the attention and see where people are taking initiative. Because if they're taking initiative and, you know, something as simple as, you know, picking up trash coming into the, coming into the building. I mean, that's something very, very simple, of course. But when they are taking initiative and they are looking around and seeing like, Hey, how can I be a part of something great? How, you know, how, how can I help here? What can I do? What can I do to help? So I think taking initiative number one, super important. And there , there's three eyes to this, right? So if you're taking notes, if you're a note taker, it's taking initiative. The other is intelligence. And I don't mean just, you know, smart intelligence, I mean emotional intelligence, you know, are they emotionally intelligent enough to be able to receive feedback, not just receive feedback, but implement that feedback , um, instead of being, you know, triggered or upset with the feedback that they got with , I mean, we can all grow and improve , right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . So , um, you know, it's the emotional intelligence, being able to read a room, being kind , um, you know, not being easily set off by the things that can stress us out. And so I think the emotional intelligence piece is really important. Um, and then as you, you know, as you look a little bit deeper into that, I think it's influence, and that might be one of the most important things, is do they, are they positively influencing other people in the building? Because you're not a leader if no one's following you,
Speaker 2:Right? Yeah, that's
Speaker 3:So true. So are they positively influencing the rest of the team or even positively influencing, you know, their , their parents? But I think those three eyes are some of the key indicators of when you're looking for a leader, what to look for. So it's, you know, do they take initiative? Do they have the emotional intelligence, and do they influence other people in a positive way?
Speaker 2:Okay. So you shared your expertise in , um, our 2024 childcare management software industry trends report. And in that we surveyed thousands and thousands of stakeholders. And our , the response we got was that 61% said it's a challenge to hire and retain staff. And you were, you were talking in the, in the report. And thank you again for, for taking part in that. We love partner , we love partnering with you. Um , you said to look for 18 players who, and give them stretch assignments. Can you, can you give an example of a stretch assignment?
Speaker 3:Sure. I, it is funny, I'm, I'm living the , I'm living the dream right now, Leah . So I've got a few newer leaders on , on my team, and I, I love investing in younger leaders. You know, everyone's like, don't hire Gen Z. I will tell you that three of my five leaders are Gen Z. And you know, I, you know, there , there , there are challenges with every generation, of course. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . But I , you know, I love pouring into younger leaders and seeing what can be unleashed. And so , um, you know, I've given them all some stretch assignments right now. And so, you know, maybe one of them is on, like, one of 'em is working on a marketing campaign, right? Like, what, what are some ideas that you can share that will help build enrollment? So, you know, we're about to, we're about to lose a third of our students in our enrichment programs, right? Stretch and grows enrichment program because they're going to kindergarten, they're going to big school. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So they are gonna leave the school. So now we're like, how can we promote and, and let the parents and the schools know that we've got these programs coming up for their, you know, their rising two and three year olds that they can enroll in these programs. So one has a marketing assignment, and I'm just like throwing it out there. This is, these are the objectives, these are deliverables, these are, this is our critical number. We wanna enroll this many children. What can you do to promote that? So one's got a mar marketing, so like within a school, it may be, you know, let one of them take over a tour. Maybe they're super passionate about your school, and you as the leader might be super busy with some other things going on. Show 'em how to do a tour, do a tour with them, and then let them do the next tour that comes through. Maybe it's following up, like, you know, when when parents are coming into their funnel, they're following up through their CRM , um, maybe it's planning a back to school event, you know, maybe they're , it's someone that really, you know, super loves to, to plan, and they, they are very excited about it, and it might overwhelm the directors, and they're like, you know what? Great plan the back to school event. Um , so other things are simple though, Leah, as they wanna organize a supply closet, you know, the supply closet's a hot mess. <laugh> , I find that preschools are more messy than not, because they're led by creative people. And a lot of times really creative people are messy <laugh> because they're outcome oriented and they do not care about the process. So the process might not be pretty, but the outcome's gonna be good. So, but there may be someone that wants to organize a supply closet or, you know, lead a team meeting or share in an activity. Um, you know, I know a lot of owners are visionaries, and so they've got a million ideas and they have like, idea fatigue, right? They're like, can some, can someone else come up with the ideas around here? Like, I want someone else to come up with ideas, not just come up with them, but implement them. So maybe the visionary needs someone to come along and implement the ideas that they have. So I think there , you know, there's lots of things that they can do within the school, but I think as people begin to take that initiative and you see like, Hey, this person might wanna step up. You've gotta figure out what their natural gifts and talents are and unleash them in those gifts and talents. I am a , a big believer in understanding what someone's personality is. I use the Enneagram test and I've got a link to an Enneagram quiz for leaders. We can drop that in the show notes if you want. And it's, the Enneagram is just a personality test to tell you what your leadership style is. So I've got one girl that's, she's so detail oriented, and I am not, I am the visionary, I'm the idea person. I'm the big picture person. Uhhuh <affirmative> , but she loves the details. So I am letting her be in charge of planning a hurdle , our recitals, and doing all the details of the recital. I just wanna show up and make, and , and , and watch the kids have a great time and see the parents enjoy it. Yeah. So that was her assignment. So those are some examples of some things that might, you know, kind of, of of unlock and unleash what is already inside. Because I think this, you can't put something in someone that's not there. Your job as a leader is to unleash those talents, those gifts that are already inside of them because you can't put in what's not there.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Or make them interested in something they're not interested in or excited about, something they're not excited in Right . About, I should say. Yeah .
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:Makes sense. So on the titles, and this kind of , this, this fits in with what you just talked about. Um, you, you have strong feelings on this one. Um, <laugh> also in that report that you were , um, featured in with us, you explained that younger employees today, the Gen Zers , they don't like these, these titles or perhaps the ones that we're giving them is a, is a better way of saying that. Can you, can you talk a little bit more about that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, you know, research will say that like you're , you know, that , that Gen Z and millennials, that titles are important. I think a lot of that is risen through, you know, just through social media, LinkedIn, you know, they're titles matter. You know, in my idea we're just passing out a business card that no , put it , you put it in your Rolodex, you didn't even look at it until someone needed to reach out to you. Right? So , mm-hmm. <affirmative> , you know, titles, titles are important. And so now we wanna be careful in giving overinflated titles. Like , we don't wanna call an entry-level employee, the VP of operations, because they'll be looking on LinkedIn and say , you need to pay me 120 grand, like , and I'm only making 18 an hour. So, right. But I think, you know, when you're looking to inspire leadership, that title gives people ownership. And in my experience, when I've given someone title, like, Hey, I want you to be an area coordinator. I want you to be an area director. You know, I want you to be a team lead. I want you to be a lead coach. Those inspire , um, just e excitement around it. It's like, you know , someone sees something in me and , and they kind of tap me on the shoulder and said, Hey, you, you've moved to the next level. And I think that what it does for their mindset when they get a new title, really inspires that action. And I've seen that in my own organization, and I've seen that in a lot of others. And another , but , and it doesn't even have to be necessarily leadership. I think, you know, the word assistant , um, you know, that can, that can sometimes be demotivating to people. And some pe some people argue and say, well, they're an assistant that that's what they are. They're, they are assisting so and so . But like, when you look at the director level, like you've got it , most schools have a director and an assistant director. Oftentimes what falls to the assistant director is whatever the director didn't wanna do. Okay. Not always, but sometimes it does. And so I've seen a lot of schools change titles to say, this person is the program director, this person is the director of education, this person is the administrative director, or this person is the business director. You know, they just found different things because, you know, one of the big frustrations I see in schools, Leah , is that the roles and responsibilities aren't clearly defined. And so if someone doesn't own a thing, no one owns it, right? So it's like, who's responsible for marketing? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , whoever answers the phone. Well, that doesn't necessarily always work, right? So if you have someone who's in charge of something, they own that thing. And if they know they own that thing, if they need help with it, they can ask someone for help. But like, as owners, I would just encourage you as owners, like when you're looking at divvying up your roles and responsibilities, make sure you understand what , what's the title that's going to inspire action, ownership, and accountability. Do your titles line up with that? Because ultimately that's what you want. You want someone to take accountability for the roles, for the routines, for the projects involved in that position, own it, and run with it and unleash that talent. Now, as you do that, you're going to have to, and this is really hard, increase your tolerance for mistakes.
Speaker 2:Oh , okay. The learning curve.
Speaker 3:The learning curve. Mm-Hmm,
Speaker 2:<affirmative> . Mm-Hmm, <affirmative> . Yeah . And how do you , I mean, so are, does that mean you're kind of back checking what this person is doing? Or how , how do you do that?
Speaker 3:Well, you have to inspect what you expect.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Right. And so I use the project management tool. I mean, there's a head of amount there. I use Trello. There's Asana, there's monday.com base can , I mean, there's a lot of project management tools, uhhuh , <affirmative> . Um, but, you know, I like for, for them to put, you know, we, we've got our routines and our projects that are listed in Trello with checklists. So I can go on at any time and see where are we working on this. And sometimes it's a project that's just not as simple as simple as a spreadsheet, right? Like for our marketing pieces right now we're scheduling schools for the, for the school year. So we've got everything on a spreadsheet. And I can see in progression, like, you know, did you send the contract? Did you send the proposal? You know, I can see where all, where we are here, but if all of that is in, is in our heads, we can't keep track of it, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . So I think it's really important to have those, that, those systems in place so that you can inspect what you expect. If you keep everything in your head or on post-it notes, or you're , you're planning on your own brain to follow up , good luck on that ace , what they would say in Vegas, right? <laugh> ,
Speaker 2:Because
Speaker 3:It's just not gonna happen. Yeah . We have two . We , I mean, this is crazy, Leah , I , I saw a study that said we are getting 35,000 messages a day,
Speaker 2:A day,
Speaker 3:35,000 messages a day. And, and most people are on five social medias, five different social medias. They're doing Facebook, Instagram, TikTok , snapchat, LinkedIn at at at best, right? And so they're , they're going and they're looking at their newsfeed, and then they have the actual people that they're communicating with, and then they have their email and maybe a Slack channel. There's so many things. Um, so we're getting all this messaging, so we've gotta figure out is the work getting done? So I, I'm not a big believer in micromanaging. If I have to micromanage you and make sure you're doing every piece of your job, then this is not the job for you. And, and interestingly enough, I just parted ways. I kind of coached out , um, a leader that I had brought into my organization. Um, you know, another statistic that I learned is that when you're looking at promoting and you're looking at building that leadership bench , you have a 70% greater chance of getting buy-in from the team and having this person be successful if you hire from within
Speaker 2:70%,
Speaker 3:70%. And I thought that was really interesting. Um , yeah, and I can , I can get you this , I can get you this, the source on that, but I thought it was really interesting. And I, and , and here I go, right? I, I went against my own advice and I hired someone <laugh> from without, because I thought, you know, she had a good resume, talked a good talk, but getting in this is when I realized is that she didn't really understand our culture. She'd worked for a company similar to ours and didn't really understand the culture, and didn't really understand that I would absolutely hold her accountable for the work that she had been assigned. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And because we have to, right? We have, we have to do it. And so , um, we had, we used feedback, the feedback loop system in my company, you know, what do , what do you do ? What's working, what's not working? What needs to change? And so , um, you know, repeatedly, she wouldn't implement feedback. And I'm like, you're a leader. This is your responsibility. I'm not delegating this to you. I'm transferring this responsibility to you. Yeah . And , and me understanding that language, the difference in delegating and in transferring responsibility to leaders was very pivotal shift in me saying, this is not on my plate for me to go back and make sure you're doing it. This is on your plate. Here's, here's what to do, here's how to do it. Here's a video with how to do it. Here's instructions to do it. Let me teach you how to do it, but let me watch you do it. And now you are on your own to do it. So that's the kind of flow that, that I teach to my leaders. So there's that transfer of responsibility. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:Responsibility
Speaker 3:And I have to trust. And if they don't do it, it , does it fall back to me? It does. But I will tell you, it doesn't fall back very, it doesn't fall back many times.
Speaker 2:Okay. So let's talk that
Speaker 3:It continues to fall back. That's not the right person in the right seat.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And that you were able and identifying that and, and then , and it's another, another strong, strong point or per or , um, pro I would get , I would say, in , um, in hiring from the people, you know. So let's talk about that. Creating your leadership bench , um, from within, how do you, how do you decide who gets a spot on that bench?
Speaker 3:Well, there, there are lots of , um, I mean, that's, that's not a necessarily straight question, but I wanna I wanna give you just a few, a few key points. Number one, okay ? You go back to three key questions,
Speaker 2:Okay?
Speaker 3:You gotta figure out what is it that you want them to do. You've gotta get that really strong job description. And your job description needs to have a few , it needs to have the role, it needs to have the responsibilities, and it needs to have the results. Like, what, what are the results that are gonna come from this role? Right? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So then you , you make sure you've got a very clear job description, and this is really important. So if you're multitasking, come back to me for just a minute, okay? In a small school, you have to be sure that you say all positions are, could be possibly fluid. Like this is ju this is not an all encompassing job description. This is part of the role container that I'm gonna have for you. But you may be taking on other projects that will be in addition to this role, because otherwise you toss someone at someone and they're like, wait a minute, that wasn't on my job description. That is number one, low emotional intelligence. And number two, you can't have that in a small company. So I just wanna preface it by saying, you know, make sure that you add, there could be some other projects that we may toss to you. So mm-Hmm . <affirmative> disclaimer on that. But three questions. Do they comprehend it? Are they capable of it? And do they crave it? If you go back to what EOS says, do they get it? Do they want it? Can they do it? Okay . So do they, do they get it? Do they understand what the , what the responsibility is? If it's gonna require more hours, more responsibility, do they understand that then? Are they capable of it? Can they do it? If you're gonna lead people, can you have hard conversations with your coworkers ? And then do you want it? And this is where I see a lot of ECE leaders make mistakes, is that they bring people into leadership because they're great employees, but they may not be great leaders. Great. Just because you're a great classroom teacher does not mean that you're gonna be a great director or a great lead teacher. Um, so, you know, when you're looking at the, you know, they, I mean, I had a direct , she's been with me now for 21 years, but at about year 10, I was like, Hey, I need some leadership. I wanna move you up . She's like, okay, let's do it. And then she said, I'll do it for a year. And after six months, she came to me and said, Beth, I love what I do. I love you. I love our company. I believe in what we're doing. I don't wanna lead women anymore. I love the kids. And leading a team of grownups is exhausting me. I just wanna be back with the kids. She said, so I'll, I'll fulfill my commitment, but I , I don't wanna , I don't wanna do this anymore. And that's okay. And not everyone does.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And being good at your job is not necessarily being good at another job.
Speaker 3:Exactly. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , do they get it? Do they want it? Can they do it? Those are the three main questions to say, what does it take? And then, you know, if you a couple others, do they catch your vision? You know, as the leader? Have you been clear about like, what is your vision like? And when you're thinking, look , you're like, I don't even know my vision. Well, your vision is this. Imagine a world where blank. You know, imagine a world where children can learn and parents can feel confident and safe while they're, you know, growing their income and building their dreams for their family. Whatever it looks like, your vision, then, do they live into your values? You know, are you clear on your core values because what you value is gonna determine what you do?
Speaker 2:Yeah,
Speaker 3:Hundred percent . So do they understand your values? And then are they a culture vulture?
Speaker 2:Ooh , what is that
Speaker 3:Culture vultures culture , the culture that detract from a positive culture? And let's just name 'em, right? Angry Alex, who's mad all the time. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> bitter. Betsy, whose husband left her in 1979, as she's as mad today as she was the , today he left <laugh> <laugh>,
Speaker 2:Right? Okay.
Speaker 3:Distracted Dina , who's constantly on her phone or on her watch, or whatev , you know, just distracted all the time. You know, just, just distracted. Uh, gossipy Gail , who, nosy, Nancy, negative Nelly, you know , all of those things lead into big time negativity, and it steals the positive culture. So you want to have someone who's, who's with you and who gets it, and who live lives into those values. And so sometimes there's a spirit of entitlement, right? Well, I've been here for the longest, so I should be the one moving up to the director's office. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . Well , longevity, who, you know, who you're related to doesn't necessarily mean that you are the right person for this seat in on the leadership bench.
Speaker 2:So can you talk a little bit more about that? Like what does, what does not guarantee an employee is spot on this bench? And, and I think the longevity is, is a big one. People say, I've, I've put in my time. All , all of all those kind of culture, vulture, <laugh> sayings, I guess , um, way of thinking, way of way of talking. Yeah . But are there, are there, are there other other things that maybe people have come to assume that, oh, well, I'm gonna do this and I'll, I'll move up that. No, I don't think that's maybe the best <laugh> , maybe the best move
Speaker 3:For us . Yeah . I mean , you know, sometimes, sometimes people will go out and they'll get, you know, additional certification or a degree or, you know, they'll , they'll go get, they'll, they'll up their education level meaning that, okay, I'm gonna up my education level and I wanna grow within the company. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , this is a hard reality. Not everybody is your people, right? And so just because someone goes and gets a degree and, and they want to make more money and they wanna do well, like, that's great for them. And I applaud any person who wants to better themselves through education, that's great. But they might not be able to move up in your company because of their dynamics, because of the way that they interact. Maybe some, you know , some unhealth in their own personality. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And they might not be the right person for you, but they think, well, well, I got my degree and it's because I have my degree. Now I wanna move to this position. So education level and then also experience. I mean, we are not doing open heart surgery on toddlers, right? When we are bringing , let's, let's just talk about hiring on the teacher level. And I know that, you know, a lot of states have, you know, varying degrees of you need, you know, units or a certain amount of education or, you know, that's gonna vary. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative> ,
Speaker 3:However, I, I believe with all of my heart that your talent, which is loving children, being a person of integrity, being a nurturing kind soul is a talent that we cannot teach to people.
Speaker 2:Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> ,
Speaker 3:We can give them skills, we can give them knowledge. We cannot give them talent. And so when someone comes to me, I really do not care what their experience is. I care about their heart because I can teach 'em everything they need to know. I can get them the education that I need to get them in order to work in my company in those roles. So I think, you know, just because their experience is funny in , uh, in stretch and grow, we had another one of our , uh, affiliates, I think she was in, she's in North Carolina. She got a , uh, an email from a potential employee and it said , um, this is a part-time job, and you're paying me just a few dollars an hour more than Target was. I don't think I wanna make this commitment to babysit kids. That was, I was like, warning,
Speaker 2:Warning. Well , A , you're
Speaker 3:For sure not the right person. Thanks for the email, and I'm gonna flag your name and make sure, should your application ever come across my desk again, I will be, it's a hard no. But again, it's like, I've got all this experience and you're, you're paying you just a few dollars an hour more than Target.
Speaker 2:Ooh .
Speaker 3:That's, I don't care what your experience is , right? Yeah . And then, and that leads to , that leads into Leah the other e which is entitlement. So, you know , just believing that I should be entitled , um, you know, just for , for people to be good team players, there has to be, you know, a little bit of, of humbleness there, you know, just , uh, just humbleness because of what we do. You know, we're , this is not a shark world. This is , this is an , this is an education world and kindness and heart and love and, and commitment matters so much unlike other industries. And so sometimes we overlook, you know, those things, and someone comes across as just a very strong, confident person, and I can do everything that you need me to do. And they just seem like a great, great person. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> they may not have the heart to do what we do. And so, you know, understanding, like, you know, a question is, tell me about a time you enjoyed a group of children. I don't care about your experience. I wanna know, do you enjoy young children? And if you enjoy young children, we're good. I can help you.
Speaker 2:Well, and that seems like such a, I don't wanna say softball question, but I mean, shouldn't everyone in ECE have a long list of times they had fun at work, or the time this little person said something hilarious, or, I mean, that just seems like that would be a great way to draw out any red flags.
Speaker 3:Well , uh, you know what? And it , I mean, hi . And has literally been my best interview question over all these years, because some , sometimes they'll say, well, I had , I have , um, eight siblings, or I take care of my cousins, or I'm like, well, do you like them <laugh>? That's my question. I don't care how many you have, but do you enjoy them? Like, what can you tell me about enjoying them? Yeah . And truly, Leah , some people cannot answer that question.
Speaker 2:Ooh , wow. That is , I find that truly shocking. I really, really do. I really
Speaker 3:Do . Well, so, so there's been some , you know, of course, I think it was Gardner research. There's been a lot of studies on, you know, just the , the state of employees right now. And what they found is that 50% of people who accept a job are not starting that job. It's because they get what they think is a better offer. Oh . And when people are applying for jobs, like it used to be someone who loved children is gonna apply for a job in early education, right? That , that used to be the thing . But now they might apply for a job in childcare or Target or Amazon or the US Post Office. I mean, you know, there could be a number of different things that they're applying for because they're just scanning Indeed and saying, I wanna make, you know, 17 to $20 an hour or whatever. And so that's their search is they're just searching for a certain dollar an hour, uhhuh , and then all those jobs are kind of coming up. So they, they're not really sure what they wanna do. Um, and then they're like, okay, who's gonna gimme the best offer? Who do I like best? Mm-Hmm,
Speaker 2:<affirmative> . Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>
Speaker 3:50. So if you've been ghosted, you're not special because it's happening a lot.
Speaker 2:<laugh>. All right , so let's move on. This is, this is good stuff. I feel like every single one of these questions, we could do an entire podcast on Beth, you have like sure . So much to say. Um, so staying on that leadership bench , um, center owners have to decide, are you gonna keep it or are you gonna break it up? What, what does that mean? And how do you do it?
Speaker 3:Okay. So if you're, if you are an , an owner or leader, and you're in a place to where you're like, I I need more leadership, I need more help. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , I need to level my people up. Uhhuh , <affirmative> , I want you to look at who you have on your bench now,
Speaker 2:Okay?
Speaker 3:Do you have the right people in the right places? Hmm . Are they able to execute the work that you have or are there issues? So number one, if, if you're looking at your bench and saying, I need to burn this mother up, <laugh> , <laugh> . That is, that's a lot of work. And you have to do that very, very, you have to do that very, very carefully. Like, I had a leader on my co my company, and she was like, my ride or die, she was with me for 15 years. And for about 13 and a half of those years, she was amazing. And in the last year, she had a lot of personal things that were happening that really affected her work. Mm-Hmm . And I just began to feel like things are not hitting on all cylinders. You know, things work's, not getting done. Our turnover was unusually high. You know , um, um, things are happening to where there was like a lack of training and a lack of communication. And so, you know, eventually we ended up, you know, figuring like this, she needed, she needed to move on, you know , it was time to move on. But I'll tell you that sick feeling that I had in my gut to know that like, something is not right, and I've entrusted so much to this person who for a long time did great.
Speaker 2:Uhhuh <affirmative> ,
Speaker 3:And the season was up, right? Her season was up, it was time for her to, to move on. And so it happened quicker than I thought that it would happen. But if you have your business systematized, and I would've done a better job getting the business out of her head onto paper, into SOPs, we would've, it , it would've been a much easier experience. And I knew it, and I had so many of our other position systematized, but not necessarily her, she was speaking of operations, right? So she, she turned the gears, Uhhuh, <affirmative> . So when she left, I had to figure out like , out what gears were being turned, what was the flow of them being turned. So before you burn up your bench, don't create a mess of your own making, start systematizing your positions. And that's what I teach in Stick to Strategy Academy. It's how to take what we're doing and put it into systems . So if the person steps away, those systems are in place. So if you're an owner or director, leader, school leader, could you be gone for two weeks? And would the business run without you? So my question is, what doesn't happen if you are not there? And if they, if they're, oh my gosh, it's payroll, it says it's all the things. Get those systems in place. So do you need to burn it up or do you need to build it? Right? And so, if you've got the right people in the right seats, you know, you're set, you're ready , you're ready to rock on, make sure that everybody in your boat is rowing in the same direction and you don't have anyone poking holes in, in the back. So, and if you need to build it, go back to what I said in the beginning, look for people who are taking initiative. Look for people who are emotionally intelligent, and look for people who have influence.
Speaker 2:Okay ? All right . And now this is, this is what seems to me anyway, as somebody who's knows who's never run a ECE business. Um, but what's the hard part of implementation? Like making this happen, actually doing the work? And you have, you have six, six questions that center owners need to ask, and I wondered if we could go through each of them.
Speaker 3:You bet. You bet. Okay . So the first one, you know, we talked about are the right people in, in the right places. That's when you , you know, you're looking at your bench. Do you have the right people in the right seats? Like, if you are a visionary and you're the idea person, Uhhuh <affirmative> , you need someone who's an operator or an integrator, someone who can take beauty of your mess. You know, my husband and I have been business partners for 25 years now, and , and he truly, I mean, I'm an Enneagram three, I I'm a , I'm a visionary. I'm an achiever. I, I am looking at the big picture. Always, always, always. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative> . And he is a processor in Enneagram one, an improver. A reformer. So he's taking all those details and putting them in place. So you've gotta make sure you've got the right people that can execute the work. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative> . Um, the next is, do you have that untapped potential that you're overlooking? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So , you know , in your one-on-ones, you know, asking questions like, is there something here that you see that needs to be done that's not getting done? Or is there a position? Or are there any things that you would like to do that you're not doing now? And find out what they think. I mean, if you really sit and talk to your, your people, other than about the checklist of the things they are or not doing, you're gonna maybe find some untapped potential. And then the next thing, does your org chart reflect growth potential? Right? Because oftentimes our org chart in schools, it's like, you know, maybe you've got a c-suite if you're a larger organization, but oftentimes it's director, assistant director, maybe you have lead teachers, assistant teachers, floaters, right ? What , what we would call floaters, cooks, you know, admin, drivers, chefs, whatever, you know, whatever those titles are. But take a look at that org chart. Does it reflect potential growth? You know , when you break up your operations in a school, you know, you break it into several different buckets. You've got your sales and marketing, you've got your operations in hr, you've got your finance, and then you've got your delivery, right? Your fulfillment, which is what is happening in the classroom, which is where the, the actual delivery of the service that you're selling is delivered. So look at your org chart. Does it reflect growth potential? Could someone who starts out in the infant room end up moving into a position like curriculum coordinator, for example? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Um, the other, do your job titles and descriptions inspire accountability. Leah , this is where a lot of us are missing. And again, e everything I'm teaching, I've lived <laugh> , I've lived it through the fire, right? So Uhhuh, <affirmative> . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So when I brought in this new round of leaders , I was very lucky that I've been doing my business for so long that I could really say, okay, what's the role? What are the responsibilities? And what are the results? Meaning what are , what are the deliverables? Uhhuh <affirmative> ? And again, I wanna remind us, I talked about the shift from just delegating to transferring responsibility. Like telling people, like, I am not going to be following up to make sure that you, you know, followed up from a tour, or that you reached out to every new parent, or that you ordered the curriculum supplies. Like, I'm not gonna be reminding you or telling you any of these things. This is your job. Yep . So don't wait for me to say, oh, it's time to start marketing, or it's time to start ordering supplies. Like, this needs to be on your radar. This is your job. So Uhhuh <affirmative> , it's hiring accountability. Then the other one, what is your capacity to invest in and grow leaders? <laugh> big one . I mean, you're , and we have, you know, as leaders, we've got a few different capacities. What's your physical capacity? What's your mental capacity? What's your emotional capacity? And what is your spiritual capacity? And I think that we are all of those things together. Um, you know, and I had been in a season to where I really did not have a lot of physical capacity when I brought on these new leaders. It happened in the middle of the year. And, you know, I, if, if you followed my, my social media, you probably see I'm gone once a week. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> on a trip to go speak at a conference or do a leadership retreat, or do team building, or do strategic planning. So I travel a lot. Well, my team is here, right? So I have two, really two full-time jobs. Yeah. So I had to increase my capacity to focus on growing and building my leaders. And you have to know that when you're gonna do this, they're gonna need you. You can't just, you know, toss out, oh, here's your job description. Go figure it out.
Speaker 2:Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 3:<affirmative> , you have to spend time with, you have to nurture, you have to show people what to do, do it with them, and then watch them do it. And that takes time. That, for people who are visionaries, maybe maybe a little grownup, A DHD , guilty here.
Speaker 2:Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> .
Speaker 3:But I've gotta make that a priority to pour into those leaders, because I want a team led company, right? I want my team to be able to, to lead my company. And I know that they can do it, but they can't do it unless I am constantly driving the vision for, Hey guys, this is where we're going, this is where we're going, this is where we're going. And be relentlessly passionate about that, you know? And then the last one is , you know, is really just, are you building a leadership bench? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , you know, or are you just sticking with the, everybody's in their seats and we're not, you know, we're not growing. And you may be at full capacity and things may be great, and if you're listening to this and things are great, enjoy it. But things don't stay this way forever, right? Life happens, people move, people move on. So if you're great right now, be looking ahead. What if Ms . Judy leaves, Ms . Judy's been here for 20 years. What if she believes, is her job systematized? Do we have someone ready to step into Ms . Judy's position? Should another door an opportunity open for her? So those are kind of the six questions, ideas for implementation as you're looking at what do I need to do? So the , so those kind of six questions, and hopefully you , you know, you'll drop some of these things in the show notes for ideas to inspire that implementation. So everyone can take a look at and really examine what needs to happen in my organization for me to be able to unleash the talent that I have been blessed with in this season, or who do I need to hire?
Speaker 2:Yeah. And it sounds like you're talking about, you're talking about looking ahead and also not getting too comfortable like that, like finding that balance and how to do it, which Yeah. Requires a lot of thought, a lot of looking inward, a lot of thinking of your values. It's, it's a lot. I think it's a lot more than a lot of people maybe wanna take on or understand how to take on.
Speaker 3:Well, but people who are growth-minded are thinking about this anyway, Leah, they're thinking about it anyway. And you know, when you think, oh my gosh, I don't have the money, I don't have the money. A good employee shouldn't cost you money. A good employee should make you money. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Whether they're, you know, whether they're, you know, helping to drive the enrollment and build the enrollment. Whether they're looking for things like bringing enrichment programs that will, you know, bring profits back to their pockets because that, you know, that's part of what an enrichment program will do. Are you , you know, are you, you know, taking rebates from your vendors, what does that look like? Um, so good employees shouldn't cost you money. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , they should make money for the business. And maybe it's removing the owner from responsibilities to free them up from doing things that they enjoy doing, like the leadership responsibilities. 'cause when you look at everything that's on a director's plate, you know, payroll, one-on-ones dealing with challenging behaviors, all the things that they have to deal with, leadership is not really in their job description. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , that's the most important thing that they do . So my best advice would be look around and then look ahead. Look around at what you have, look ahead to where you wanna go. We're in the summer. It's a great time to kind of evaluate what's gonna happen when school starts. Um, and then just see , you know, do you have someone that's like really like hungry to grow? And , and when I see that hunger and I see that passion for what we do, I think, Ooh , ooh , that one might, that one might be a good leader. I wanna do something with this person because I see greatness. And what can I do to unleash greatness? Like what words of life can I speak over this person that would unleash what is already in them That would really help us to, you know, to reach our vision and to help them reach their vision for their own lives as well.
Speaker 2:Yes. Yeah. A two way street. Yeah. For sure. All right , Beth, we are at the end of our time. Thank you so much for coming. We always love hearing everything you have to say , um, on your webinars with us that you do these podcasts. We are , we're always so appreciative. And could you , um, share with our listeners how they can find out more about you, your website, any other, any other ways to, to contact you?
Speaker 3:Yep . You can find me at Beth Cannon Speaks. I am on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And then that's my, that's my website as well at Beth Cannon speaks . And , um, find me, send me a DM and if I can help you in your, you know, level up your leadership, if you need deeper support in that , uh, reach out. I'd be happy to help you.
Speaker 2:All right . Thank so much and thank you to all of our listeners. And thank you for the vital work that you are doing every single day to support working families, to support young learners , um, to support the economy. Thank you.
Speaker 3:I love it so much.
Speaker 2:Right. Have a good day, everyone. Bye.
Speaker 3:Thanks, Mia .
Speaker 4:Thank
Speaker 1:You for listening to this episode of the Childcare Business Podcast . To get more insights on ways to succeed in your childcare business, make sure to hit subscribe in your podcast app so you never miss an episode. And if you want even more childcare , business tips, tricks, and strategies, head over to our resource center@procaresoftware.com. Until next time.