Management Series for Early Childhood Administrators

Session Descriptions

A Great Place to Work: Creating a Healthy Organizational Climate

Early childhood program administrators often have an overall impression that things are going well or not so well at their center, but they lack specific feedback on just what different areas of the organization contribute to those impressions. This workshop will highlight the components that contribute to work culture, provide tools to measure and monitor climate, and discuss practical strategies for creating a great place to work.

Making the Most of Meetings: A Practical Guide

Meetings are the glue that holds early childhood organizations together. Whether they are weekly staff meetings, monthly parent meeting, or annual board meetings, directors rely on meetings as the primary vehicle for communicating information, promoting professional growth, solving problems, and building a sense of community. This workshop will look at purpose, function, balance, and evaluation to improve meeting effectiveness.

Circle of Influence: Implementing Shared Decision Making and Participative Management

Building trust and a spirit of collaboration among staff in child care programs is central to high-performing work teams. Meaningful staff involvement in decision making is one way that trust and commitment to organizational goals is achieved. This workshop provides a framework for analyzing different types of decisions in child care program management and provides ways directors can move toward a more participative process in achieving program goals.

The Right Fit: Recruiting, Selecting, and Orienting Staff

Successful staff recruitment and selection is a crucial component of administering high-quality early care and education programs. Having the right teacher in the right position requires that directors have a repertoire of effective recruitment, screening, selection, and orientation strategies at their fingertips. This workshop provides a framework for learning about strategies for improving the likelihood that early childhood directors will be successful in finding the right person for the job opportunities they have to offer. 

Leadership in Action: How Effective Directors Get Things Done

True leaders come in all shapes and sizes. Some are outgoing and charismatic; others are quietly influential. This workshop explores the concept of leadership in the context of early childhood education. From practical suggestions and lively examples from high-performing directors, participants will learn how to create and sustain a completing vision that transforms their centers into vibrant and engaging learning communities. 

From the Inside Out: The Power of Reflection and Self-Awareness

The quest for excellence begins with an inner quest to discover who we are—or passions, values, talents, personal resources, and even those foibles and annoying habits we might prefer not to acknowledge. Having a better understanding of ourselves is the first step toward achieving a better relationship with others. This workshop is an invitation to self-discovery.