Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School Leadership Podcast

It’s easy to feel pulled down by the difficult happenings at your center. This was the case for Ashriel Huber, second-generation legacy owner of A Child’s Touch in Colorado. Her desire to make the previous owner proud, coupled with the stress of taking over a large center with many moving parts, led to dysregulation, impostor syndrome, and a sense that she could never give enough to move the needl...

Does the word “stress” make your chest tighten? If so, you’re not the only one  We tend to think of stress as a negative thing. But the truth is, it’s an integral part of being human. In fact, on last week’s podcast episode I introduced the concept of eustress—a type of positive stress that helps to motivate us. This week, I want to talk about the tools we use to manage stress in the moment....

You’re no stranger to challenges. Whether it’s helping fifteen children into their winter coats, navigating a difficult relationship with one of your teachers, or balancing a busy schedule, you have a lot on your plate. It’s stressful. It may even be distressing. Enter distress tolerance. Building your own, personal level of distress tolerance is one of the most powerful ways you can manage the in...

In our society, conversations about grief are largely dominated by death and the experience of losing someone we love. But death is far from the only time we deal with loss. Anytime we go through periods of transition in our lives, we experience grief triggered by the loss of how things used to be. For leaders in early childhood education, these transitions happen on an almost daily basis. Closing...

Roles and responsibilities are crucial to building a school of excellence. You can't weather the storm—let alone captain your ship—if your crew isn't clear on what they should be doing and when. That's where developing a school org chart comes in handy. With a visual representation of the structure of your center on hand, you can clear up a lot of questions about what role each individual plays an...

This episode is from a Strategic Advisory from our Membership programs. I know that the impending chaos of a new year is incredibly unsettling. You’re preparing for new kids, new teachers, new protocols, and new expectations, and you know everyone will look at you like deer in the headlights. It's inevitable… and believe it or not, that's a good thing. Confused? Stay with me. When you operate unde...

When you sit down to draw with a 4-year-old, you know you're not going to get the Mona Lisa. Kids don't have the capacity for things like perspective, texture, or—let's be honest—simply coloring within the lines. So, if that's the case, then why do you expect perfection out of your most inexperienced teachers and newly hired staff? In a world that glorifies immediate results, we've gotten used to...

What does ambition look like to you? Does it mean owning the best school in your city? Expanding your center? Retiring early? Maybe it's none of those things… and that's okay . Contrary to what we're made to believe, there's more than one charted path to success. Your destination can be whatever you want it to be—and the journey to get there can look however you want it to. What's more, how you de...

What if I told you that you didn't have to be at your center 40+ hours a week? Would you believe me? The reality for a lot of owners is that the line between home and school is so blurred it's almost nonexistent. They spend so much of their time wrapped up in the day-to-day operation of their centers that they end up spending more time there than they do at home with their families. This was the c...

I know that the impending chaos of a new year is incredibly unsettling. You’re preparing for new kids, new teachers, new protocols, and new expectations, and you know everyone will look at you like deer in the headlights. It's inevitable… and believe it or not, that's a good thing. Confused? Stay with me. When you operate under the assumption that the start-of-the-school year mayhem is avoidable,...

The first staff meeting of the year—we've all been there. You go into the meeting filled with the ripe excitement of possibility, ready to share your ideas, goals, and expectations. You have all the energy of a student showing off sparkly new notebooks on the first day of school. Then the meeting happens and… you end up word vomiting over your entire staff. Sound familiar? Without a doubt, the del...

Take a moment to remember why you became a school leader. If you’re anything like me and the leaders in my programs, you’re interested in leaving a legacy in your community. You want to positively impact the next generation of children and the community you serve. To leave a lasting legacy, you have to play the long game.  The concept of legacy is one we’ll be exploring during this final epis...

Many of the school leaders I meet are in the midst of growing their centers, and they all share one common challenge. Balancing expansion with the quality of education. Can you relate? Striking this balance is no small feat, and it requires complete trust in your team. More than that—it’s crucial work for the long-term development of your center.  The good news is you have the Pyramid of Exce...

Does any of this sound familiar? You know you need a strong team, but you don’t feel like you have the infrastructure to support it Constant questions are coming your way, pulling you in every direction Work-life balance has become a thing of the past, and your personal life is feeling the strain If any of the above are true for you, your center might be in the Disordered Stage of the Pyramid of E...

Everyone starts somewhere. You may have just opened a new center. Or maybe you’re coming through the other end of a crisis. Either way, this major phase of transition has placed you in the first stage of the Pyramid of Excellence: Survival. Survival isn’t inherently bad. In fact, it can be connected to beautiful moments of surrender, opportunity, and hope. It’s also finite: Most centers only exist...

For years, I've been developing, cultivating, and nurturing the mindset and skills of owners and directors in early childhood education so they can build and sustain schools of excellence. But it wasn't until somewhat recently that I started to take a hard look at the processes I was using to help leaders.  I wanted to distill them down into a repeatable, consistent framework that allowed lea...

Let me ask you a couple of questions: When you're looking at making a big-ticket purchase to update the infrastructure of your school, how long does it take you to pull out the credit card? What about when you're looking at investing in the professional development of your leadership team? I'm willing to bet there's a pretty large discrepancy between your first answer and your second, and it's wor...

For the first time in history, we have 5 different generations in the workplace: the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. And it's causing a whole lot of tension across various industries, including early childhood education. But the source of this tension isn't the fact that there are 5 generations working alongside each other. Instead, the issue stems from the way we'r...

Do you know the difference between equality and equity? It's a distinction that could be at the heart of some of the issues you're facing at your center.  Equality is all about fairness. It's about treating each and every person exactly the same way.  And while that may seem great in theory, in practice, it ultimately harms your center's culture and prevents you from maximizing your team...

As a leader, you're responsible for a lot of people. But what does that responsibility really mean? Is it about taking on the problems of your team and staff? Or is it about helping them become the best professionals and individuals they can be?  You see something I often see when working with owners and directors is their tendency to take responsibility for issues that don't belong to them....

Let me know if this sounds familiar: You're emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted on a daily basis You feel disconnected from your work, your team, and your staff You're doing only what needs to be done to keep your center afloat If you identify with these statements, you're not alone. Exhaustion, disconnect, and reduced performance are the three core signs of burnout, and they're runnin...

I hear a lot of leaders say they'd love to provide advancement opportunities for their staff, but no one's interested in taking on more responsibility. They insist that even with the promise of higher pay, staff members turn down the offer. Why do you think that is? The mainstream answer is that not everyone wants to be promoted—some people just want to show up, do their job, and go home. While th...

A while back, I was working with a school that was having trouble with one of their new teachers. She was relatively new to her role, and although she was gentle and loving to the children, she was struggling with classroom management and transitions. The owner and director of the center knew they needed to discuss the issue with the teacher, but they were afraid of initiating such a difficult con...

One of our core needs as human beings is a sense of service which prompts us to help and support others. Put differently, we have an innate need to want to contribute in a meaningful way. Yet the pattern I see in a lot of centers is that their culture is built around obligation rather than contribution. In a culture of obligation, people see obstacles as burdens, changing demands as reasons to giv...

Do you remember when the only people on-call 24/7 were emergency workers? Back then, there was a much clearer divide between work and life. Once you left the "office," you could focus your attention on whatever was happening at home until you returned to work. These days, it's far less simple. We live in a world of instant gratification, where smart phones and watches and other devices ping and di...