Need leadership advice! Please help!!!!

[kas6476]

Hi I have recently been appointed room leader of a 24 place nursery with 6 staff! 1 staff member is amazing and helps with planning programming and day to day routines, 1 staff member is a trainee and is trying really hard and there are 2 staff who are lazy, play dumb so they don’t have to do planning or do jobs so slowly that 1 of us needs to take over. Has anyone got any advice or tips on the best way to manage such a large room?

[Butterflyblue]

That sounds terrible!
Here are some suggestions:
If you feel comfortable, tell these workers how you feel as a starting point. Give them a chance to fix the problem before you try other strategies. Another option is to have a team meeting specifically about team work and people not doing their fair share as a way to set the standard.

If you feel unsure approach management and discuss the situation with them.
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect your co workers feel the same way about these 2 people


Keep a record
Write down what happens in the workplace with the time and date in case you need it later on

Check contracts, company policy etc
Go through the paperwork etc so you are fully knowledgeable on everything related to staff

Create a duty/ role statement:
with specific details on what every individual must do.
Each individual must complete the tasks allocated to them and cannot rely on others to do it.
These can be made for individuals, certain shifts, type of worker (qualification, experience), official job role etc
Time frames and deadlines can also be incorporated
A do to list allows you to delegate tasks with ease and relax a bit.


Team meeting
Have a team meeting with all of your staff present and outline your expectations and the roles each staff member has.
Make it clear that everyone must contribute in order for everything to go smoothly.
A team meeting is an easy opportunity to discuss any shortcomings without mentioning names in order to give these 2 staff members a chance to rectify the problems themselves
You could also go around the team and explain what everyone needs to do and or hand out duty statements.
You could do this once a week or month, daily or as a one off etc
If you want you can assert yourself here in a managerial manner
Ask if there are any issues that anyone has and be sure to let your team know they can talk to you and ask for help etc


Formal employee performance reviews
(if you’re in a position to)
Give your team a chance to self evaluate and then meet with each of them individually and address any issues you may have their performance

Warnings
Consider formal warnings as a way to stop unacceptable behaviour from staff who do not do their fair share in partnership with management. From what you have described it would be completely warranted.


Escalate the matter
If these particular staff members do not respond to you, then go to management.
Refer to records you have kept as evidence, and ask them how they would like to proceed.

Childcare is a difficult job as you know and it is incredibly unfair when staff members chose to disregard their duties and slack off. It creates many problems including effecting morale of the other staff especially when their doing a job that someone else has been paid to do, and forced to pick up the slack. There are also potential OH&S and other issues for staff and children.



You’re completely right to be angry and frustrated, unfortunately you’re not alone it seems to be a very common issue for childcare workers which is quite sad really.

[Lorina]

All staff need to know their jobs within the room - since you have so many staff some may feel like that others have basically everything covered and they don't know exactly what to do. I would suggest setting up a timetable/daily routine for staff so they all know their role within the room - so you can add tasks/responsibilities and add the name of Educator so they know what they are doing for the day. For example:

- Cleaning (Morning Lunch and Afternoon)
- Setting Up Activities
- Nappies AM/PM
- Activity Supervision (which Educator goes to which activity)
- Bottle Feeding

The list goes on. Just think about the tasks you have to complete during the day, list them and add Educators along with it. You can do it on a weekly basis, so this means changing it each week or daily basis. All Educators within the room should get involved in all the tasks. Don't stick the same Educator with cleaning, nappies all the time.

This also goes for documentation. Observations especially. All Educators should be documenting Observations so have each Educator in charge of a group of children that they need to observe throughout the week. Don't take the full responsibility of documenting upon yourself, you have alot of staff and they should support you with documenting.

Also, thank the staff at the end of the day for completing their tasks. It will uplift their mood and make them feel appreciated.

The above points is to help you get started.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

,
Lorina