Schools Of Excellence Podcast artwork

Schools Of Excellence Podcast

223 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 days ago - ★★★★★ - 85 ratings

If you are an Early Childhood director or owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 little kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies - equipping you to build schools with higher staff retention, teacher motivation, parent partnership, collaborative culture, and a beautiful quality of life.

Every week, Chanie shares the truth about the journey to excellence, the strategies that are working TODAY, and the mindset about the critical decisions and choices that you make everyday which impact yourself, your teachers, parents, family, and children who you serve everyday.

In addition to weekly solo episodes, she'll also be inviting industry leaders and the changing makers of the landscape of education to give listeners the insides knowledge of what it takes to sustain excellence.

Don't miss an episode, subscribe today for everything you need for your leadership journey!

Self-Improvement Education Business Entrepreneurship business earlychildhoodeducation education family kids schooldirector
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed

Episodes

174. A Culture of Urgency: Recognizing the Patterns

April 15, 2024 20:00 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MB

Leaders have lots of amazing ideas.  And sometimes, those ideas can turn into multiple priorities. This is absolutely normal.  But when there’s a new idea, a new priority, every month, week, or day, it’s exhausting and confusing for the whole school. As the focus shifts constantly from one urgent matter to the next, everything becomes a priority. In a culture like this, the team learns that when everything is a priority, nothing is actually a priority. They may delay starting a project o...

173. The Invisible Labor of Decision Making

April 08, 2024 20:00 - 33 minutes - 30.5 MB

Summer is coming, faster than we could have anticipated.  Have you figured out what you and your family are doing for the break? “What are your summer plans?” It sounds like a simple question—one you’ll probably get asked a bunch over the coming weeks—but the reality is anything but easy. If you’re feeling panic or irritation at having to make yet another decision about summer break (or even what's for dinner), that’s because there is a whole world of invisible labor that goes into every ...

BONUS: Season of Life Reflective Questions

April 03, 2024 20:00 - 5 minutes - 2.58 MB

Learn more and apply for the Director’s Inner Circle & Owner’s HQ: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/membership/    More about the show: If you are an Early Childhood director or owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 little kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies – equipping you to build schools wi...

172. Respecting the Season of Life You're in

April 01, 2024 20:00 - 39 minutes - 35.8 MB

When my business was new, I was in the practice of waking up at 5:00am to work on some big, exciting projects. I would reply to emails and write content while my house was asleep, so I could get some focused work time in. But when I had my fourth child, Yossi, I suddenly could no longer set an alarm for 5:00am and expect to be productive—because I was also waking up at 12:00am, at 2:00am, at 4:00am, and at 6:00am to care for my baby. I often talk about respecting the season of life you’re ...

171. Redefining Leadership with Paige Kepner

March 25, 2024 20:00 - 40 minutes - 36.9 MB

“We were only closed for two weeks when the pandemic started, but I swear it felt like we were closed for four months.” This is what Paige Kepner, Glen Allen, VA center owner, told me during a recent conversation. I find this is such a common experience for school leaders when they're in the midst of a crisis. The sheer amount of pressure, communication, decision-making, and information-gathering that happened in March, 2020 (and beyond), was overwhelming for school leaders. Not to menti...

170. The Paradox of School Leadership: Support

March 18, 2024 20:00 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MB

A director I was coaching a few weeks ago told me about a repeat problem that kept coming up in her center. She was constantly being interrupted by teachers coming to her office asking for help with little things. She was glad to support them, but it was getting to a point where she couldn’t focus on her own tasks. Her own behavior—going out of her office to give them what they asked for, every single time—was enabling their behavior and dependency, instead of empowering them to be resource...

169. The Paradox of School Leadership: Control

March 11, 2024 20:00 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MB

Recently, I was speaking with a school owner who was selling a location. She had truly done her due diligence in her preparations for this moment, crossing every T and dotting every I. The only thing left to do was to inform her team. Feeling anxiety about the conversation, she came to me for coaching and guidance. Many coaches might give general advice about drinking water, going on a walk, or meditating. But she wasn’t coming to me for help shaking off her nerves. She was looking for some...

168. The Paradox of School Leadership: Success

March 04, 2024 20:00 - 32 minutes - 29.3 MB

Recently, I was on a coaching call with two ECE center owners. The first owner had just purchased her second location. This was a huge milestone for her, and she expected to feel accomplished. And yet, she was struggling to step into a double identity as both an owner and the director of the second site, until it could get fully staffed. The second owner had just sold her second location. She reflected back on when she had first purchased it, and at the time, she wondered if she was enough...

167. The Paradox of School Leadership: Choice

February 26, 2024 20:00 - 31 minutes - 28.9 MB

When’s the last time you went to a huge buffet? While it seems like a treat to eat anything you want, you can’t eat it all—and that means you have to choose. The number of decisions you have to make in the buffet line is totally overwhelming. In the same way, too many choices can feel paralyzing when it comes to our centers—for leadership, teachers, parents, and children. Will the kids play with blocks or go outside? Which parent-teacher communication system will we use? Which professional...

166. The Paradox of School Leadership

February 19, 2024 20:00 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MB

Learn more and apply for the Director’s Inner Circle & Owner’s HQ: http://Chanie.me/jointhedic     More about the show: If you are an Early Childhood director or owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 little kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies – equipping you to build schools with higher staff...

165. Values Driven Leadership with Catherine Doberstein

February 12, 2024 20:00 - 28 minutes - 26.5 MB

In 2022, Catherine Doberstein had just started listening to my podcast. In an episode, I mentioned the live, in-person Summit of Excellence that was coming up, and she decided to attend. She told me, “I had been looking for a community of young business owners to be surrounded by, but I didn’t realize there was a whole group of early childcare leaders who wanted a higher level of education for children. I knew this is where I needed to be.” Joining the Schools of Excellence Owner’s HQ memb...

164. Timeless Leadership Insights with Simon Sinek

February 05, 2024 20:00 - 1 hour - 66 MB

 Back in 2017, I had the immense pleasure of interviewing author and speaker Simon Sinek about how to be an effective leader. It's a topic that many people talk about but few can agree on. During the interview, I asked Simon to define what it means to be a leader. Rather than give me a simple statement, he chose to tell a story that I'll never forget. During his stay at the Four Seasons hotel in Las Vegas, Simon met a charming and enthusiastic barista named Noah. Noah's energy was so infec...

163. Preparing for Parent Teacher Conferences

January 29, 2024 20:00 - 18 minutes - 16.6 MB

Communication is about more than just your words. Years ago, when I was still working as a teacher, I was preparing for parent–teacher conferences with my mentor, Dana Levy. She was guiding me through a role-play exercise to help me feel more confident in my communication with parents. When I got to the part of the interaction where I was supposed to express some concerns about the child, Dana stopped me and asked me to step in front of the mirror before starting again. As I spoke in fron...

162. 2024 ECE Forecast: Navigating Money Leaks & Investment Gaps

January 22, 2024 20:00 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MB

When my husband Mayer and I moved to Florida, we had a pool for the first time ever. But as New Yorkers, we had no idea how to take care of it. So when we were told we didn't have to do much to maintain it, we took those words at face value. Over time, different parts of the pool started to break down, and we had no choice but to call a maintenance company to evaluate the situation. When they finally came to take a look, we were shocked at what they told us: We had to drain and reline the ...

161. 2024 ECE Forecast: Cultivating Healthy Child Relationships

January 15, 2024 20:00 - 35 minutes - 32.5 MB

When I was a new parent, I thought I could give my kids more by simply loving them more. Spoiler alert: I was mistaken. Don't get me wrong—my heart was in the right place. Like so many before me, I wanted to give my kids a life even better than the one I had experienced. But with time and maturity, I came to realize you can't give what you don't have. You can't pour into your kids if you don't first pour into yourself. The same can be said for your teachers at school. Since the pandemi...

160. 2024 ECE Forecast: The Shifting Landscape of Parent Partnerships

January 08, 2024 20:00 - 32 minutes - 29.8 MB

Has someone ever told you to calm down? It's one of the most aggravating statements ever. Recently, I was having a conversation with my husband, Mayer, and things were getting a little heated. Before things got out of hand, I wanted to regulate myself so I could operate from a more level mindset.  Instead of giving me the space to work through my emotions, Mayer decided it would be helpful in that moment to say "Calm down. It's not a big deal." When in the history of the world has it eve...

159. 2024 ECE Forecast: Pioneering a New Era of Leadership

January 01, 2024 20:00 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MB

Are you living by your values? While you think that question over, let me tell you a story. In our family, generosity is a core value, and one of the ways in which we embody that value is by hosting members of the community in our home. So when the High Holiday was approaching this past year, our initial intention was to host two or three out of the four meals that take place over the holiday, just as we normally would. But when I realized that the Schools of Excellence Legacy Mastermind...

158. Shifting into Legacy-Minded Leadership with Mandy Moore

December 11, 2023 20:00 - 32 minutes - 29.7 MB

School leadership can be a lonely journey.  When you're at the top of the org chart, it's your responsibility to support your team—meaning there's no one to catch you when it's you who has fallen down. That's the harsh reality that Mandy Moore came face-to-face with when she became the owner of her center, Steadfast Academy in Texas, a few years ago. Transitioning from director to owner was a difficult change. She had gone from having at least some semblance of support to suddenly having ...

157. Building Strong Relationships in Leadership with The Little Foxes Team

December 04, 2023 20:00 - 36 minutes - 33 MB

Last year, after speaking at a conference, I was contacted by, Sophie Kerr, the owner of Little Foxes Nursery School in Wiltshire, England, an early childcare center that believes in the power of strong role models in children's learning and development. She had heard me speak about B.R.I.D.G.E., the 6 key meta skills you need as a childcare center leader, and it immediately resonated with her. Although she had a strong team of directors, they were struggling in some crucial areas, like ma...

156. Educating your Team on Reporting

November 27, 2023 20:00 - 25 minutes - 23.6 MB

When you write out a to-do list—whether for your team, your family, or yourself—does it give an accurate representation of everything that goes into completing each task? Take laundry, for example. When I put "do the laundry" on my to-do list, I would be kidding myself if I thought it was a one-step process. There's sorting, washing, drying, ironing, folding, putting the clothes away… and even that isn't an exhaustive list depending on the circumstances. Rather than an easy box to check, s...

155. How to Plan Travel as a Leader

November 20, 2023 20:00 - 23 minutes - 21.3 MB

When my husband Mayer and I still lived in NYC, he held a position at a college that was highly demanding (to put it lightly). As part of his role, he was required to work 7 days a week, with very limited PTO. And when he did have time off, he fell ill—just like clockwork. That wasn't a coincidence. When we work ourselves to the bone without allowing ourselves proper time to rest and recover, we become more vulnerable to illness.  Think of your well-being like a battery—if you don't plug...

154. Navigating Tough Talks: A Guide to Handling Termination Communication

October 30, 2023 20:00 - 33 minutes - 30.9 MB

No matter the industry, leaders are often afraid to be honest about why they're firing someone. They think that by sugar-coating the truth or dancing around the issue, they're protecting the person's feelings. But the reality is that being dishonest doesn't help anyone but you. Rather than protect them, you actually protect yourself from uncomfortable feelings.  In reality, the best thing you can do for everyone involved is to communicate with transparency and kindness—no matter the contex...

153. Leadership and Letting Go: When is it Time to Say Goodbye?

October 23, 2023 20:00 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MB

Many years ago (when my kids were a lot smaller), my husband Mayer and I took a trip to Niagara Falls. As usual, I had organized everything in advance, including reserving adjoining rooms for our family. Because our kids were so young at the time, it was really important that we had that adjoining room. So, I made sure to call the hotel—both the day before and the day of the trip—to confirm that the rooms were available for us as planned. But lo and behold, on the night we arrived at the h...

152. The Fear of Firing: What is the True Cost?

October 16, 2023 20:00 - 25 minutes - 23.3 MB

No one enjoys having to fire an employee.  In most cases it's uncomfortable and unpleasant to have to let someone go, especially if they didn't do anything "wrong." But hanging on to a team member who's not the right fit for your center's vision and values can have some serious consequences… maybe more than you realize. In the case of Janine, a Schools of Excellence Owner's HQ member, her reluctance to fire a toxic team member impacted her health and wellbeing.  Janine was an owner who h...

151. Fighting Flu Season: How a Proactive Insurance Policy Makes a Difference

October 09, 2023 20:00 - 30 minutes - 28.1 MB

Every year, flu season seems to come as a surprise. We know it’s coming. And yet, it always seems to catch us unaware, putting us into all kinds of highly stressful situations.  Like having to find a sub for your subs' sub. Seriously. I was dropping off one of my kids at school one day, and I didn't recognize one of the teachers. When I asked her who she was, she said "Oh, I'm subbing for Rachel." Who's Rachel? Well, as it turns out, Rachel was subbing for Britney… who was subbing for S...

150. Creating a Culture of Growth & Gratitude Ashriel Huber

October 02, 2023 20:00 - 40 minutes - 36.9 MB

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 needle. When I met Ashriel at a conference, she felt stuck. She confided that she’d lost key membe...

149. Your Distress Tolerance Staff Toolkit

September 25, 2023 20:00 - 31 minutes - 28.4 MB

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. Because stress is an unavoidable part of our lives, it’s up to us to keep ourselves regulated and ...

148. Developing your Distress Tolerance as a School Leader

September 18, 2023 20:00 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MB

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 inevitable challenges of life as a school leader. Let me give you an example.  Recently, my h...

147. From Loss to Legacy

September 11, 2023 20:00 - 19 minutes - 17.9 MB

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 locations, letting go of teachers, saying goodbye to families, and even delegating responsib...

146. How to Create Your School Org Chart

September 04, 2023 20:00 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MB

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 and who they should report to. But that's not all your org chart should do. Because the leaders...

Additional Tips on How to Plan for Chaos

August 30, 2023 20:00 - 31 minutes - 29 MB

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 under the assumption that the start-of-the-school year mayhem is avoidable, any disorder that o...

145. Tolerating Good Enough For Long Enough To Create Excellence

August 28, 2023 20:00 - 30 minutes - 27.4 MB

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 demanding the very best out of everyone, all the time. But life doesn't work that way. Peopl...

144. The Ambition Equation: Balancing Passion, Purpose, and Practicality

August 21, 2023 20:00 - 30 minutes - 28.1 MB

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 define ambition may change over time. While you can achieve extraordinary greatness in multipl...

143. Overcoming Overwhelm and Cultivating Confidence with Ashley Corthell

August 14, 2023 20:00 - 28 minutes - 26.3 MB

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 case for Ashley Corthell, owner of Daybreak Academy in Utah. When I first connected with her, ...

142. Preparing for the Chaos at the Start of the School Year

August 07, 2023 20:00 - 37 minutes - 33.8 MB

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, any disorder that occurs becomes a reflection of your competency as a leader. The chaos beco...

141. How to Prepare for the First Staff Meeting

July 31, 2023 20:00 - 32 minutes - 29.4 MB

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 deluge of information comes from the very best of intentions. You're optimistic about the schoo...

140. The Pyramid of Excellence: Aligned and Legacy Stages

July 24, 2023 20:00 - 22 minutes - 20.4 MB

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 episode of our five-part series of the Pyramid of Excellence.  This week, we’re at the top of the Py...

139. The Pyramid of Excellence: Integrated Stage

July 17, 2023 20:00 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MB

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 Excellence as a guide to help you think about how to expand your center while ensuring the quality of...

138. The Pyramid of Excellence: Disordered Stage

July 10, 2023 20:00 - 20 minutes - 18.4 MB

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 Excellence. This is where you need to build communication and trust… but are also dealing wi...

137. The Pyramid of Excellence: Survival Stage

July 03, 2023 20:00 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MB

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 in Survival for a few months. During that time, there are a lot of questions and decisions ...

136. The Pyramid of Excellence

June 26, 2023 20:00 - 29 minutes - 27 MB

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 leaders to better understand where they were at and what they needed to work on next.  That’s how the...

135. Why Traditional ROI Doesn't Work for School Leaders

June 19, 2023 20:00 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MB

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 worth asking yourself why. When you look at everything through a financial lens, it's much easi...

134. Navigating a Multigenerational Workforce

June 12, 2023 20:00 - 32 minutes - 30 MB

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're choosing to address this unique time in history. Whenever you bring different people togeth...

133. Stop Getting Caught Up In The Fairness Game

June 05, 2023 20:00 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MB

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's potential. Let me give you a real-life example from a school leader who I'll call Lisa. Lisa was l...

131. The Power of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership with Heather Chauvin

May 22, 2023 20:00 - 52 minutes - 48 MB

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. They see a teacher struggling to manage their classroom or come to school on time, and their firs...

130. Does Your School Culture Foster Health or Burnout?

May 15, 2023 20:00 - 45 minutes - 42 MB

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 running rampant in early childhood education.  But what's perhaps even more common than burnout ...

129. 5 Layers to Building a Culture of Retention: Promotion

May 08, 2023 20:00 - 31 minutes - 28.8 MB

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 that may seem true on the surface, the reality extends far deeper. At their core, people want...

128. 5 Layers to Building a Culture of Retention: Accountability

May 01, 2023 20:00 - 29 minutes - 26.6 MB

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 conversation. In particular, they feared that if they tried to provide feedback, the teacher would...

127. 5 Layers to Building a Culture of Retention: Contribution

April 24, 2023 20:00 - 38 minutes - 35.3 MB

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 give up, and unclear directions as an excuse to wait to be told what to do. It's a type of enviro...

126. 5 Layers to Building a Culture of Retention: Quality of Life

April 17, 2023 20:00 - 31 minutes - 28.5 MB

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 ding at all hours, programming us to always be on-call. This has blurred the separation between...