Despite all of the hard work over the past 3 weeks to get the renovations going, it doesn't look like we're going to meet our target to open by the end of the month. We've only had a few volunteers here and there, and with all of the repairs needed on the building, progress is way too slow.
I haven't been doing much aside from work, and life has been fairly uneventful since Mom & Dad left just over a week ago.
The teachers did get to town last week, so hopefully I'll get to know a few of them and maybe make some friends.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about how I can bring the best of who I am to my new position. One professor told me before I left that since she's known me, she noticed that I was always able to take something and make it better. I hang on to that now as I feel the struggle with the slow progress and I have to force myself to think about how it will be better, even if the process is taking longer than we expected. It's important that I keep in mind that change is an extremely slow process, and that not all change is going to happen when or in the way I would like it to.
There are some changes that are happening quickly. It's starting to get darker earlier (around 9:30), and the sky even gets completely dark for a few hours during the night. The sun still starts rising around 5 am, but the day and night light is becoming much more like what we're used to in the south.
I'm anxious to get the programming done for at least the first month so that I feel at least somewhat ready for when we finally get to re-open. I'm also anxious for staff training. It is so far out of my range of experience to do week-long training on every aspect of working in an early learning setting. I definitely have a lot that I need to learn before I can train the new staff. The training is such a crucial part of implementing a new program and making change, so I'm definitely open to any tips or advice from those of you who have experience in this area!
One of your best qualities is an ability to be cheerful and easy-going, yet hard-working and persevering at the same time. Lead by example - if you're willing, as manager, to do the heavy lifting, and scrub the grimy areas as you've been doing, your staff will be all the more ready to do the hard work too.
ReplyDeleteAs for the training - build in lots of time to learn from your new staff members too. Wherever practical, take their suggestions, allow time for conversation, and build the program together. Present the hard-and-fast stuff (safety guidelines, protocols, etc.) and then try to have some fun building a real team together about how it's all going to look. (And remember what you just wrote - it might not all happen the way you would initially like it to, but if the end result is a staff feeling empowered, valued, and listened to, it will be worth it!)
Kerry