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Dive into the heart of early education with The Teacher's Lounge. Whether you're a budding educator or a seasoned professional, join us as we unpack the wisdom from our renowned child care center's directors, translating real-life classroom experiences into actionable insights. From innovative techniques to proven policies, we shed light on the tools that build confidence in the classroom. But it's not just about individual growth; it's about creating a collective ethos. Discover how to foster a culture of reflection, collaboration, and implementation in your child care center, ensuring every teacher thrives and every child benefits. Share this podcast with the teaches of your child care center to mentor them as they grow into their roles as early educators! Tune in and let's transform early education together!
what is implementation management
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[00:00:00] Hey there, it's Noel and today I'm Sharon on a topic that I really like, cuz I love systems and I love creating systems and figuring them out and having them work at our childcare centers. So I want you to know that I chose the word implementation for my Word of the Year because I am passionate about supporting childcare centers and providing high quality care for young children.
[00:00:26] And I believe that effective implementation of best practices and systems can make a significant difference in the efficiency and effectiveness of your center. And by focusing on implementation, I hope to provide support to my team at my center, the early education community, the members of my director's club, and anyone else in the childcare industry who wants to improve their.
[00:00:51] My goal is to help childcare centers implement new initiatives, improve training for their team, and ultimately support your high quality early [00:01:00] learning center. And through a focus of implementation, I am confident that we can make a real difference in the lives of young children and their families and contribute to the continued growth and success of the childcare industry. Learning. Implementation management is crucial for leaders of childcare centers because it equips them with the skills and knowledge necessary to . Successfully deploy new initiatives, allocate resources, and promote continuous improvement. And directors must continuously adapt to the changing needs of young children and their families, and the broader community. Effective implementation management skills enable leaders to effectively manage change and ensure that new initiatives meet their intended goals.
[00:01:45] Have you ever put in place a policy or procedure and it just didn't work? Didn't stick, the team didn't get it. So that's what we're talking about right here is this implementation management. And [00:02:00] ultimately, it's such a great skill to learn and to improve upon. And one of the things that I want you to know about that going into this when we're gonna talk about how to do implementation management, is I want you to think about.
[00:02:13] You're that it's always not gonna work. You know that when you're putting in place a policy and sometimes things stick right away and sometimes things don't and you gotta tweak it. So I want you to think about how important it's gonna be for you to reflect on how it's going. And be open to discovering new ideas and assessing new things to figure out why it's not sticking.
[00:02:38] And then also, once you finally get your system going, keep it in place and holding everyone accountable to whatever the standard is. . So let's dig in. I have seven steps that I have created that can help you really have a successful implementation management process. And so the first step is [00:03:00] to develop a clear plan.
[00:03:02] Step one is develop a clear plan so you have to know what you're doing. You can't just get up from your desk and you're gonna make a new policy. That calling out procedure is done a certain way. Now you're changing something in it and you just walk around and nonchalantly tell everybody.
[00:03:18] You actually have to have a plan. And I know most of you know that. We're just gonna start with the basics. So when we develop this comprehensive plan that outlines like the goals or objectives or expected outcomes or the process and if it's something that you're rolling out that needs a policy, it should have a policy with it.
[00:03:37] Your vision should be communicated to all the stakeholders, like exactly what. Expecting this policy to look like, how it's gonna work, who's gonna be part of it, and you need to share that vision to everybody involved, if it's the team or the families business partners. Just to ensure everyone's on the same page.
[00:03:56] So step one. And implementation, implementing [00:04:00] any policy, procedure, anything at your center. Have a plan and have it in writing before you even go out there. Number two is making sure that you assign roles and responsibilities so you can't just, put in place a plan and not tell them who's doing what.
[00:04:16] Cuz sometimes people don. know what's in your head of what you expect. Like maybe if you roll out a policy and you say, okay, lead teachers, I want, every night when everyone leaves, the waste baskets rinsed out and sprayed with a cleaning a disinfectant solution. And at the staff meeting, people could take it as, oh, you said it to the lead teachers, you didn't tell me and I closed the room today and I'm not gonna wash it
[00:04:42] So we all know that happens. So assign roles and responsibilities. So the lead is responsible to make sure that barrel gets washed every night, whether it's her or whoever, covers in her room. . So again, it's important to assign specific roles and responsibilities to staff [00:05:00] members so that everyone knows what they need to implement and what they need to do to, for success for this policy.
[00:05:07] And when you do this in a larger group, and you say this to people, like the lead is responsible to ensure it gets done for the room no matter who it is. The other people listen to it and hear that. So when the lead says to them, oh, I'm leaving today at four 30, so when you close the room at five, could you please make sure that the barrel gets.
[00:05:28] End. Leave it at that. Everyone knows what their role is. Everyone heard it. You're still gonna have to remind them. We all know that and we'll get into how we do that later
[00:05:41] so number three is secure necessary resources. So if you need something for this for whatever your rule, policy procedure is, you need to ensure that the, you have access to it. I will tell you that I have seen policies go into place like I'm thinking on cu. at this one [00:06:00] school I worked with, and they put a policy in place about expectations of how the curriculum would roll out.
[00:06:07] But then there were no resources to do it, nothing to, for, no paper. They didn't have goose, some classrooms didn't have glue. So like you can't really roll out like a high quality curriculum if the teachers don't have access to. Equipment. Number four, we'll get into monitoring progress.
[00:06:26] This is really important and what I told you to have your mind opened up to, because regularly we monitor the progress of how this thing's going, so you can't just put in place a policy. and then that's it. And then you just fueled up anger that they're not rolling it out, or you're randomly walking around saying, oh, you're not doing it.
[00:06:47] You're not doing it. So you need to monitor it. You need to come up with a plan of how frequently you should monitor how this is getting implemented and document it in a notebook. Get a notebook, put a tab somewhere in the notebook with [00:07:00] monitoring pro, new policies, and write down the ones that you.
[00:07:04] And on your calendar every week, write, monitor, and go to the calendar. When you, when the day comes up and it says monitor, you'll get your notebook out. Go to the tab with the policies and look at what you are monitoring regularly and go check it out. Give yourself some time that day to look at it and discover what how it's going.
[00:07:26] Good, bad, or ind. number five is making sure you provide professional development. So some policies aren't gonna need that and some policies are. And when staff members have the opportunity to build their skills and knowledge, so they are well equipped to implement the new initiative effectively. What do I mean by this?
[00:07:47] We have like some policies are gonna need professional development like if it's a new brand of curriculum or what else could it be?
[00:07:57] if it's a new procedure the [00:08:00] state is asking you to do, like that's gonna need some training. But I want you to think a little deeper than that. So recently we introduced a science program at my childcare center. And so our program director designed this program with, mon using the learning outcomes from, the state of Massachusetts for the center for all the ages and designed this Really interactive science program for the kids.
[00:08:26] And she could have just handed out the list and said, oh, we're gonna be doing this, once a month. I want you to take this science box out and do this activity with the children. But she took it a step further. and she wrote what she expected to see how it, she expected to see it roll out.
[00:08:47] And then she wrote, she gave feedback on why when we teach science and we do a science lesson, like why observations are so important, why the conversation around what we see is [00:09:00] important, why the children doing it on their own is important. . And she then put, really talked about science tests and I can't even think, delete delete,
[00:09:13] delete, delete, delete. She gave them this new program, told them she was gonna be delivering a box to their room, and then they can decide, with all the activity and they can decide when they're going to do it. And then she trained them on it, and then she had it in writing so that it's now in a, in the classroom binder.
[00:09:30] So if a new teacher comes. They see, oh, this box, I was just gonna do this thing. But no, she took it that step further and it's, and so if you're working with me and I'm brand new and you can, and you pull out the, it's called the investigator's club. If you pull out that box, you can say to me, Hey, you, Noah, why don't you read this?
[00:09:50] This is what this is. And then I cannot just see, oh, we gotta do the science. It's more, it's not just the science activity, it's about teaching children about stem, right? [00:10:00] And talking about investigations and talking about observations and what they notice and all the things that they should be looking at.
[00:10:06] And and I think that really can connect your policy procedure, like whatever it is to it being consistently run at your childcare. All right.
[00:10:17] Number six is engage families and stakeholders. So involve the families and the stakeholders in the implementation process to ensure they're fully informed and understand the goals and outcomes too. So just like with my investigators club that we just talked about, everyone knows what's expected and how this program works and what they can expect, like when the parents can expect to see it. And we have somebody that's going to, we make sure that we're sharing the photos so that we really connect this whole new program at our school as part of our conversation on the learning process in young.
[00:10:50] And the last thing is number seven is evaluate the outcomes. So finally, it's so important to evaluate the impact and the outcomes of the, how this got [00:11:00] implemented for to help you with future decision making and ensure that the initiative is meeting its goals and objectives. So if we go back to. The, my Science program we should be having conversations with the teachers and reflecting on how is it working?
[00:11:14] When you get the box, do you feel overwhelmed? Are we giving you the appropriate equipment that you need? How is it going when you are implementing it? What are you seeing with the children? What learning outcomes are you seeing, connecting? And then also, talk to your parents. Ask them how do they think it's going?
[00:11:30] And then, Come up with do you need to tweak something, change something, go investigate why something's not working or celebrate that it is working cuz you put a lot of work into implementing this. And so the seven steps, one, develop a clear plan. Two. Assign roles and responsibilities.
[00:11:49] Three. Secure on the necessary resources. Four. Monitor progress. Don't forget, put it on your calendar. Number five, provide professional development. Six. [00:12:00] Engage families and stakeholders. And seven, evaluate the outcomes and adjust as necessary. and when we use these seven steps as a checklist for implementation, I love a checklist.
[00:12:11] We become more consistent at our childcare center. That's how we develop consistency was with implementation management. As a leader, having a checklist, creating systems can be beneficial to you too.
[00:12:23] So it's also a great resource to give to someone when you're mentoring them. Having a checklist for creating systems just like this can be beneficial. So I want you to go to the D, the show notes of this. There's a transcript. You can download me talking just now on the seven if you didn't write them down. And you can create a checklist for implementation and I think that's super helpful.
[00:12:46] It keeps you accountable. You can keep it in your head all you want, but it holds you accountable too to the process because sometimes we, things get in the way and time go, we run outta time and we might skip that evaluation thing and never go back and see [00:13:00] that the program was a flop because I didn't check back in with them.
[00:13:03] Or that there was one simple little thing that I coulda had done to help and they just stopped doing it cause I didn't give them that resource. . Another great thing for having a checklist to develop these policies is that if you bring on an assistant director or if you bring on another director or you open another center, When you share these checklists with people that you're mentoring to be a leader, it is so beneficial to them.
[00:13:31] And if you have a new leader, you can show her the process with your checklist for whatever works at your center on how to create and implement and the whole nine yards. You can give that to them and then mentor them through adding a new policy or procedure to your. To your center. And so this really is so beneficial to, for both things, for getting a policy done and for mentoring your new leaders.
[00:13:57] When we have a strategy like this to roll out [00:14:00] something new or change, we reap great benefits when we really strategize on how we're gonna roll this out. instead of just casually sharing an update with no plan to support and maintain and no vision of what we want it to look like.
[00:14:15] And when childcare center directors, use in this implementation management and really think about it, it can bring so many benefits to the center. So one of the greatest benefits I think it brings is improved outcomes. Think about when we have effective. Implementation management, it can help us to ensure the new initiatives are deployed successfully and meet the goals.
[00:14:39] So if you just throw out a policy and then never go back and check it, like we said, that it isn't always helpful. Or if we can't just accept the feedback that it's not working and make adjustments. . The second thing I think really is beneficial is increased efficiency. So when we are clearer and we write things out [00:15:00] and we discuss it at a staff meeting, it ends up delete.
[00:15:06] So the second benefit to all this is it increases your efficiency because by planning and coordinating and then monitoring the implementation. We can avoid unnecessary delays and minimize things not getting done and being annoyed with it not being consistent, it leads to just more efficient new initiatives at your childcare center.
[00:15:29] A third benefit is better communication and collaboration. So when we really utilize implementation management, it includes communicating to everybody involved, and it includes monitoring and it includes feedback and when. like your teachers and your families see that you are so open to, this is a new policy.
[00:15:54] How's it working? How's it going? How's, the good, the bad, the ugly? And you do not need [00:16:00] to. , take all the feedback and do exactly what everyone wants. You need to make decisions. And but just showing that you accept this feedback and that you're open, especially with your staff I think that's so beneficial.
[00:16:11] It really helps to build and trust and foster a sense of teamwork. The fourth benefit I think is super helpful is more effective use of resources. So effective implementation management can help organizations delete delete, can help centers allocate resources more effectively. So ensuring that delete.
[00:16:32] So it ensures that the necessary resources are available when and where they're. The fifth thing is that I think is really helpful to all of us is increased staff satisfaction. So when staff members have the resources and support they need to be successful, they are more likely to feel satisfied with their work and motivated to continue making a positive impact.
[00:16:56] And the last thing that I think is really helpful when we have [00:17:00] implementation management is be better decision making. So by regularly evaluating the impact and outcomes of the implementation centers can be informed cen, delete. Delete centers can make informed decisions about future initiatives and ensure they're meeting their goals and objectives.
[00:17:18] So what's gonna happen, what that means? Just like when I rolled out the the art program when Cindy rolled it out, delete, delete, delete. So just like when Cindy rolled out the investigators club, she's saying that, it's already been like a month. So she's saying that you. , the observations are happening.
[00:17:40] The discussions are happening. The kids are all hands on. It's all them. Everyone's engaged in it. It doesn't look like a stressful time in the classroom when it's rolling out. Teachers don't look irritated that like they gotta do something they don't wanna do , right? Because they, it's their classroom and their curriculum.
[00:17:57] We all have that teacher , so [00:18:00] she sees that this is working, so she now knows that when. Doesn't just hand them out. Oh, we're doing this, science program. Here's January's curriculum. She just hands 'em a list and tells 'em when she's giving it to them, or doesn't even do that, and just shows up one day with it.
[00:18:16] She knows that when she hands out a. List of the projects, the learning outcomes, the dates, when they're gonna get it, how long they have to implement it, which is the whole month. So it's not like the time stress. And then she writes out her vision of it, what she, how she sees it playing out. What she sees the children doing and ties it to professional development learning, right?
[00:18:41] Ties it to child development ties. It tries it to what learning outcomes look like in. . Now, I know for a fact it didn't take her three days to write this dissertation. It was a two, it was four pages, two checklists, two pages of checklist, and then some copy. And [00:19:00] she, we, she researched it on the internet.
[00:19:02] She. Research, like what these learning outcomes look like, gave bullet points and it's super easy. Cut and pasted it into a document. And now she has this lifelong thing that she can use in her classrooms at my center. And this is now going to help her in maybe in a few months. It's a staff meeting agenda item.
[00:19:20] Let's review how this looks. It's a document in the classroom for all people going through orientation. Like you can read this and find out what the investigators club is about. So she knows what works now. And then if this didn't work, she's gonna know what didn't work and she can adjust that.
[00:19:39] And that's what is So I. about implementation management and really creating yourselves a checklist to always know how you wanna roll out policies and procedures. You can even get so detailed as adding like. who you want to [00:20:00] get an email, to announce it, how many need to go out. You could get into how many face do you want Facebook posts, do you wanna do a newsletter about it?
[00:20:09] Do you want, there's 50 million things you can add to this checklist, but when you have this checklist, it's great for you too. Cuz when you get those little pockets of time that you're developing these new policies and procedures or programs it's super helpful to have a checklist cuz then you can just.
[00:20:24] Document, you know where you're at so that you know when you get your next 15 minutes to work on it, you know exactly where you're at and you have the checklist. So I hope that learning a little bit more about implementation management can help you to improved outcomes increased efficiency at your center.
[00:20:40] I loved sharing with you the benefits of it so that you can see how important it is. To really pay attention to how we roll out policies and procedures. I also want you to just think about this. Even if you have policies and procedures in place, there's no reason why you can't write [00:21:00] yourself through this policy.
[00:21:00] Like what policy right now isn't working? That I'd start right at the top and, rewrite what it looks like, have a meeting about it, work through the steps of this. And I know that when you. start implementing things more thoughtfully and strategically. It de definitely leads to improved outcomes and I know that you're gonna have the people that are gonna buck you , and you have a plan for that too.
[00:21:26] I bet. When they don't like to follow policies and procedures, be super clear on your expectations. So I hope you learned something today in this podcast. And I look forward to connecting to you soon. Make sure you head to my show notes, like again, the transcripts there. If you need any of these lists and all the links to our socials, I would love to connect to you on there.
[00:21:45] Until next time, have an awesome day, and I'm so proud of everything you're doing in early Ed.