Tips for Centre Directors
Sarah Cooper has great success as a Centre Director at Goodstart Early Learning, and she’s here to share her top leadership tips.
BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE
Great leaders garner the respect and admiration of their colleagues, while delivering results, and although some people are natural leaders, you don’t need to be born this way to lead a centre successfully.
With effort and commitment, it’s entirely possible to learn and finesse your leadership skills as your career progresses, and if you’re already managing an early learning centre, you might like to take some cues from Sarah Cooper!
Sarah is a Centre Director with a down-to-earth and highly successful leadership style.
She’s a skilled mentor, trainer and transformational changemaker who’s raised two consecutive services to the level of Exceeding NQS, and was recently named Goodstarter of the Year for the Victoria West and Tasmania region in the 2023 Goodies awards.
With a proven track record as an involved, intuitive and inspirational leader at Goodstart Early Learning, here are Sarah’s top six leadership tips for Centre Directors just like you!
1. Be present in your team.
There’s more to leadership than just telling people what to do, and from personal experience, Sarah says it’s important to be involved with your team in a real way, and also to be there for your team.
This means doing things with them day-to-day, and supporting them through times of change or challenging circumstances.
Sarah says, “You need to have respect and understanding for your people,” and this comes from engaging with them in meaningful ways and being an active member of the team yourself.
2. Know where your champions are.
Although this might sound like favouritism, Sarah’s second tip just means that you recognise special skillsets, interests or achievements that can benefit your centre.
She says, “If you've got somebody in your centre who does something fantastic, you can utilise their strengths to push your centre forward.”
This can lead to new or improved initiatives, and celebrating staff members’ achievements is also great for the culture at your service.
Pictured: Sarah Cooper
3. Embrace a buddy system.
Sarah has had great success partnering up people with different strengths, and she says, “As a Centre Director, you need to be strategic about who you're putting into rooms together.
“Ask yourself, ‘Are they supporting each other?’ and if you've got someone who is strong in environments, but not so great in learning stories, and someone who's the opposite, you can buddy those two people up.”
Sarah has found that careful partnering balances out a room really well, with the added benefit of real peer-to-peer learning.
4. Meet your people where they are.
Every person is on their own career trajectory, and although you might have high expectations for your whole team, you do need to be realistic about where people are at, instead of deciding where everyone is going.
Sarah explains that, “You can't expect people to go from zero to 10 when they're at five. Some people might need a little bit more support with getting from five to six before we can get to 10.”
For this reason, she focuses on real individual-based learning to get the best out of each team member and guide them in a direction that’s positive for them and for the centre.
5. Be transparent around transformations.
Humans have a natural tendency to shy away from, or totally resist change, but explaining things ahead of time really does help, especially when big transformations are coming.
Sarah explains that, “Your team needs to know the ‘why.’ Why are we doing what we're doing, and why am I asking them to make this change?”
Talking things through ahead of time provides you with a chance to explain your thinking and respond to any staff members’ concerns, which helps to make even the biggest of upheavals, more manageable.
6. Stay organised.
Good organisation is key when you’re managing people and premises, looking for opportunities, and driving change.
Obviously, good organisation means staying on top of your to-do list and dealing with issues as they arise, but it also means great communication.
Successful Centre Directors listen and explain (as touched on above), and communicating goals and progress with your team also enables you to remain organised and lead effectively.
All of these tips are great to take on board, and whatever your leadership style, it’s worth remembering that there’s no ‘I’ in ‘Team’!
A committed, communicative and proactive leadership approach will take you far, and if you’re looking to level up your early learning career and move into a management role, KindiCare Jobs is a great place to find different employment openings.