One the most challenging things that I have ever done was to supervise employees. In fact, to get away from supervising staff (in the past), I have even hired an Assistant Director to directly work with my staff.
However, I must say that as a Center Owner, I can never really get away from supervising my staff, because they look forward to my feedback.
I motivated to write this blog post, because several days before writing this post; I found myself questioning my staff supervision abilities. In fact, As I ended my business day; I asked myself the following questions:
- Am I really getting what I want from my employees?
- Do they really know what I expect?
- Am I assertive enough?
- Am I too assertive?
- Am I being too controlling?
- Am I being too flexible with my staff?
Furthermore, after asking myself all of the questions above and some questions that I did not mention; I realized that I was being too hard on myself and the staff.
After reflecting on how I deal with my staff and having a long talk with a colleague, I discovered that I was so frustrated because of the following reasons:
- I am a Leader not a supervisor. Leaders empower and inspire and supervisors manage people. Moreover, managing people is impossible and that is why it is frustrating for me and many other Child Care Business Owners sometimes.
- I was looking for perfection and not progress.
- I was too focused on “me” and not how I can empower my staff to do an excellent job
- My attitude was wrong!
I hope that my experience has inspired you to not stress over minor staff issues, but seek to empower your staff to do their best and strive to show progress or even exceed your expectations.
Please, know that I am not suggesting that you tolerate a lack of performance, but I do want to encourage you to keep things in perspective and approach every situation with an attitude of gratitude.
Moreover, I have decided to look for progress not, perfection. Also, I must say that I have a great team; my staff members are positive, they come to work everyday (on-time), they respect me as a leader and they love working with the children.
In summary, I want to share with you, 3- tips that a mentor shared with me in my early days of managing employees and they are as follows:
- Choose your battles wisely
- Let it Go!
- You can’t control the actions of others
With Your Child Care Business in mind,
Shiketa
Resources That Will Empower You to Be an Effective Leader
3 Books that every leader must read
The Child Care Business Owner Institute 
Comments on: "Your Staff Members Are Not “Perfect”" (2)
Great Insight!
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Thanks Andrea!
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