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All It's Quacked Up to Be
All It's Quacked Up to Be
Scaling for Success: Key Takeaways from the 2024 ECE Benchmark Report
Get ready to unlock the secrets to scaling and growing your early childhood business in this eye-opening episode! Join us as we dive into the dynamic world of the ECE industry and gain invaluable insights from our panel of experts. From the latest strategies in compliance and best practices to leadership training and team building, our esteemed guests share their expertise to help you take your childcare business to new heights.
Plus, we'll explore the innovative role of technology in enhancing operational efficiency, and discuss the robust demand for quality childcare services. Don't miss out on these game-changing tactics to revolutionize your business!
Gain the insights you need to navigate the challenges and opportunities in the early childhood industry.
Don't miss out on these actionable insights to improve workflows, accountability, and leadership in your childcare business. Tune in now to revolutionize your operations!
All right. Good morning everyone. It's a good day to have a good day. The weather is a little bit crazy, but we're going to roll with it. So today we're doing our scaling for success expert panel. We'll be talking about a lot of industry insights that we discovered in our 2024 EC benchmark report. You may notice that your audio and video has been turned off, and that's just to give you the best viewing experience possible. You will get a copy of today's recording and we do definitely want to hear from you. So if you have any questions, comments, please feel free to use the chat or the Q&A section down below, but we'll go ahead and get started for the sake of time. I know everyone's busy. So, Brett, I'm going to hand it over to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you, sierra. Good morning everybody. Thank you for joining. Brett Neller, ceo of Line Leader, took over the reins in October of 23. I've been with the company five years, excited about 2024 and excited about our first webinar of the year with these experts that have been so gracious to share their time with us on a busy Tuesday morning after a longer weekend. But thank you for joining us. I'd like to send it around the room real quick for introductions so everybody knows who these experts are. I'm sure you all know who they are, but I'd like to kick it over to Lynn. Lynn, can you tell us who you are, what you do and what you're passionate about?
Speaker 3:Thank you, brett. I'm real happy to be here. My name is Lynn Wenger. I'm the executive vice president of strategic initiatives for One Place Child Care and my background I come from the business side of the house. I have 30 plus years of systems and processes and building infrastructure so that you can scale, and I've been in early education for the last six plus years. In my role at One Place Child Care, really I'm helping to build the North American market. We are a 14 year old company focused on compliance and best practice. It's a software platform for those of you that don't know and also design practice, and the intention is to bring compliance and best practice to the digital forefront and then also, using data to manage your business, identify gaps so that you can limit liability and keep your children and families and staff safe. So I'm delighted to be here and engaged in the conversation.
Speaker 2:Thanks, lynn. If you all haven't checked out One Place, please check it out. Compliance is really really important, becoming more, increasingly more important as we as we move through 2024 and beyond, so check it out. If you haven't seen a really good platform, I'd like to kick it over to Bobby.
Speaker 4:Well, thank you so much, Brett. Thank you, line leader, for doing this. My name is Bobby Franzo, ceo here at PB and JTV and Girl Dad extraordinary, I like to say. I am proud to have led our brand recently to 5,000 fastest growing streaming providers in the US and many of you have previously known. As a parent streaming and engagement app. We are rapidly expanding and evolving into a true video operational tool, including AI and other video management related tools for EC providers and, something we're really excited about 24 and 25 to expand our brand.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Thanks, bobby. Again, really, really, really nice. Like platform review and checked up PB and JTV. Highly recommend it, thanks. So there are 2 tech providers or tech experts on the space. Now to more on the services side. I'd like to kick it over to Beth Cannon.
Speaker 5:Brett, I'm Beth Cannon. I've been in EC for 25 years, started off as an enrichment program called Stretching Girl, going in and serving centers. So Lots and lots of information and content, just serving in so many schools over the years that I have a business, a business and leadership strategist. I do leadership training, sprint courses, and then I do team building and my really passionate is leadership retreats getting in with the directors, with the owners and and doing those retreats to help them level up, optimize their operations and get their team in line.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Beth. Yeah, if you need a guest speaker, you need somebody to come motivate your crew. Nobody better than Beth Cannon.
Speaker 5:She's done it and you know I love him. I can't stage Brett.
Speaker 2:Awesome, love it. Thank you so much, beth, for being here. I'd like to kick it over to Kathy.
Speaker 6:Hi everyone. My name is Kathy Petchell and I've beat everybody so far. I have almost 40 years in the industry and I'm also a multi site owner. I have three locations in Charlottesville, Virginia, and I work with both Beth and.
Speaker 6:Lynn Beth recently spoke for a cohort group in Virginia for us. So one thing I love about this industry and you all are leading at Brett is the way we collaborate and the way we generously share information. I just love that. So on the other side, I work with hinge advisors. I joined hinge in 2017. And it's my dream job because I get to talk shop all day. I'm kind of like Beth like, give me a stage, give me a microphone, give me a telephone, let's just talk shop.
Speaker 6:How can we be better for children in the industry? At hinge, the main thing we do is help you when you're ready to sell your school, but there is such a long runway before that. There's so many ways we can help you be prepared to sell. And one thing Kathy Ligon says from hinge is you should start thinking about your exit strategy when you open your doors, and so we do that. That whole process of I've got 40 years in working on second generation now my daughter and son and large taking over my company. So you're never bored in this industry and there's always a new challenge.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Thank you, kathy. If you haven't checked out hinge, please check it out. Looking to sell your center? Awesome opportunity to help coach you through that process and to wrap up our group of experts none other than Chris Murray.
Speaker 7:Thanks, brett. I am the founder of the Child Care Success Company and I'm really honored to co-sponsor this benchmark report with Line Leader. We have a team of 10 coaches and almost 30 folks now over at Child Care Success and we're serving close to 350 organizations in business coaching, running mastermind groups and events, big and small, and doing trainings of all sorts on the business side primarily, although we have gotten into some teacher training, teacher empowerment and classroom components as well. So I'm very, very excited to be here. The company was founded in 2009, and I've been working in early childhood since that time and I'm a new empty nester so I'm five months in to not having kids at home for the first time and giving me some newfound freedom to travel to more schools and spend more time with these beautiful, heart-centered folks. So thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for being here Again. Child Care Success Company For the best conference in the space Child Care Success Summit every year. Please check it out. We go as a vendor, participant and sponsor Really meaningful. Love interacting with all the operators in the space. So all these people on here today providing their time, thank you again so much, really really appreciate it. So we'll get into it. We have a series of questions we'll run through and I'll pass them off, but love to hear your opinions and expert advice on these. The first one we'll talk about around Robin is you know, have you seen the industry change in the last 12 months? You know it's a fast, rapidly changing space technology, emerging government funding. There's a lot going on. So I'd love to get your opinion on what you, how you've seen the industry change in the last 12 months and all. I'll kick it off with Kathy.
Speaker 6:Oh my gosh, okay, awesome. Well, this is one of my favorite topics because, like I said before, it changes all the time and that's what makes this industry very interesting. So a couple of things that we've seen and I was really interested in to report, because you're talking a lot about enrollment. So one thing is and we coach on this all the time is really needing to keep up with your tuition rates, because, as the grants have slowed down or stopped in most states not all and there's some new ones to take care of the cliff, we're really needing to make sure our tuition rates keep up with our salaries.
Speaker 6:And it is a crazy time right now with hiring. You know you've got four generations in the workplace and you've got different stages of each team and so many people are trying to be very opportunistic, especially the private equity people and some of the bigger groups. So, if you're looking to grow, this is a really good time to grow. Also good time to sell because of what's happening in the industry. We led the industry with how do you stay safe during COVID and you know we showed the public schools the way we took care of the essential workers.
Speaker 6:So the trends and changes right now continued challenges on staffing, continued higher expectations for staff, with not just their pay but with their benefits and their days off. You know the Monday Friday things are real thing. They like to be off on Mondays and Fridays. And and then really the parent. One thing I love talking about Generation Z and something really interesting about them is that they are now our clients. You know our parent consumers as well as our staff. So as much as we used to roll our eyes about the millennials, oh, those millennials.
Speaker 6:They, you know they need the trophy. They are two year olds, they want to know why, why, why? Generation Z are much more sensitive and so, if you can wrap your mind and your heart around Generation Z, you are set for the future because of enrollment and because of your staff.
Speaker 2:Those are just a couple of things. Yeah, no, that's great Thanks for that. And, chris, I know you've partnered with us on the benchmark report. Thanks again for doing that. It's a big, big effort, but a lot of your organizations you work with contributed to that provide some of these insights. But what are your thoughts on the industry in the past 12 months, maybe how you see it evolving, moving forward?
Speaker 7:Yeah. So I think that our, you know, the biggest challenge for the industry that we saw was that our folks, and just folks all over, weren't adequately planning for financial shifts and so they didn't put enough time and focus on their financials and on projecting financials and socking some of that money away from their grants and they were maybe too dependent on it. So when the cliff happened, we've seen stress for sure, the industry is super stressed right now, which breaks my heart. But we are working hard. We did a financial course. We're, you know, give it. Everybody here is giving tools to try to support.
Speaker 7:And so I just think, you know, focusing back on the basics of good business practice, specifically making sure that you are raising rates properly, although I think that we're hitting a ceiling there. Many have raised and then they feel like now they can't be competitive, so they're hitting a ceiling. To Kathy's point, but just going back to where can I pick up some nickels in my financial statement? How can I manage my company better so that I can continue to pay staff what they need to be paid and still make a profit margin at the bottom line? So I think that is just really, really important so we can stay viable and centers can stay open and we can continue to serve families.
Speaker 2:Yep, absolutely. P&m management, cash flow management, core business principles we should all practice. We do it here in technology space as well. So, regardless of the business you're running, really, really super important. Thanks, Beth. What have you seen in the last 12 months and what do you see moving forward from trends and from your perspective?
Speaker 5:Well, I spend a lot of time in the schools with the leaders. So, whereas Chris will focus on the business and the finances and the marketing piece and the sustainability piece, my heart is in with the staff, and so what I've seen in the last 12 months is people are starting to apply for jobs, and when leaders can shift their focus from marketing for employees like you are literally selling your business. You are promoting your employer staff brand to people and you are creating your employer brand. Who are you? Who do you want to attract? What are your benefits? What are those bullet points that are going to get people in the door? Are you paying attention to your Indeed ads? And so the ones who are winning and staffing are the ones who are being really intentional about creating their staff brand, and so we've seen we're not necessarily short staffed anymore for the ones who are being intentional about it.
Speaker 5:So you're getting the people in the door, and so the big piece is who's going to win? Who's going to win in getting the people that are in your community? Because you're competing with your other centers, so staffing has gotten better, but now it's the retention piece. So are you bringing them in? Are you onboarding them well? Are you training them well? Do you have good systems? Do you have a mentor, teacher system to where people will come in and truly feel apart? So it's creating the employee experience that's going to keep them there. So they're going to win if they're strategic and intentional about their staffing. And so that's the biggest thing I think I've seen is we're not short staffed and can't grow because of that. It's just can they handle the turnover and can they do the things they need to do to hang on to the right people to continue to grow and sustain their businesses?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, resourcing, cash management, staff management, make sure you have that bench right of potential candidates always working them, because you never know when you're going to need them. So really important.
Speaker 5:And don't be a jerk.
Speaker 2:Karma. I'm a big believer in karma, so I agree with that 100% From a technology perspective. I'll kick it over to Lynn, who will be close up this question. Lynn, what do you think? What have you seen in the past 12 months? And then, what do you kind of see trends moving forward?
Speaker 3:Sure so for the past 12 months. I agree that we're still facing some staffing and retention issues funding but on the flip side of that coin, we're seeing very aggressive growth, and that was echoed in your benchmark study, as well as the forecast that Hinge did with Phil Vicaro, and what we're seeing is aggressive growth in the mid markets and with the franchises. And then the single sites are also stepping up their game for quality, for branding, making sure that they have a place at the table. So we're actually seeing aggressive growth right now and in tandem with that, the need for data and analyzing data is at an all time high.
Speaker 3:It has not been language that we typically have seen in early education, but we're beginning to see the recognition that without data we can't see where we're driving our business. So, whether it's on the financial side or if it's on the compliance side, operational side, data has become king, and so kind of what I'm seeing over perhaps the next five to 10 years we may actually see some new job titles coming to the org chart Things like data analysts, things like business intelligence expert. Those are skills that help use the information that we're capturing to the benefit, or through the benefit, of technology. So that's kind of where I'm seeing it going is new roles that are emerging and then having to be more savvy about what information are we collecting about how our business is operating, and that's across all markets, small meeting them in large.
Speaker 2:Awesome, all good, yeah, totally relevant. Love it, bobby. What about on your side? You see anything similar there.
Speaker 4:Absolutely and really just to kind of piggyback on what Lynn was speaking to about the data in the benchmark report as well. I mean you guys had 80% of respondents are targeting growth for next year, which is incredible and really one of the big things we've seen post COVID and really led by line leader is kind of this data unification across platforms and that is so key for scale In our rapid growth. We found that isolated applications create fragmented processes, isolated data, and it's very hard to create transparent data across your teams and across your center. So finding applications that speak to each other via integrations and your all on one platforms, like line leader, are imperative for scalable growth, because that data is becoming so much more important for you to operate your schools more efficiently and create consistent brand experiences that parents are demanding these days.
Speaker 2:Yep, Thanks for that, Bobby. Yeah, you need the data to be able to make these decisions in this time right A lot of uncertainty around funding or uncertainty around just in general. So the data is going to give you the answers that you need to move forward. I follow so many different companies on LinkedIn and every day I see a new franchise owner popping up. So the industry is healthy from like a demand perspective and I think it's going to be a really interesting 2024 and beyond. So awesome stuff. Thank you so much for that. Next question how do you suggest ECE leaders balance competing priorities and demands within the industry, such as innovation versus risk management or growth versus program quality loss and I'd love to kick that over to Chris if you don't mind kicking us off with the answer there but your perspective on, you know, balancing innovation versus risk management and growth versus program quality.
Speaker 7:So I'm a firm believer and I've seen it time again that when you focus on business best practices and business success and really also I want to talk a lot about teacher engagement here, because I feel like what really is the engine that drives quality and drives our businesses forward, that we couldn't perform without it, are great teachers, you know, and so I feel a lot of these higher tech components are great and I'm not opposed to scaling and automation and all of that, but I do believe that going a little bit back to basics in 2024 and making sure that your classrooms are really reflecting your core values and core value behaviors and great cultures and engaged teachers is going to take care of 80% of your issue.
Speaker 7:You know what I mean Like that's the protecting the core of the business. That's the core of the business is. So I think sometimes we get all caught up in all the sexy stuff, but to me, teacher engagement at the end of the day, is quality and ways that you can promote that are again checking in on your culture elements not being a jerk, making great managerial decisions, working with your people, doing your regular one on one's having core value behaviors. People know what an A player looks like, and so that may not be a direct answer to your question, but I feel like it can't be said enough that just protecting the core of the business, if you know that your classrooms are performing really great and people are empowered and sharing across the aisle, then you can go and start trying to look at some of these other components and plug them in to your business, because you know that high quality is happening every day. So that's kind of my perspective.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we talk about all the time blocking and tackling. Just get the blocking and tackling in place and the rest will fall suit follow suit. So, beth Cannon, love any perspective you have on the competing priorities and risk management versus innovation, growth versus program quality.
Speaker 5:Well, I think, really and truly them understanding their priorities. I know so many leaders struggle with time management and just the truly understanding of what are your routines and then what are your projects, and so if they can manage their own time and understand this is what my day to day looks like. You know, so many of them get caught into this very reactive state and so they walk in and they're you know they're concerned about, they're concerned about Collins, they're concerned about their team, they're concerned about their staff, and so I truly think that unless they get their quality locked in, they're not going to be able to grow. And if that's where they want to grow, there's a business doesn't have to be that hard right, there's a few simple systems. If they get those systems in place, they pay attention to their time management, they pay attention to their self management, how they're leading their self, how they're leading their staff, how they're leading their school, those are the ones who are going to win.
Speaker 5:But the problem is is they put so much on their plate and they get in. You know they'll sit and they'll listen to a webinar or they'll watch someone else grow, and so they're paying attention to what someone else is doing and they're not getting their own house in order. So I'm so passionate about them focusing on what they can do, starting with leading themselves and then moving forward, because they're not going to grow, they're not going to scale, if they don't have those good, solid systems in place yep, all super relevant good points, kathy.
Speaker 6:Anything to add on to Chris and Beth, of course well, just to piggyback on what Beth said, I was just reading a study about time management the other day and it was talking about giving your staff an estimated amount of time, particularly directors, for to complete a task because if it's just very open ended, they're going to take longer.
Speaker 6:But think about when you were in college and you had to gram for that exam or pull that all nighter. If you give them a little bit less time, I wonder if the quality of their work is similar. Because what I hear, at least from my directors from time to time oh, I was in a room, oh, you know, talking to your parent, I'm you know they're doing the things that are really comfortable for them rather than the things that are driving the business forward. And then second, so that's just a backing Beth's comments. And then the second thing would be it's now or never.
Speaker 6:I'm hearing from so many people, because of the grants going away or being reduced, that people are thinking about closing. I hear about that a lot. I can't sell your school if you're having to close it. So first things first, begin with the end in mind. The end in mind is a quality program. Quality program means you're profitable. So put all your eggs in that basket and get the help or the coaching you need for that, because that's what's going to drive you forward. You know, we don't want childcare deserts. We want children to have access to quality care, no matter what yeah, awesome, awesome, bobby.
Speaker 2:Any thoughts on that, from innovation versus risk management and growth, first program, quality loss.
Speaker 4:I think you're muted, bobby there we go, speaking, speaking to our experiences. Scaling training and then scaling culture were two key things for us. So we've really leaned into learning platforms. It was we're blessed with higher attention here at PB and JTV, but there is a silver lining to that. You know staff get used to doing things the way we've always done things to get us to this point, but that's not necessarily what we need to be doing and how we need to be doing things to get us to our next phase and keeping that education up to date, keeping them bought into the educational and process e-changes and then making sure, as you scale, you do not leave your culture behind. So scaling culture was a big thing.
Speaker 4:We do things around here. Our core values are breathed into cultural rewards. We one of ours is check your egos at the door and there's like a little door tag when you walk in and it hits. You know it makes a noise every time you open the door. So there's little things we do about the core values and always breathing who we are and why we do things. We even do an annual team week. Every day is like a team appreciation theme, something small, but just really breathing in the culture and making sure, as you scale, your team's bought in and the core values are brought along with you yep, awesome, uh lind, to close up that question you're muted, there we go.
Speaker 3:Can you hear me now?
Speaker 2:yes, ma'am perfect.
Speaker 3:Okay, I'm going to take this a slightly different direction. Um, I agree with the people element and I'm coming at this from a technology landscape, and so in the report um, I believe the statistic was 44 percent of tech licenses are underutilized. So what I think we need to be taking into account is how do you integrate technology into your processes, procedures, your culture, so that it's not perceived as just one more thing that needs to be done? So a very thoughtful approach so that it protects and preserves the people element, element of it. But it's intended to raise their effectiveness, their efficiency, reducing the, um, the mundane parts of their job responsibilities. And then, in tandem with that because I'm the kind of the data nerd here, but what I often see is we need to create a culture where gaps and excellence need to be embraced. It should not be punitive.
Speaker 3:So, as we start looking at change and how do we incorporate some of these new technologies? Um, they're intended to give us visibility of what we could do, do better or differently, and the culture that supports. We may not all be 100 percent, but how do we get to where we want to be so we can replicate that in scale. So that's what I would envision is just a more thoughtful approach to tech integration. And just to put a fine point on this is oftentimes the leaders will say this is the greatest thing and then at the director level they're the ones who have to implement it and the teachers are the ones that have to use it. And if we're not all singing the same value proposition up and down that change, it's going to contribute to that.
Speaker 2:44 percent of underutilized licenses yeah, and I think a lot of that has to do with, uh, you know accountability, right. Uh, you know, as a leader of organization, you know the direction you want to take the organization in. You know what technology solutions are going to help. So tech enables an operation to provide better quality of care, uh, efficiencies, etc. We're not the answer, necessarily, but accountability around why you knew that platform was the right decision in the first place, and pulling the people with an organization capable to use it they don't know it, but it's, at the end of the day is going to make their life a lot easier and better off.
Speaker 2:A lot of good themes in here strive for excellence. I love that one. We talked about that all the time. Nobody's perfect, but you have to have some sort of guiding north star that you're aiming towards and and always, you know, creeping one inch forward and then always make sure that you have the right people on the bus right and that you're not. And if they're not the right people, sometimes it's hard decision, but it's probably the best decision for your organization. Take care of your people, but make sure you have the right people on the bus. Uh, I think are some things that popped out there for me, um, awesome, so let's move into some focus around enrollment and growth. Have a couple questions, uh, this is for specifically for for chris uh and kathy uh, but what marketing and enrollment growth trends do you see emerging or expanding in uh, this new year? And I'll, uh, I'll let chris take that to kick us off.
Speaker 7:Yeah. So I think for me, the tried and true going back to what works and staying focused on the things that are going to really move the needle for you. We've been talking a lot about data so far on this call and I do feel having a data-driven approach, even if it's simple data, so that you know where exactly you are in your enrollment funnel and what you need to do to move the needle. So a lot of people are trying different things, but they're not really effectively tracking and measuring the data, so they don't really know what's moving the needle. So they're kind of all over the place, right, because you're kind of like following. Well, this person said this, and so I think I also really believe in offers. I believe in getting parents attracted to you through some sort of offer. It doesn't have to be a money off offer, but a founding family offer for a new center, or a promotion that has a premium, or a trip, or a family weekend or a romance package at Valentine's Day or a holiday-driven offer. I think they're being underutilized for sure, and so if you look around at all the non-childcare industry offers, you're being hit with. Offers work right, and some of these you know.
Speaker 7:Back to basics email marketing, great social and a huge focus on video, both for hiring teachers and for attracting parents. It's all about video. It's all about reels and short form video, tiktoks, et cetera. So people have to tap into what's working in our industry and what is trending in marketing and inclined attraction and staff attraction. So folks can't be afraid of video anymore. They don't want to put themselves in front of the camera, but we have to help them get comfortable with it or put their team or some components of their school in front of the camera to show off a little bit.
Speaker 7:And so those are all things that I we're continuing to train people on, kind of over and over again and a little bit of a new flavor here in 2024, but a lot of focus on you know, and CRM optimization for sure, like digging into your line leader, comfortable with all the reports, pulling the reports, looking at the data, having your leadership teams understand the data and having that collaborative approach to what will move the needle for our organization. Setting goals for the next 90 days and then going after it on a quarterly basis. If you set, you know, if you set three goals every quarter, by the end of the year you're going to have 12 incredible goals accomplished as a team. That's huge. You can't be a team like a lot when you're in it, but just stay focused and, just you know, eat that elephant one bite at a time. So those are some of my tips.
Speaker 2:Chris, the video thing. I haven't necessarily heard a lot about that. So what are you coaching your organizations to do? Is it just hey? Set up a TikTok account for the first time. Get out there Instagram. What is that? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7:I mean you can easily find talent for young folks and older folks that know how to create skills. My daughter knows it, she's 18. It's going to take a little bit longer than I have right now, but you know. So a lot of people out there know how they have the talent to pull together these things. It's not that hard. You just get content, get video content in your Instagram and then you can edit it down, add some music, add some copy and you know fun and start building a following. So that is definitely something that people need to be doing for sure, and I think you know paying a company for content. You know I'm also over there with my Grow your Center hat on and that's great. But I do believe every school has organic, beautiful, awesome, fun content that is built into their childcare business and their culture that they may or may not be capitalizing on.
Speaker 2:Yep, excellent. Yeah, we do that a lot. We share a little bit about our culture and we're always doing reels and you know asking me to do TikToks and I'm like I don't know, but you just got to go out there, so it's been a lot of fun. So, kathy, anything else there from? What marketing and Roman growth trends do you see for the upcoming year, for this year?
Speaker 6:Yeah, I've got a couple. I love what Chris said about the technology and utilizing videos. I do it when I speak. Very often I just have everyone grab their camera and do a 30 second pitch and show them how. It's really not scary and first couple of times I didn't have to give a prize out for it, but now they just do it so but that's a really fun thing to do at staff meetings as well and it really engages the Gen Z. What we know about Gen Z, you know, attention span is, you know, eight seconds. They can manage five apps at a time or five pieces of technology at once, and so they're the ones you look at first as your leaders on that. And how great is that to have the younger generation kind of flip flop you know the boomers know it all and they have the history, they're the historians of your school.
Speaker 6:But you know, having it builds culture when different people on your team have different strengths. The other things I would say would be as far as a growth trend for the future would be swapping out family discounts, which is what we're seeing a lot, and recommending a lot for staff discounts for childcare, so that when you know we're trying to recruit against another childcare center you know, having being able to do that childcare discount really might make the difference, and does make the difference, rather than family discounts, particularly family discounts like vacation weeks and whatnot as well.
Speaker 6:And then the other one would be, I would say, increased creativity around training. Remember, we're working with, think about all of our teachers. You know back. You know 30 years or 20 years. You know they used to be children and what is their style of learning, being able to make it you know, ideally as hands on as possible. Do, watch, watch, do you know? Show them. I'm going to diaper, you're going to watch, then I'm going to watch while you diaper and really taking the time that's a great time to use videos. I'm going to video you diapering and then everybody's going to watch and let's see how they did so really making those trainings meaningful and fun, a little goofy. Another use of that would be role playing, those difficult conversations. You know that mom walks in really mad because you lost the pink sock that grandma made or bought in Paris and so utilizing you know what would you say. You know most people freeze till. They practice conversations like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's awesome. Some good, some good data theme video reels. I love the offers thing too, chris. I know I was shopping recently for a new. I have a four year old and two year old and I went to a place that gave me an offer because it made it made me feel good. It felt happy. It was a more value, right, the values that definitely gave me more value for, when I look at it, tuition on an annual basis. So I think those are really really good thing you can do with staff to retention bonuses. A lot easier to retain retain somebody than hire a new person after they've been there a while. So a lot you can do there to help make sure you have the staff to be able to grow and roll them and make sure you have the technology. From Sierra perspective, offers data video Love it. So the next question I'll tee up. We'll let Beth kick us off here. Are there any patterns of mistakes you've seen executives make when choosing to grow by acquisition, and how can our audience combat these?
Speaker 5:Well, you know, I mean hinge is the expert on acquisition, of course, and so you know I see it from the ground, like you know, when I'm in the schools, when we do the transition, when they acquire, when they're bringing in you know, all of this new stuff, you know. I would say you know the mistakes happen and not preparing ahead of time, not being very clear on your culture, not being clear on your systems, not being clear on really just job descriptions and how are we going to operate in the day to day? So if they're not using a project management tool and there's a ton of them out there, I mean I use Trello, there's Asana, there's Mondaycom. You know there's tons of project management. You know, and Lynn loves compliance. You know Lynn is a big proponent on. You know let's get some systems in place. So find your systems. It doesn't have to be that hard.
Speaker 5:But they're making mistakes when they're not set to scale. So they may have systems for a six-figure business, they don't have systems for a seven-figure business. They don't have the org chart like, because when you grow in scale you're going to break your org chart. So you may have had, you know, one center where you have a director and assistant director and then lead teachers and so on. But as you grow in scale, do you need an executive director? Do you need a VP of operations? Do you need to centralize your HR? Do you need to centralize your marketing? Do you need to center? You know who's handling lead generation? And I think if they don't fully break down the individual parts and pieces on who's doing what and in what center and what does that look like? They're losing and they're failing, because if someone doesn't own it, no one owns it. Like I just did a leadership retreat for it's actually franchise and they own, I think, six units and they're expanding. They want to have 15 by the end of the year.
Speaker 5:So when we sit down and broke everything down, okay, who's doing marketing? Whoever at the school picks up the phone? No, no, no. We can't do it that way anymore. You can't do that at scale. They don't have a CRM. You've got to have a CRM. You've got to have something to funnel those leads. You've got to have someone who is intentionally following through with your funnel and making sure that you're not letting you don't have a leaky funnel, just as an example for marketing. So again I go back to systems, they're never going to be able to grow in scale successfully. So the ones who are doing it well are the ones who are really focused on the operational excellence and then figuring out what does their service delivery look like, what does their marketing delivery look like? And then what's the role of each person? Because if someone doesn't own it, no one owns it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sounds like you need to send me that person's name back and we'll get them a CRM set up. So we've got the best in the space. But, kathy, from your side, from the hinge perspective, what's using to grow by acquisition? What mistakes do you see most commonly?
Speaker 6:So the first thing I would say is the execs weigh by their. You know they are the big bosses and they're acquiring. I think they need to make sure they've got people at boots on the ground that are able to do one-on-one conversations with the staff you're acquiring. You know it's all about culture, and culture is all about people, and people are individuals. So, making sure that there's a lot of transparency. There's usually a lot of fear. What happens when someone's buying another company? The first thing the owners typically want to make sure the staff are taking care of.
Speaker 3:That's their number one I want to make sure that my legacy carries on those certain events I've done for years still happen.
Speaker 6:They may or may not, but my people are cared for. My people are treated well, are loved like I love them and grown like I grew them. So that's the first thing.
Speaker 2:And so the executives are really. If they don't, and Kathy, if they don't focus on that, it's probably a red flag.
Speaker 6:I think so, and I mean I think that's something we do at hinge as coach the buyers as well as the sellers, really making sure that match is made in heaven. We want to make sure that everyone's happy, and so if the execs sort of just stay removed, I think they're not serving anyone well, particularly their goals. So that's one. And then the transparency piece. The second thing that happens is I told you what the owners want care for their staff. What the staff want is my pay going to change, because, remember, everything we know about Maslow's hierarchy is people need to make sure they're safe, they've got a place to live, they've got food and water, and then they grow as a human being. So they want to make sure all is well for them.
Speaker 3:And the first thing that parents want to know, always, always is no staff are leaving, are they?
Speaker 6:I love Miss Amanda, oh my gosh. And so if you can take care of those three things, you're off to the races. So, transparency, the one on ones, and then definitely not neglecting culture, which all of those things will make sure you're not neglecting culture.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Yeah, I think diligence is critical. Right, like anybody can make the numbers dance on paper, but once you lift the hood and go talk to the people that are running the business, make sure that they have a good experience, and you'll learn a lot from talking directly to employees and also families from a quality of care perspective. So I think those are all really really good points. Any dangers associated with rapid business growth that our audience should be aware of and I'll throw that over to Bobby, so dangers associated with rapid business growth you see it from a technology perspective, you see it as a parent dealing with centers as well, but anything there you'd like to share.
Speaker 4:Yeah, two big things that I've seen are fragmented workflows. So, really honing in on your acquisition workflows and who's owning the responsibilities throughout that We'll just mention a multi-site looking for pretty aggressive expansion but without a CRM that's got to be part of the bedrock right. But then, throughout that acquisition process, and then also on the retention, what does your retention workflows look like? We have a staff advocate or a culture advocate here at PVNJTV and looking about ways to inject our culture. Make sure Kathy is speaking about Gen Z. I mean, this is very, very important for staff in that age range and scale can only happen with really good retention, or quality scale needs good retention. So that's super important to look at your retention workflows.
Speaker 4:And then one other thing too for us in circling back to is the isolated data. Building data can be complicated, so really bringing it down to simple KPIs across your organization. So build KPIs out for not just financial KPIs, but what makes a successful teacher. And find five to 10 KPIs and try and run that data and extract that data. What makes a successful classroom. Think about that and then create those data points and those KPIs and that is how you're able to create better, consistent brand experiences across your centers is simplifying your data and creating specific KPIs for those parts of your organization.
Speaker 2:Awesome, Chris. Anything to add on that? I think you guys help a lot with the toolbox and putting processes in place and coaching Anything specific.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 7:I mean I feel a lot of the pieces and parts that everybody has already talked about. I definitely agree with Kathy about spending more time in understanding culture of what you're walking into and, I think, managing change. Like to me, a lot of people don't think enough about the vision of what I want this school to look like two years from now. So let's drive to the vision, but let's also be gracious with dealing with these emotions around fear and change and understanding with a human workforce of a lot of females oftentimes, and understanding that reality of, yes, but painting that vision over and over and over again and you can't talk about your vision often enough. So getting people behind your vision and then trying to reduce that fear and create enthusiasm so you can baby step into the change.
Speaker 7:I love what Bobby said about workflows, because we talk a lot about systems and processes, but I haven't really heard it talk A retention workflow is interesting. So I want to dig into that more with you, bobby, because on a daily is the toddler workflow looks like this, or the infant workflow looks like this, or on a weekly, monthly basis, that's just an interesting concept. I don't think a lot of our clients in schools are using workflows really, really well. So I think that's a newer concept, but it's very, very cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah awesome. Lynn, I'll let you wrap up this question Dangerous social with rapid business growth that our audience should be aware of.
Speaker 3:I was going to mention just about everything that was brought up here, so I won't belabor those points, but I will try to bring is just one more lens to making sure that everybody knows what the expectations are, what the responsibilities are. So often we see roughly 50% of those workflows or those processes are still on paper on a clipboard suggested activities, suggested responsibilities and because of that they're not followed consistently. We've all seen this. So the teacher says well, you had never told me that and or well, my interpretation of that is so we need to take the guesswork out and have that better documented, and this applies to all segments. It's not just small meeting or a large. I see this across the board.
Speaker 3:So being more deliberate about documenting those workflows and those processes and it was mentioned before about KPIs, but I'll take that one step further is building a system of accountability. Kpis are one piece of it, but with accountability comes responsibility, with responsibility comes ownership, and the KPIs are a way to measure and to manage that behavior, because really we are talking about change. We all become changing agents in this. So KPIs are a great way to do that, but it has to tie back to, like we were just saying, the procedures, the workflows and the expectations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we always say at line leader make sure the plumbing's in place, right. So you got to make sure the plumbing's in place so that as you grow it just works. It's a cycle, it's a process, it's ingrained in our operations, so make sure the plumbing's in place. I think the retention workflow is really interesting, bobby, when we talk about it in a different way. We say you got to have programming around culture, programming around employee engagement, right. And we are very deliberate about our retention calendar or our culture calendar, and we follow it to a tee, same as we do the business plan. You outline your 12 things you want to get done for the year from a business growth perspective, but also from an employee engagement perspective. So programming and workflows around retention are really really important that we've seen work for our crew and our team. So really good insights there. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Let's move to leadership and culture building. I'm going to jump around on some of the agenda here, but this one's, I think, is going to be really relevant. I see it in our organization, but as more organizations come to rely on younger and they'll call it greener talent pool to drive their mission forward, how do you suggest they remain competitive employer while ensuring staff are meeting role expectations right. So I think this is becoming very, very relevant with the new workforce coming out of COVID. You see a lot of things on Twitter or TikTok around. You know why am I not making $150,000 out of college? So how do you engage with folks the younger and greener talent pool to drive your mission forward and not kick it off? Chris, I think you'd be a good one to kick this one off.
Speaker 7:Awesome, thank you. So you know, today's workforce being a lot of Gen Z and millennial, I think that we need to think differently about what's going to really get them excited, and so I think having cultural components that are fun and that grab their attention are really important from you know. So perks and benefits in the staff room and the break room ways for them. I've seen coached a maria. My team has a selfie wall and she's got great branding throughout her schools where teachers can engage with just, you know, cool stuff like the selfie wall, great decor, just going the extra mile on painting the picture both through tactically and and strategically, what you want your culture to look like and getting that really woven into your culture all the way through the different layers of your school. I think a lot of it hinges on the leadership team. Even if you have a leadership team of two, if you're a small school calling it a leadership team, doing leadership team meetings, having a flow. We follow the eos model, meeting every week with your leadership team, working on issues, having a scorecard and developing them. Really it's people development. I think a lot of our folks come as people pleasers because we're heartfelt, felt people in this industry and, I think, trying to shift our mindsets from people pleasing to being people developers and really being willing to have those brave conversations.
Speaker 7:I love the book dare to lead by Brené Brown.
Speaker 7:I actually had my leadership team all read it and we did a book club when we met for our annual leadership retreat in New Orleans about a month and a half ago Also, we took them to New Orleans and we all had fun together.
Speaker 7:Those components of reading together, studying, coaching, working together, sharing decisions, getting by and at the leadership level or at the teacher level, wherever appropriate, I think, are those are all key cultural components.
Speaker 7:Whether or not you know Gen Z, millennial, those are all just best practices. And I was going to say about Gen Z In terms of getting them bought in on the front end, talking about career ladders, talking about where they can take this career. Oh, and then just just workforce development, like I think that we as an industry need to be in the schools, we need to be working with 17 and 18 year olds and then colleges, talking about why this is a great career and putting some apprentice programs in place. I know sometimes licensing doesn't let us bring the young people into the school as much, but I think we need to be out there trying to get more people into the field at that level, at that high school young, you know, feeder, college level and doing programs around apprenticeship, because if we don't focus on growing the workforce of early educators, I think we're going to be in real trouble.
Speaker 2:Yeah, support the mission. It starts with, you know, get in the town pool about excited about supporting the ECD space. That's why I love, love working in line later, because the people that we work for and work with and the passion they have for what they do on a daily basis, so really, really, really great items there there, chris, thank you so much. So we're coming up with seven minutes left, so I want to shift a little bit from culture, culture management, to safety and security. Right and so safety and security continue to be a top focus for everyone, you know, in 2024. What are your top three tips for maintaining child safety and or mitigating security risk across multiple locations? I think, bobby, you're a great one to kick us off here. Your platform supports that, enables that for a lot of the center, so I'd love to hear your perspective on it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know I'm going to cap this off for the selfless plug, but third party audits I we are actually partnering with a company who will come on site, do on press on prem risk awareness and mitigations, and I think that's super important because you are inside your building and on your premises all day and you may not see the things through the same lens.
Speaker 4:So getting a third party audit done to really get an outsider's perspective on on risks and risk mitigation. Obviously we're a big believer in a camera system here at PV and JTV, you know, not just for parent engagement, but 40% of our users here are use our tools just for administrative purposes only and what that is is training management, teacher onboarding, utilizing it for informal observations there's so many different ways, especially at scale. Multi site utilize our video management system to make sure your brand experience across schools are very similar to what teacher onboarding is like I had mentioned. And ongoing review of your security protocols. You know you have these in place but you know how often have you checked back and seen that we've updated this or this to keep up to date with times and changes in the industry and maybe even creating like theme and branded communication quarterly on different security updates and what's happening in the community. And then speaking back to some of the learning platforms for your staff is is is creating online training portals to keep them up to date on these security changes.
Speaker 2:Yep, Awesome. Don't just practice the fire drill. There's a lot of other safety precautions and stuff that you can practice and run through at the at the center from a perspective. I love that you contribute to that. Security continue to be a top focus. Three tips for maintaining childcare safety and McGinney mitigating security risk.
Speaker 3:So let's start with also the auditing at one place childcare we are big on the message stay prepared for licensing as opposed to get prepared and then also documentation. So auditing is self auditing what are the things that potentially have could create a hazard or safety issue and being proactive about that and then documenting it. The documentation serves two purposes. One is so that when your license or comes unannounced, that you have proof that you've been staying on top of these things. Maybe it's something that's currently scheduled for repair, but that documentation shows that you're being proactive. And we're also seeing and this is an underlying thread about documentation but documentation becomes vital with insurance. We're seeing a trend in 2024 that insurance companies are dropping early education and documentation is a vital piece of telling your story for your insurance renewal. So proactive auditing of all aspects of your business are vital and that so auditing would be number one.
Speaker 3:Secondly is around health and safety. We are seeing more and more that there's an eye toward making sure that the C suite or leadership whether it's a leadership of two or full corporate C suite making sure that any injuries or incidents, that there's an escalation process, well documented, because by the time that there becomes litigation that's an expensive problem. We've backed that all the way up and been proactive in the event of a child or a staff injury. So that's a big one that we're seeing and again it's mitigating risk, limiting liability, that mindset and we all have that responsibility. So automate, analyze and respond. Trend analysis is important. Where are we having injuries or incidents, what types of injuries? What part of the building is that happening? And looking across multiple locations so that again you can intervene and close those gaps from a quality and a safety perspective.
Speaker 2:Thank you much, linus. Bobby Lynn, good stuff on the technology piece to help, you know, mitigate risk across organizations. Love to hear it. So last last question before we close up shop and I'll let Beth take us home Before we say goodbye to everybody. But there are there any new ways? You've seen multi site childcare brands rely on tech technology in 2023. That that went there five years ago.
Speaker 5:Well, I think definitely the rise and the rise. And CRM. I mean you've been there, you know, you've been, you've been around, but I think the utilization of that and putting those work workflows in place, like using your CRM as an employee relationship management, like using your CRM to do lead generation for your employees as well as new families, you know the use of platforms to help with HR. You know I'm a big believer that zero people are reading your manual. So you know. You know, get it, get an LMS, a learning management system, do some digitally rich content when you're training.
Speaker 5:And you know Chris mentioned the rise of video. You've got to get on video. You've got to tell your story. You have to explain the why behind what you're doing. So we're, we're in the tech age. The majority people you hire are going to be Gen Z and millennials. They're not reading your manual. And some people, you know, bring that you know dinosaur thing out and put it on a sticky farmhouse table and say come, read, sign off and get to work in the two year old room. And so I think we're starting to realize the use of technology, the use of video. You know platforms like PV and j to where they also understand that you know their eyes on, you know their their eyes watching, which is good for your safety, you know. But it's also just a good reminder that parents are really paying attention to what's happening with their children. They are logged in, they are connected, they want to stay connected, and so I think there's that accountability piece that might not have been as present Five years ago as it is now.
Speaker 4:Yep, yep, awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, that wraps up our first webinar 2024 for my leader. Thank you so much for those that participated. Chris. Childcare success summit company childcare success summit. Please, everybody check it out. Kathy, thank you for joining us last minute. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Hinge awesome opportunity for looking to sell your center. They can coach to the process. Bobby, pb and J TV Awesome tech. Right, you're on the cutting edge of some really neat things with AI and security. So I think if you want to keep your center safe, check out PB and J bad. Thank you so much. You know you're an awesome talent motivational speaker, leadership, coaching, all of the above. I think if you need some help there in your organization, best the number one person there and then land. Thank you one place. Childcare compliance become becoming increasingly more important. Management of that is is crucial for mitigating risk within your organization and you don't want to do before it's too late, so check out one place. But thank you so much everybody for joining us, for kicking off 2024 and big things for all of us. Good vibes across the board for 2024. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you.