Strategies for Hiring and Improving Staff Retention with Chanie Wilschanski

Chanie Wilschanski is an Early Childhood Leadership Coach and CEO of Schools of Excellence.

Chanie began her journey over a decade ago, teaching toddlers at the acclaimed Preschool of the Arts in New York City for 8 years until she continued her path into high studies and earned her Masters in EC and Special Education.

In 2015, she started training teachers and school leaders on the HOW part of creating excellence in their schools.

In this episode, we’ll be focusing on Chanie’s tips for building a positive company culture, improving staff retention, AND how to hire rockstar candidates for your center.

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Join the Delegate to Elevate Workshop, a 90-minute training with Chanie Wilschanski on How to Build a High-Achieving Team so you can Grow Your School without Additional Administrative Workload. Find out more here: Chanie.me/childcareCRM-elevate 

You can also find out more about the Schools of Excellence at schoolsofexcellence.com and join the free community of School Leaders at https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolsofexcellencelounge

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Watch Chanie's recent webinar on 'The 4 Types of Parents in Your Center': https://youtu.be/8_dVoWsCbOE

Transcript

[0:00:01-0:01:05] Welcome to ChildcareCRM: The Podcast. You're familiar with ChildcareCRM: the company and hopefully you love using ChildcareCRM: the product. I'm your host Sierra Rossing and I serve as the content marketing specialist here at ChildcareCRM. Today's episode is going to be jam-packed with a lot of advice and tips for building a positive company culture, improving staff retention, and how to hire Rockstar candidates for your Center. We’re going to be joined by Chanie Wilscanski who's an Early childhood leadership coach and the CEO of Schools of Excellence. Chanie actually began her journey over a decade ago when she was teaching toddlers at the acclaimed preschool of the Arts in New York City for about 8 years, then she continued her path into high studies and earned her Master's in EC and special education. In 2015, she started training teachers and school leaders on the ‘how’ part of creating excellence in their schools and that's what we're going to focus on today. [0:01:06-0:02:05] Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm really excited to have you on so much for how f ng so much for having me Sierra I'm so excited to be back here yes yeah it was great to have you on the webinar and I'll make sure to include a link down there a link to the webinar in the description below for anyone who missed that are we got some really great feedback about you know the fourth parents your marketing to you at your Center awesome okay so I know you have a new program coming up on can you tell us a little bit about what that's going to we have we have an exciting work shop that's coming up it's called delegate to elevate and what this is really for is for owners School leaders executive directors regional managers anyone who's in kind of this this the VP of operations anyone was in this level of leadership we are we really need to understand how to truly delegate to our team so we can elevate growing scale the business what happens is a lot is we start [0:02:06-0:03:08] elevate certain teachers into director positions I always say to every single director that I work with and most directors never were wanted to be a director of never really came into the school to be the director they were pushed an elevated into that position because they were super star teachers and What needs what we need to understand when it comes to a really high levels of management and Leadership is to truly scale and grow we have to understand how to delegate the ir their role what we need a delegate to the most people don't do delegation most people have helpers you don't want helpers we have plenty of those we need leaders and managers s seen and that's so interesting you mention that so many people didn't come in at the Sara Lee expecting to be a director and then you know maybe showed some leadership qualities and got put into that position how do you suggest that people who are kind of put [0:03:08-0:04:06] that position position adopt and begin leading a team when they have no experience before yasso what are things to remember is that leading a team of grown-ups is very different than leading a team of 18 2 year olds and two-year-olds and I know that it sounds obvious but many people approach approach to management and Leadership of teachers as kind of like they're running a classroom and what's important to understand when you're leading leaving and then even when your elevated into your ownership position is the skills that get you here or or never the skills that get you to the next place I'm going to say that again what got you here doesn't get you there so this the skills as a teacher especially if d s boy il one of the core skills that you need is to understand how to multitask you cannot put on one one kids you know coat at a time you have to go to put on seven kids coats all at the same time because you have 18 2 year olds okay you have to know how to have your [0:04:07-0:05:12] in 4,000 places because if you're only focussed on one kids then you got another kid fighting and give another kids around the block to have another kid pull someone's hair kid kid. Let's hear the multitasking and having your eyes and a in a hundred places is a key key foundational skills to being a phenomenal teacher when you're a director or when you're an owner is the kiss of death it is career suicide any director and owner who tries to multitask or try to do a thousand things at once or doesn't understand how to manage their time can never grow and scale they're heading straight to crash and is so me is something important part to understand as you scale as you manage people as you elevate yourself is your constantly having to shed the old self and create a new self you have to shed the beliefs of do this no no no no you're elevating into a new position everything that you thought and belief is no longer true you got to have a whole new set of skills silly and it's so interesting that you mention so [0:05:13-0:06:17] multitasking and can I find a I'm trying to handle juggle everything at once and handle everything by yourself in my experience has so often led to almost micromanaging you just really want to be in control and you're so afraid so you know what kind of like you said delegate to someone else do you suggest you know cuz obviously building a team that's willing to go that extra mile or you know take that extra step to be a leader whether it's in the classroom or in the centre across multiple centres centres stop I mean that starts with us a strong foundation so how would you suggest that these directors and owners they build that Foundation is strong company culture from within guess o is chool h t ion huh ey r question hundreds of times a week how do I build a great Coulter how do I Inspire my people how do I elevate my people out of out of my motivate my people how do I get by in buy-in and the answer that most people are looking for is a secret you have to do you have to pay them or you need to give [0:06:17-0:07:19] this type of health insurance this type of coffee and there there are zero gimmicks when it comes to creating a culture it is ridiculously hard super super disciplined and you have to have a a radical self-awareness as a leader there are zero gimmicks there are zero shortcuts it is hard work so we're five minutes into the podcast on the first thing I'm going to tell whoever's listening to this is if you're looking for a quick trip I am not that person please go to Google please go to Facebook please go to Pinterest go to any of those places and search for the quick in it high t way k hard work that it takes to build sustainability within your organization and your company culture and it all starts with u you when you ask a question how do I get my people to do this you're asking the wrong question the question that you need to ask is how do I design an environment that inspires my people to elevate themselves and who do [0:07:19-0:08:15] need to become so that my people want to step into this world that is a question that we often forget to ask us who do I need to become so that my people Elevate and Inspire themselves and we create the scale and we grow the company who you need to become is a very different person than Who you are right now being radically self-aware is recognizing a my scattered all over the place do I have the right boundaries do I have Clarity of vision and purpose of where I'm heading and my articulate about the company values and standards do I know the direction of where the did disciplined about my own time and about my own projects and about getting things done on time these are questions that are very difficult to answer because it requires you to take the mirror and put it on yourself not on your people because 90% of the issues in your in your company or not or not your [0:08:16-0:09:31] they're yours they're yours you see many of us are very good self leaders we know how to manage ourselves or very good at managing ourselves at being disciplined with ourselves we manage ourselves managing someone else leaving someone else is a completely different skill it's a completely different skill but that's already a higher higher-level there are many people listening to this podcast but don't know how to manage themselves so sweet our ships self-management and that's what I talk about all the time in are in my podcast on our workshops in our training on in our directors in our Circle in our owners all these things are about self leadership understanding how to manage and else I n e we s obviously you have a plethora of resources regarding that topic where can they go you-know-where contractor's access that those resources said he can get some more education about you know being their own being their own boss and going to be in their own inspiration on and then we will have this upcoming workshop on delegate to elevate which is the understanding your personal self leadership that you need [0:09:31-0:10:41] work on to delegate to elevate your team I can do you know what you right here on this show will share some some of these strategies as well and how to really become a great self leader that eventually learns how to lead and manage other mention ed be ing so mentioned being self-aware as well which I think is so important for everyone you know just whether it's emotional awareness being your capability of being a kind of work-life balance especially for directors in the and Educators as well as a child care space there spaces are working tirelessly you know and put pouring into other people's children and their staff so how do you recommend a kind of achieved that work-life balance especially as a director and guess you don't really believe so much work life balance I believe in work work-life integration I believe very very little balance because there's always going to be season that require you to step up more in the business and they're going to be required season require Seasons that are going to have you step up more in your family and then [0:10:41-0:11:53] going to be Seasons where it's a giant mess of everything life is there is no Colinas of like this is the way it is there is nothing if there is ambiguity there is uncertainty there is unknown there is chaos there is frustration and then there's also a joy and gratitude and appreciation and confidence and stepping up again and finding all the beauty there's all of it you can't have one you cannot selectively you pain or Mew ambiguity or mute the uncertainty you cannot systemize your way through pain pain or through frustration you can't say I'm going to creep every single system worry ver expect experienced experienced frustration or I'd never experienced the chaos and I never experienced any mistakes again against you again you were not realizing that part of growing is experiencing a human emotions that come with growth and every human is going to experience self-doubt self-doubt frustration shame billennium imposter syndrome I don't know what to do I don't know what I'm doing I can't ask for help I'm too embarrassed to [0:11:53-0:13:00] up you're going to experience all of that and you know what that means it means that you're crawling crawling that's what it means in race it right when I start feeling doubt I'm like okay okay school's about his growing his growing that's why I'm feeling this this that's why I've got all the doubt that's why I've got all the chaos we're growing we're reaching out to it's the weirdness of recognizing that uncertainty and chaos and ambiguity are not bad sings the regular human emotion that you're going to experience as you grow and scale and so when you're looking at integrating your to world what you're looking at is actually creating really strong boundaries of where you cross the line and where you don't cross the line where were comes and we're work doesn't come right creating these strict guidelines so one of my strict boundaries are from Friday afternoon at around 3 my phone is off until Sunday morning it is off it is not on silent and is not on vibrate it is off my computer is off my phone is off [0:13:00-0:13:58] on reach it doesn't matter how big the emergency is unless you knock on my door you can't reach me I am unreachable is a is a boundary that I put in place like this is one of my boundaries there are many people who listen is all I can ever do that that's okay that's your business right you decide what your boundaries are these are my boundaries this is one of the I am unreachable okay another boundary that I had them placed he's at in the evening right when I turn my phone off when I decide I'm not answering messages from work anymore okay I have other boundaries how many hours a day I need to dedicate towards my family and if I'm not dedicating that time that means something's broken in my business that means I've taken on too many projects all have different kinds of boundaries that we need to put into place that help helped us operate at our Peak but you're not going to know what boundary you need to implement until you start testing and [0:13:58-0:14:58] is one of the other things that a lot of weed eater struggle with his they want to get it right right out of the gate they want us to be perfect right out of the gate they want to get every single boundary right out of the gate you have to fail you have to get hurt to know that this is a boundary that you need now right you have to walk for the disappointment do you like oh okay this is what doesn't work here now you can shorten the word incur warning curb and have less disappointment when you work alongside pure groups and mentors and coaches who advised you hate this is coming put this boundary in place so that doesn't happen to you right but the only way you're going to know that is if you're surrounded by the right group of people we don't know what we don't know don't know you don't know what you don't know why can why Kathleen fasting in your leadership growth is the fastest path to self awareness kind of go you mentioned your leadership path and kind of going back to maybe those [0:15:02-0:16:09] at that maybe you know a director could rely on those individuals what are your thoughts on providing paths to leadership for the staff on in your I can nk think one of the things that are challenging for owners and directors especially when we operate from a place of scarcity of I don't have enough my budget isn't big enough this isn't picking up I don't have enough time he's we forget to recognize that exact thing in our team is is one of the first things I should come on to a line item in the budget what happens more often than not is the line-item of professional growth is equivalent to like I don't know buying toilet paper for the company it's like well we invest you know $1,000 a year in toilet paper so we have $1,000 a year to the best professional development what's important to recognize is that investing in your people only way to growth and scale because you can't grow and scale a company by yourself [0:16:10-0:17:13] can not you can't do anything by yourself we need to do everything right we are social beings we need to work together with one another and collaborate together the breakage of collaborating together needs their needs to be difficult conversations there is going to be frustration there is going to be breakage and communication there is going to be all of those things right and then there's also going to be connection to enjoy collaboration peacefulness right real rich relationships but we only want the rich relationships and the Droid we don't want the difficult conversations right now way like I can't do difficult conversations I avoid that I hate conflict right I do the sandwich method I say the compliment you know the hard thing and then the complement again right I don't want to hurt re e lly re . at your toe a afraid are. You're too afraid to not be like you're too afraid for someone to not like you in that moment and avoiding difficult conversations is the fastest path to a toxic culture say that again avoiding difficult conversation is the fastest path to [0:17:13-0:18:15] toxic culture why because the fastest path to a great culture is having difficult conversations many people think of Greek culture is one that gives out $5 gift card and buy buys lunches that's not culture that's cool cool depreciation for doing hard work culture is when people are ready to communicate and tear down their armour and say hey when you said that to me it hurt hurt I felt disrespected and unseen I 'm as t ed to I want to do with you wanted you to go over with you can we try that conversation again again that is culture that is two people coming together and say I want to be seen and heard and when you spoke to me before I didn't feel that way right difficult conversations is hey we need to talk about your punctuality because it's hurting the rest of the team and so I know it's difficult for you to come on time and we need to have a conversation about that stop avoiding it stop avoiding it like we avoid it cuz we [0:18:15-0:19:26] like rown up is ving a car in the courage to have hard and I think and I think I mean obviously authenticity and transparency seem to be kind of at the core of those conversations which can be you know hiring of course is a huge topic right now and that can be kind of hard to convey in a job posting or even in an interview that you know you might not be able to offer the benefits or the amount of money at this this. Your competitors offering but you have you have this you know transparent authentic company culture so how would you suggest or directors whatever it may be the And interviews are online on line two candidates so important to recognize is that one you have to believe that it's really happen we just had a client who's been with us for less than 90 Days in our owners HQ program she made an offer to a teacher and she thought the teacher was for sure not going to take it cuz she was off also offered to work by [0:19:26-0:20:29] competitor and who pays more and she came back to our client and said hey you know I really heard amazing things about your company culture and I really enjoyed our conversation and I want to work with you but I know that I'm going to get paid last I'm not expecting more I just I want to work here so I want you to know that these stories exist and they're not one one-off stories a huge portion of our clients actually continue to tell us the stories that people come to work for them even though they're not the highest payers because they want to work in their about your culture is being a great culture you know that's one of the ways that you know you have a great culture write the teachers are talking about it but the thing thing answer your specific question around you know how to hire hire and how to really work at a really attract and retain these great quality candidates what are The big things that are happening is I believe that were selling the easy card [0:20:29-0:21:32] you know we kind of tell staff likes don't worry I'm going to give you everything that you need and it's going to be okay and this is fine and you know that I have already curriculum for you only kind of tell them that everything is going to be easy everything's going to be easy and then they come in on day one and if is hard there are ill me ds music sneezing on me me you know what I think I got sick today you don't welcome to turn right and then they don't show up happening a lot because we're not being honest and truthful about what this is about now I'm not saying you need to tell all the horror stories up front upfront what to do if you want to be transparent and say you know Child Care is is challenging working with kids is hard and so unbelievably rewarding it is so challenging to be in a two year old classroom and we do our best to give you the right support the right tools the right skills and the right [0:21:33-0:22:38] throughout the journey but it is going to be challenging because teaching a two-year-old a two-year-old is challenging right it's it's it's not sugarcoating the reality of what happens in the classroom right being a parent is so beautiful beautiful beautifully rewarding and it is so ridiculously hard every single moment of the day would n't try de it for wouldn't trade it for anything I love being a parent and there's it's also really hard and so you want to be attracting people that Embrace hard things that want a challenge that want to grow like that want to move forward and want to be part of something bigger and better so what school leaders need to really be looking at more than anything is the type of culture that they're creating what we need to remember is that pay is not the end-all be-all be-all right there are people that are making multiple six figures in Corporate America and our miserable to be to be happy people want to be happy people want to work in a place that [0:22:38-0:23:42] them and values them and people are ready to get paid less but work in an environment like that so you need to believe that as a reality if you believe that every in order for someone to be happy to have to get paid top dollar will then great then then that's that's your belief system I'm not going to argue with that right I don't believe you need to pay someone top dollar in order for them to be happy I believe is a lot of other factors in someone's happiness and well-being in the and it's great that you mentioned that example of the candidates choosing choosing choosing come about come about choosing choosing, but maybe you know finances because I do think all this that is so common and you know I see that all the time just meet up with friends family however it may be people really are trending towards and I think especially you know covid covid-19 obviously had a huge impact on how we all view our life goals and what we want in our [0:23:42-0:25:06] and I think you know people are prioritizing their health or happiness whether that's mental health or physical but yet their happiness as well as people do not want to work in high-stress you know areas like people want to be has a high goals and you know there's there's pushing toward something exciting and were challenging ourselves it was definitely moments of stress or you no pressure or whatever it is but toxic environment so toxic environments and just kind of in a long-term going to be no long-term it's keeping that positive company culture for the long-term long term for your employees how do you suggest directors keep that up is it you know weekly touch bases monthly touch bases that often should they be working alongside their staff to figure out what they're locking or what they're happy with ya yeah so I always start with the Gratitude Matrix we have a whole podcast episode is episode 3 of the schools of Excellence podcast called the Gratitude Matrix so is it is is actually articulating two people that you're grateful for their work I'll give you an example I just did this this morning someone you know step up [0:25:06-0:25:59] leadership or whatever it is I want them to be managing up for I give them specific gratitude so I've just recorded a voice message to my director of operations and I said you know hey I just want to give you some feedback I really love the way that you led the team meeting this morning you were super prepared it was well-managed you are you know we're able to organize it even when things are starting to get off track I felt it that everyone knew exactly what their projects were when they left the meeting on that I felt that it was really well done and it was you know know so much better than you did a couple of weeks ago and I'm really proud of the way that you showed up and I sent it as a voice message to her now what this does to the T number is it shows that my boss notices specific feedback of weird she likes that I stepped up I'm going to go do more of ith t who [0:25:59-0:26:52] oing the s same the same thing you want to be giving them specific gratitude for where they're showing up now here is the caveat with this what happens is when I told direct us to do this if they do this with the people that they're already doing it for before I told them this it's very easy to give gratitude to the people that you notice all the time you have to give gratitude to the people that are are noticeably doing hard work because they are still working hard you have to dig for it you have to hunt for it and so you can't just have an approach of what when I see something I always give gratitude gratitude needs to be a system you Don't own check your bank account when you get a phone call from the bank hey you're overdrawn right you check your bank account consistently that you know exactly how much money is in there so you know exactly what's going on on gratitude needs a sister you need to be systematically [0:26:52-0:28:04] your stuff and giving them specific gratitude for how they're showing you have you have more than 10 teachers you're never going to see every single person shining every single day just doesn't work like that gratitude has to be intentional you have to intentionally walk into the classroom I think that's such a great point because I do think that so many people end up feeling under undervalued maybe just because things that they aren't doing aren't the flashy pretty tough lotuses tough soap for someone who maybe has you know several locations and they want to provide that you know that acknowledgement so their staff as well would you suggest surveys regular meetings touch bases with maybe the stuff around them to see if they caught anything that someone else was doing that was really great you know how would you suggest I just keep an eye on those things so when you're managing multiple location you are no longer in charge of the teachers you're in charge of the managers who are in charge of the teachers so when [0:28:05-0:29:06] an owner and you have three or more locations you will typically have a manager or director at meaning of the location needs a manager at the location those are the people that are responsible to give gratitude to the teachers and you are responsible to give gratitude to them so you need to be at those locations or having regular one-on-ones With them via Zoom so that you understand what's going on so you can give them gratitude and model what they should be doing with the teachers and owner who owns five or six locations cannot physically give gratitude to everyone of their teachers will have sixty-two seventy stop sixty-two seventy stop that's not humanly you on you want your directors and managers to be doing that the other thing that I would say to upkeep up keep a positive company culture is and I know this sounds counterintuitive you need to have difficult conversations you need to actually ask the questions and ask people what is the most joyful part of your day what is the [0:29:06-0:30:13] part of your day when someone tells you the hardest part of their day it gives you insight into their struggle so you can help them so they can be to be to be ready to have a hard conversation the hard conversations and what's really difficult for leaders is at that they're afraid to hear the truth they're afraid because they're afraid they're not going to take action on in the freezer Eagles are going to get hurt it will your Eagle will get hurt you will be okay not not know what to do that's okay no one said you have to know all the answers there are there are thousands of people that can help you figure out the answer to that question but don't not ask the asked the question because you're afraid you don't want you won't know the answer leadership is about pushing boundaries it's about asking these hard question about having a difficult conversation and the really really really powerful especially just you asking do you know the what's the worst part of your [0:30:14-0:31:13] and you can if you even if you can't help I think the fact that they feel like they can talk about that with you is going to make a huge difference to listen right it's a really understanding how to ask the person like we are you feeling undermined I always ask this question to assistant teachers teachers are the most undermined in the in the chain of command in they 're re rossed the they're rusted the least and when I was a direct are used to always ask assistant directors where do you feel undermined where do you feel that your opinion might not be valued where are you feeling on the scene and unheard where do you feel you want to earn more respect not where do you feel you deserve more respect no no no you have to work for respect where do you feel you want to work your way towards being respected people died people will the teacher doesn't respect me okay in what areas would you [0:31:13-0:32:33] to earn her respect me know you let me help you because it's not a given given. Of course but to respect you as like a teacher at is a valuable opinion you have to earn that respect so I asked me ask the hard questions and sometimes there are Sucker Punch to your face and hank you so you thank you for you for telling me that now I can help you as o ill in this isn't your thing is so interesting because I actually was an assistant teacher several years and so that is I mean it was not how it was run back then but that would have been just Amazing Just you know for someone to ask for that kind of input from assistant teacher would have been would have been but it felt great you know and I'm sure now of course I love that for me whenever I hear people say things like yeah that was my experience I wish you know would have asked me that question it's just again a testament to understand that this is what's happening on the field of play and as the leader you have the power to change that you [0:32:33-0:33:42] the power to change you have a have any key takeaways that people can you do start implementing and their centre today with either you know new people there on boarding hiring or long-term staff who may be need maybe need to know maybe they haven't had that company culture for a while now and they kind of want to refresh and recharge them know I always like to start with one on ones with every single person especially if you've never run a one-on-one before you like you just you don't have any experience in leading that understand a woman is very different than a flyby conversation out of people standing one on one-on-one at one-on-one at the carpool line is not a one-on-one at the as a flyby carpal carpool conversation with anyone on 1 outside of the bathroom stall is not a one-on-one it's a bathroom conversation of one on one is a scheduled meeting that exists in your calendar or the teacher comes you ld hut your face e your phone and you close out your browser's and you close the door and you tell the [0:33:42-0:34:46] assistant you're not available for 30 minutes unless there's a fire or the building's burning down you are not available that is a one-on-one that is telling someone I see you I value you I appreciate you and I took time out of my calendar to give to you not time while I'm doing carpool time while I'm standing outside the bathroom stall time while I'm getting lunch no no no no dedicated Focus time for you you you. The one on one you you you you. The one on one eye so let's just remember the difference that's the first thing the second thing is if you've never had that that's the first step I would take he's schedule 30 minutes of time for every single teacher to meet with you one-on-one if you're in a position where you like or I can never close my phone for 30 minutes I can never closed my door for 30 minutes you have bigger issues on Trust on systems on and operations on a lot of other things that are going on there should never be a school where a director can't close her door for [0:34:47-0:36:08] minutes with massive anxiety of warning of what's going to happen when I come out nothing should happen in those 30 minutes nothing should break okay in those 30 minutes you want to be asking questions okay you're not coaching or not you the the last time you did something for yourself in the last 24 hours are you engaged with now during the summer season eat ve a know even have do you u do oing for are you doing for fun what do you do after you leave the school a a life outside of work to know ke human connection relationships love joy connection outside of work because it's it fuels their work-life the ey nk a s I think is especially you know if drawers are not maybe more than some other Industries because it is it involves especially for educators and directors of course as well as it involves so much of you pouring yourself out into the children into the you're enrolled families into touring families [0:36:08-0:37:13] families and devoting so much of yourself to other people that I think it's a great for a director to you know be a little bit more personal in those one on one-on-ones and touch base on their their you know the things that really matter at home because that will also strongly impact their work performance like you all this all this way all this was so so phenomenal is there anything you feel like I didn't ask you that you want to add in here Wishin and hopin this is really valuable for everyone that's listening and definitely go check out our podcast or delegate to elevate Workshop all those links will be in the show notes and thank you so much for having me on Sierra this was really I really enjoy this conversation yes thank you so much for her y nt ng so much for joining us if you'd like to learn more about childcare crmr child Care form visit us online at Childcare CRM. Com Calm and make sure to follow rate and review so you never miss out [0:37:13-0:37:14] episode episode