Building a Team…

Just hired a new teacher? Now what?

The next very important (and not to be skipped) steps are an orientation, training, and a good, solid, successful first week!

When it comes to building a team and adding to our staff, I put a lot of effort into the new teacher’s first week. When people know what is expected of them; when they know the who, what, when, where, why, and how about the childcare center; and when they have all of this information in a staff handbook; they begin their work more confidently. We have seen this again and again. But this process didn’t just happen overnight. It took years of seeking feedback from new hires and tweaking, tweaking, tweaking our orientation, our training, and the beginning days.

Our orientation sets the tone for the entire work experience, and we want to make this first impression a positive, lasting one.

Several members of my staff participate in the orientation—each of us sharing the unique perspectives and experiences of our positions—thus providing an immediate go-to network for our newest teammate. We create a checklist for our new hire to be certain that we cover every item during the orientation, and that our newest teammate understands each item before she checks it off.

The staff handbook has grown over several years and contains:

• Our vision, mission, and goals
• The childcare center
• The staff
• The program philosophy
• Teacher policies, procedures, and expectations
• Classroom policies, procedures, and expectations
• Parents and the program and,
• Health, safety, and emergency procedures.

Also included:

• The job description
• Teacher job tasks and responsibilities
• Teacher competencies—how the most effective teachers work
• Performance evaluation information and,
• Health, safety, program policies, and postings that our licensing authority requires (and that all on our team are expected to follow).

As I said, it is a comprehensive document, but a fabulous resource to have and to refer to often.

I also include a map of our facility (18 classrooms and 40,000 square feet is a BIG house to navigate), as well as an organization chart (with 65 people on our team).

We have a brief conversation about setting professional and personal goals, and how these goals, the job tasks, and competencies will become the basis for an end-of-year performance evaluation. 

There is never a question as to our expectations, because coupled with these expectations is enormous support. We want our people to succeed.

Depending on the new teacher, we use a buddy system, peer coaching, or a mentor teacher for the purpose of supporting, guiding, and learning from one another—and, in the process, we build our team!

Following my orientation, a detailed tour of the facility, to include introductions all around, and a quick welcome in the new classroom with children and teachers, round out day one. At this point, armed with the staff handbook, and exhausted from the excitement and jitters of a first day, our new teacher goes home to read and absorb.

The morning of the second day of orientation continues with health, safety, and emergency procedures with our nurse, and an in-depth orientation to the classroom with the teacher’s supervisor. Out for lunch with the new team completes the formal orientation. And the teachers have their opportunity to begin to build their relationship.

And, finally, on the afternoon of day two, our new teacher is ready to join the children!

I learned that it was virtually impossible to pull teachers out of the classroom for orientation once they had begun working in it. Staffing and coverage issues trump everything in a childcare center. And they can easily dismantle the good intentions of orientation and training.

So, I opted for a thoughtfully-paced first two days, packed with training, to give a sense of security and confidence to our new hires—from day one.

It seems to have worked well for 30+ years—so I pass this practice on to you!