Early Years Education Foundations

If your policies and procedures are sat in a cupboard somewhere collecting dust or filed away on a computer just in case you need them one day then this lesson is for you! In this first lesson ben jumps into the world of policies and procedures to explore why they're so important for creating an exceptional team and how best we can use all of our policies and procedures in a transparent and effective manner.

If your Policies and Procedures are your rulebook, then your teams culture is the glue that holds your team together and provides you all with a meaning or a purpose behind what you do. A teams culture impacts everything from how you talk to each other, all the way to your collective beliefs as a group of people. Setting a team culture and ensuring that everyone sticks to these agreed principles is a fundamental component of creating a successful team and an environment that people enjoy working in!

An educational setting is only as good as the team members that work within it, regardless of the quality of the equipment, facilities and resources available. Your people and their confidence, knowledge and skills is a vital component of building a high quality team and something that has to be prioritised regardless of how busy we are in the moment. Doing something for someone or not prioritising time to develop people within your team is a fatal error that happens far to often. In this class you'll explore why it's so important to put value into your team members, as well as, some of the ways you can achieve this!

Lets talk about communication, and by communication we're exploring more than just how we talk to one another! Effective communication is a fundamental component of effective teamwork and includes how we share information with fellow team members, systems that we have in place to communicate shared goals and values and so much more that you'll explore in this lesson.

You don't have to feel guilty for being ambitious in your aims for the children, nursery or your business! In this lesson you'll dive into the topic of ambition and the importance of setting ambitious goals and targets for your team and the individuals within your team. Shooting for the stars is okay, just make sure you've got a clear plan of how to get everyone there!

We talk so much about the 'Unique Child' and recognising that each and every child is different with their own personal needs and different ways of learning, but this doesn't just stop once we become adults. Everyone in your team is a unique individual that learns, communicates and operates in different ways, as well as, having their own individual skillset and personalities. In this lesson you'll consider the important role a leader plays to figure out what makes the individuals in their team tick and how to harness these quirks, hobbies and passions that make individuals unique, for the betterment of the team!

In this lesson you'll explore the topics of adaptability and perseverance as two fundamental traits that all exceptional teams rely on when things get difficult or faced with challenging situations. Things don't always go to plan in the world of early years, which is why it's vital that adaptability and perseverance are shared skills amongst your team. When the going gets tough it's vital your team has the ability and knowledge to adapt or persevere in order to navigate testing situations and scenarios.

Organisation is an extremely underrated component of an exceptional team but can often be the catalyst for conflict and a team failing to achieve their desires goals and outcomes. In this class you'll explore why organisation is such an important trait, as well as, how we can make sure organisation is a strength not a weakness!

Okay so we've managed to get this far it's important that individually and collectively you're celebrating your achievements and wins, no matter how small or insignificant they might appear. Something as simple as saying well done to someone can often mean so much to that individual and can be a major spark in developing a culture of exceptional teamwork!

That's a wrap on this class all about 'Creating an Exceptional Team'. Hopefully this breakdown of some of the fundamental traits and components you'll find within exceptional teams has helped inspire and inform you to re-think about your teams. Building an exceptional team doesn't happen over night and takes time and a lot of work to embed this principles and ideas. But, it's certainly worth persevering with!