We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sandy White a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Sandy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?
When I started as the director of Barlow Little Palms Preschool we had a small school with an excellent reputation. We wanted to grow so that we could reach more families but we knew we couldn’t expand in size as our building is limited. We also are in an area blessed with many preschools and child care centers within walking distance. We knew we could compete with the larger ones so we had to decide what we could do. We went out on a limb and offered flexible scheduling which is something that larger child care centers do not do. It took some time to get the word out on social media and by word of mouth but we have been able to keep enrollment up enough to support our mission.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I became an early childhood teacher about 20 years ago as my children were going through preschool. It is fascinating to watch children grow and learn. Child and brain development are interesting areas to study. Even though children don’t remember much about their early years, what they learn builds a foundation for their success in life. Many things have changed in the past 20 years. We’ve learned more about how children think and react to situations and the far reaching impact their early development has on their lives. We’ve learned how important social and emotional regulation is for future academic learning. If children don’t feel safe and calm they cannot take in knowledge. We’ve also learned the importance of giving children a voice, teaching them when to speak up for themselves respectfully. Learning the effective way to respond to a bully gives children and adults powerful tools for success.
Have you ever had to pivot?
The pandemic taught us how to pivot and find a new way to teach children. Much of what we teach cannot be done from a distance. Children in our classes are learning how to talk and present their knowledge and ideas. This cannot be done from behind a mask. We were able to sanitize surfaces, purify the air and wear clear masks to accomplish our goal of teaching children without being fearful. Eventually we learned we could speak without any masks. We also learned that the extra sanitizing and purifying helped prevent other illnesses.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
I have learned that people need to be appreciated. It takes some time to learn about people on your team and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Once you get to know the individuals on your team you can assign roles where each person can find success. When the members of your team know that you wouldn’t ask them to do anything that you wouldn’t do and that you appreciate their efforts they will exceed your expectations.
Contact Info:
- Website: palmharborpreschool.com