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Independent Article
Taking your centre to the next
level - Gaining greater
efficiencies
Conny Schmidt
Childcare Sales Australia
delivers yet another
inspirational article by
Australia’s leading Childcare
Consultant Conny Schmidt. Conny
is the owner and operator of one
of Australia’s most reputable
childcare management consultancy
firms - Maximise Childcare
Consultancy. In her four part
series Conny shares her
veritable plethora of experience
in the childcare industry.
In this article, Conny shares
her industry expertise on ways
in which you can take your
centre “to the next level”.
Taking your centre to the
next level - Gaining greater
efficiencies
If you want to improve the
results in your business then
you need to have a target to aim
for and a system for monitoring
progress.
One of my favourite sayings is –
“If you always do what you've
always done, you will always get
what you've always got“ More often than not
we complain about what we don’t
like but yet we don’t do
anything to change it.
Identifying and confronting
operational issues in your
current business structure can
be one of the most challenging
tasks an operator can take on,
but can often be the most
rewarding, financially and
personally.
It can be difficult to find the
time to consider operational
issues when you are busy running
a childcare business, but a
small amount of time spent now
can pay big dividends to your
year end results.
I have listed below some key
issues you may like to consider:
Do a SWOT (strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and
threats) analysis on your
business
This doesn’t need to be a
lengthy or formal process, your
financial reports will often
give you a good place to start.
Meet with your Director and
using the headings - strengths ,
weaknesses, opportunities and
threats, take down some notes on
each of them. You may be
surprised at what you find when
you actually put pen to paper.
You may use many forms of
information gathering but all of
it is important. Parent and
staff questionnaires is one way,
observation is another. If you
are time poor or your industry
knowledge is currently limited,
then you may like to hire the
services of an experienced
childcare consultant or
accountant to do a Business
Analysis for you.
How do I know what’s normal ?
More often than not my clients
will ask me the question “is
this normal”?
This can be in reference to
anything from wage costs through
to Directors responsibilities.
There is no simple answer. There
are many benchmarks and many
different ways to operate a
childcare centre. In my
experience however, some methods
have proven to be more
successful than others.
Gathering information is
important. Not only is a
thorough analysis of your profit
and loss essential to see where
the shortfalls are, but a review
of your day to day operations
and business practices is of
equal importance. Often
operators will view a profit and
loss and see a potential problem
such as a blow out of wages-
hence the thinking that
addressing the reduction of
wages is a simple answer.
Of course that makes sense – BUT
how?
It may not be a reduction in
hours worked that is required.
It may be a re-structure of the
roster that is required. When
advertising costs are increasing
it could be a sign that your
staff turnover is high, when
your revenue takes a dive it may
be time to consider your current
marketing strategy. Reviewing
your profit and loss will
usually provide you with enough
information to see where there
are inconsistencies or potential
problems.
Where to from here ?
Determining what the problem
actual is, is generally the easy
part - as this is usually
visibly obvious in your profit
and loss. Taking the information
and using it effectively to
bring about a positive change
however, can be the challenging
part.
If you attempt to bring about
change without having all the
facts you may provide a
temporary solution instead of
resolution.
An example of a really simple
process is-
1. Identify the issue
2. Make some assumptions
3. Consult your Director and ask
for her help to gather evidence
and determine if your findings
are true
The next step is to work with
your Director to devise a plan
of action with strategies for
better outcomes. A plan of
action that is shared and owned
by all parties involved and is
more likely to succeed. If you
feel your Director may be part
of the problem but you are not
sure, then perhaps undertaking a
Quality Assurance Feedback
Questionnaire for all staff and
the Director is the answer.
This needs to be implemented as
a transparent process with all
feedback sheets being sent to a
private mail address to be
collected by you. All of the
results are used with by owner
and Director to work toward
appropriate plans of action.
It is important to always set
plans with clear actions,
responsible persons and
reasonable timeframes.
Who’s is responsible for what
?
Centres that have clear
guidelines, policies and
procedures, with regular quality
improvement tools, are more
likely to be successful. Who is
accountable for what can be
perhaps the most confusing part
of managing any business.
Many services I visit do not
have clear guidelines and the
biggest complaint is – “My
Director doesn’t seem to be
doing what she should be” or “My
owners don’t understand how busy
I am”.
More often than not expectations
are verbally discussed during
the recruitment stage but there
isn’t a “role accountability” in
place, or a lack of
understanding of the detail in
the role accountability.
When expectations are not clear
conflict between the Director
and owners or management can
easily arise. Owners and
Directors need to work together
to achieve the best possible
outcomes. Ongoing management
training and support is helpful
for both owners and directors.
Regular consultation with your
staff and your parents and
visitors is a must if you want
to continually improve your
standards and provide the
highest quality care. Consider
having a 3rd party give you some
objective feedback. Often, a
fresh set of eyes can highlight
areas in your business you can
improve on.
Taking your service to the next
level requires enormous
commitment. Working smarter not
harder, and finding more clever
ways of reaching outcomes by
using your resources and staff
more efficiently is the only way
to go.
The Existence of properly
documented and implemented
systems reflect the capability
of the business to operate
without the reliance upon any
one individual. It is critical
to understand these basic
fundamentals that drive your
business. Regular staff and
management meetings and ongoing
review of your financial
situation is critical.
It is essential to have a
Director with excellent
management skills - having a
strong leader allows the owners
to step back and work on the
business rather than in it.
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Kevin Stapleton - Childcare Sales International
If you are in the market to sell a Childcare Centre please call
us today on
Australia: 1800 700
517
NZ: 0800 893 472
We have
plenty of buyers waiting throughout Australasia
Taking
your centre to the next level - Gaining greater efficiencies
Independent Article No. 3
Conny
Schmidt, Maximise Childcare
August
2007
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