Team leaders at Rainbow are experienced and generally excellent practitioners – often the best we have! As a team leader one of the BEST things you can do is to share your knowledge, skills and expertise of working with children. This means you need to Lead By Example – simply directing other staff, or spending your time on paperwork, whatsapp or with parents will mean that the BEST practitioner (you) is away from the children! One of the best ways to improve practice in the gan, inspire the other practitioners and deliver the best outcomes for the children, is to lead by example.

• Run activities, model use of language, how to use resources, how to communicate with and engage children, how to introduce new concepts and ideas
• Model how to manage, run and execute a meal or snack time, how to integrate language, cut up fruit, serve children the right size portion
• Lead circle time as much as you can
• Read stories to children
• Play with children 1:1 or in small groups
• Engage children who are lost, disengaged or need help choosing what to do
• Put the children to sleep
• Welcome children in the morning
• Lead the goodbye circle
• Change nappies and do toiling
• Wash hands, showing how to support children in developing an awareness of their own hygiene

Its not enough to do these kinds of things once in a while, leading by example requires you to do these things daily, and to point out to staff what you do and why (and how!). Highlight to staff when you have done something particularly well – or ask them to watch you leading by example.

Team Leader and Manager as Role Model

Are you a good example for others to follow? Role modelling is a part and parcel of the way organisations function and for excellent organisations to succeed, yet it is often an implicit and unrecognised activity. All of us would do well to understand more about role modelling and to develop ourselves as role models: it encourages behaviours which lead to a more effective organisation, better outcomes for the children and helps us to be more aware of ourselves.

What does it mean to be a role model? A role model is someone who serves as an example, whose behaviour and practice is emulated by other people and consistently leads by example. Many of us have leadership roles, even though we see ourselves as specialists or professionals the challenge now is how to set the example for others to follow.

Model behaviours

What behaviors should you model? Well, what behaviours and attitudes would you like to see in your employees? The list is essentially the same for you and them. Here are some suggestions, beginning with the Big Three — honesty, trustworthiness and integrity.

• Honesty: One instance of dishonesty on your part calls everything you say into question, sending the message that being dishonest is an acceptable behaviour for all employees. Zero leeway on this.
• Trustworthiness: Respect confidences, keep all your promises and live up to your commitments.
• Integrity: Do the right thing. You know what this means. Just do it.
• Fairness: No playing of favourites or taking advantage of others. Be especially careful if family members are in the business.
• Consistency: Deal with similar situations in similar ways time after time. Present the same persona to outsiders as to employees.
• Dependability: Can they count on you to be there when you said you would, to do what you said you would, to follow through on your promises every single time?
• Organization: Are you on time and well prepared? Is everything in its place? Are schedules met and buttoned up?
• Stability: Keep an even keel — no mood swings, tirades, rants, etc.
• Approachability: Be as available to your people as you’d like them to be with you and your customers.
• Confidence: Assume that you’ll get the big order — the new backhoe will show up on time, and the big check will appear.
• Positive attitude: You don’t have to walk around grinning like an idiot, but an upbeat attitude and optimism is good.
• Strength: Confront tough situations with courage and tenacity. However, leading with your chin is not required.
• Compassion: Being tough and tenacious doesn’t mean being cold and inhuman.
• Pragmatism: The rules are the rules, but sometimes circumstances just don’t fit them. Never compromise your core values and beliefs, but be reasonable and willing to deal with realities.
• Follow your own rules: They’re your policies and procedures — you get to set them up — but once they’re in force, you have to follow them just like any other employee. No free passes because you’re the boss. Nothing breeds resentment faster than double standards.

Walk the Walk

Good leaders must lead by example. By walking your talk, you become a person others want to follow. When leaders say one thing, but do another, they erode trust–a critical element of productive leadership. Here are 10 of the many ways to lead by example.

• Take responsibility. Blame costs you your credibility, keeps team members on the defensive and ultimately sabotages real growth.2. Be truthful. Inaccurate representation affects everyone. Show that honesty really IS the best policy.

  3. Be courageous. Walk through fire (a crisis) first. Take calculated risks that demonstrate commitment to a larger purpose.

  4. Acknowledge failure. It makes it OK for your team to do the same and defines failure as part of the process of becoming extraordinary.

  5. Be persistent. Try, try again. Go over, under or around any hurdles to show that obstacles don’t define your company or team.

  6. Create solutions. Don’t dwell on problems; instead be the first to offer solutions and then ask your team for more.

  7. Listen. Ask questions. Seek to understand. You’ll receive valuable insights and set a tone that encourages healthy dialogue.

  8. Delegate liberally. Encourage an atmosphere in which people can focus on their core strengths.

  9. Take care of yourself. Exercise, don’t overwork, take a break. A balanced team, mentally and physically, is a successful team. Model it, encourage it, support it!

  10. Roll up your sleeves. Like Alexander the Great leading his men into battle, you’ll inspire greatness in your company.

Some Quotes:

Be the change that you wish to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi

People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy. – Oliver Goldsmith

Leadership is the ability to translate vision into reality. —Warren Bennis