Find Yourself a Good Mentor

“In real life in a center, the underperforming staff member, the nagging parent, and the cash flow crisis all hit at the same time,” write Roger and Bonnie Neugebauer in the book, Art of Leadership: Leading Early Childhood Organizations. “Meanwhile, you are scheduled for an annual licensing inspection in two days. Plus, the roof is leaking, again.

Challenges can seldom be addressed with straight-line solutions. And most solutions beget other challenges: if you raise fees to help with cash flow, three families take their kids to less expensive centers…

As much as any new or about-to-be director needs some good education and some handy resource books, what you really need is a confidante – a mentor. Every new director needs an experienced director to call on when things get out of hand as well as to celebrate with when things go well. As the Rolling Stones observed in ‘Let it Bleed’: Well, we all need someone we can lean on.”

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