Five New Ways of Managing

Roger Neugebauer, in the book Leading Early Childhood Organizations (part of the Art of Leadership series), outlines five creative and innovative new ways of managing an organization. Here is a paraphrased version of his list:

“1. Co-directing

Over the years the idea that it takes two has found new variations. Most often two individuals work together as co-directors – one focusing on pedagogical matters and the other on administrative responsibilities…

2. Shared Services

[This idea] has gained a lot of momentum in the past decade; there are now even annual shared services conferences. The concept encompasses a diverse range of centers working together to economically provide top-notch administrative services…

3. Contracted Management

[An example of this concept happened] when United Way asked Chambliss Center for Children to take over the operation of a struggling child care center…Over the following years, Chambliss took over five more community-based child care centers and 10 school-based programs…Only one of the community-based sites has a full-time, on-site director…Each of the independent sites has its own board of directors, which negotiates  a management contract with Chambliss.

4. Uber Outsourcing

[When centers join] Early Learning Ventures in Colorado, they have access to a wide range of administrative tools including bulk purchasing…fiscal services. They can elect to participate in any of the ‘tiers’ of services: enrollment, registration and wait list, staff demographics, certification and training, child attendance, staff-child ratios, billing, child development tracking.

5. Franchising

A child care ‘franchiser’ licenses its trademarks and proven business methods to others (often husband and wife teams) in exchange for a recurring payment, a percentage of gross sales, or a fixed fee. For example, Primrose Schools, one of the longest standing child care franchisors…maintains quality control by monitoring compliance on an ongoing basis and by providing continuous learning opportunities for franchisees. 

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