Choose Your Written Words Carefully

Hey you guys! This is your coach, Andrea Dickerson here. Welcome to the IOwnADaycare blog. In today’s blog post, I want to talk to childcare business owners about your written words that you use when documenting your staff performance. This blog is all about how to choose your written words carefully and document everything. Over the next four blog posts, you will discover some of the most common mistakes that childcare business owners make when it comes to documenting their employee performance and employee management.

In today’s blog post, I want to talk to you about how to choose written words carefully and document everything. Oftentimes, managers write absolute expressions such as always and never. For example, you would say Andrea never turns in her attendance records on time. In reality, however, that’s rarely true. Using these types of absolute words without being 100% certain will undermine your credibility and hurt your relationship with your employee to perform according to your expectations.

Tip Number One

Choose your words carefully, simply state facts, and in turn maximize the moment by setting a tone of clear expectations. Let’s see an example of how to state facts. The wrong way is Andrea never turns her reports in on time. The correct way to state facts is in the past three months, Andrea turned in her weekly report only once. This way, you’re more accurate and take on a more professional tone.

If I know that I’ve done something, I can acknowledge as a staff member that I have done some things. To say that I never do it right says that I have never done my job, which then causes me to be offended. Now, I’m not listening with an ear for correction. As the childcare business owner, use your appraisal of the staff member’s performance as a way to dialogue and create change.

Clear, Concise, and Direct

How do we do that? Take a moment and writing down what you see, feel, and make sure that it’s in a positive tone to be clear, concise, and direct. Your tone of words should answer the following questions: who, what, where, when,  and how. When you go through this process of asking yourself these trigger words and taking a moment to write down your true observation, you then have a better way of allowing the employee to see their performance in a way that will help them meet expectations.

Go back to our example. In the past three months,  you have given the time, the reference, and causing them to look back over themselves for that time frame, Hillary turned in weekly reports on time only once. Now, your role is to be able to document prior conversations about what you have observed and that it has been written. This way you’re more accurate and take on a professional tone of having documentation that over the past three months we’ve talked about this. Now today, when it comes to their employee performance, or if it comes to termination, you are clearly covered by being able to explain that this is a process that you have observed in this staff member over the past three months.

Changing Your Thinking

This is the best way to help you maximize your performance appraisals, job reviews, and employee management is by changing the way you think about discussions. Instead of reviewing your staff members’ appraisals or performance reviews as a necessary evil to get them to do what’s right, see this and recognize this as an opportunity to have an in-depth conversation with your employees about their work.

To gain more advice on management of your team members, be sure to check out our JumpStart Academy program where I give you back office in-depth systems and the confidence through training on how to conduct yourself during this portion of your business. If you’re like me, then I know for sure that conducting effective performance reviews could only be increased and encouraged through having done them time and time again.

I started out being my own boss. I can’t recall the time when I had a performance review. I was either hired or fired. Therefore, I did what I saw. As time went on, I began to desire to do better in my business, retain more of my staff, and encourage my expectations to be met. If this sounds like you, reserve your spot by clicking here. Book me so that I can call you and find out if I’ll be the best coach to help you get through creating your staff, performance, and procedures. Join me for 16 weeks of game changing systems, confidence building, motivation, and wisdom to help you lead a successful childcare business today. Click here.