Jodie Signorino, Author at JPS Family Day Care Advisers

How To Manage A Remote Team: 5 Tips For Family Day Care Businesses

July 7, 2020December 11, 2019 by Jodie Signorino

Working remotely is becoming the way of the world across many industries, including family day care where team members can be spread across multiple geographical locations.Running a business this way provides flexibility and allows for business growth, however, doing it effectively takes excellent leadership.

I am going to outline 5 strategies to help you master the art of becoming a successful remote leader.

Encourage an inclusive culture

Working remotely can be isolating, and can make managing teams challenging. Each team member needs to feel valued for their contribution to the success of your business, and be recognised for their efforts.

Some strategies you can use are:

Distribute a newsletter to celebrate victories and milestones

Ask for input from each member on decisions that affect the business

Make use of technology (eg. have a group FB page)

Offer regular get-togethers where members can get to know each other and share their goals, skills, experiences and knowledge.

Develop and refine your communication channels.

Being able to share your values, policies and procedures with your team is vital, and cannot be done without thoughtful and informative interactions at every level of your business.

The communication channels within a remote team must cater for both face-to-face and online exchanges between all team members. This is so issues can be dealt with quickly, and questions answered in a timely manner.

While you may not always be the first point of call for all staff in the day-to-day operations of your service, you need to be accessible to every single person in your business. Maintaining open communication channels will allow you to build reciprocal feelings of trust, so your team can approach you when they need to.

Phone calls, emails, or a text are simple ways to communicate with your team, as well as more formal situations like meetings and training sessions.

Use staff inductions to set mutual boundaries and goals

Your staff induction process should clearly outline how you manage your team remotely, and detail what is expected of each person to make that work successfully. Additionally, staff inductions are when you should discuss the goals of the business and how they align with the goals of your new team member.

Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your team will allow you to identify which areas you need to focus on with your remote business. For example, some members may need extra support with program planning, while others may need training in risk management.

Ensure everyone is on the same page

A big challenge of working remotely from your team is making sure everyone understands your business philosophies and values. The key to making this happen is by having comprehensive policies and procedures in place, so that each member knows what is expected of them in any given situation. You can get the JPS Advisers comprehensive policies here, the policy handbook for employees here, or you can develop your own by using this template.

Your policies and procedures are the backbone of your business, and each team member must be able to interpret the legal jargon they may include. JPS Advisers have created The JPS Guide for Family Day Care Educators that are a breakdown of each policy and provides tips and recommendations to make following them easier.

Having each member of your remote team on the same page will ultimately result in the success or failure of your business.

Build your skills in mentoring and monitoring

Last, by not least, you need to set clear metrics, milestones and outcomes for your remote team. The only way you are going to measure these are through monitoring and mentoring your staff. This will also help you identify and rectify gaps in training and identify strengths and opportunities for your business.

I’ve put together this pack you can use that includes tips and templates to get the most from your monitoring and mentoring sessions. You can grab it here.

Don’t forget to join my FB community to get more tips and advice on running your family day care business.

What To Do When You Don’t Have The Answer: Tips For Family Day Care Businesses

August 11, 2020November 14, 2019 by Jodie Signorino

When you run a family day care business, it is your responsibility to guide your staff, educators, families and children on the right path. However, there are going to be times, as a leader, when you are unsure of what to do, don’t worry, it happens to us all.

The way family day care businesses are structured means that each team member usually works remotely from each other. Educators work from their home, the service owners work from an office elsewhere and the coordinators work somewhere in between. That’s why it is important that your family day care business has consistent processes and procedures in place of what to do when you need to make a decision, especially because in our line of work these issues can involve the safety of children and it is these documents and practices that make it fair and equitable for everyone.

‘We’re professionals right?’

So, what should you do when you are asked a question and you don’t have the answer?

1) What do your policies say?

Policies are the ‘tool’ used to interpret and communicate legislation and operations. They outline your requirements, whether you are the provider or the educator and communicate the philosophy and culture of your service/business.

Your family day care policies should act as the “bible” you use to support the compliance of your business, it is what will protect children, you and your families.

It is imperative that your policies support the National Quality Framework, and they should be updated as needed to reflect changes in legislation.

If you are unsure if your policies are current, you can update them here for educators or here for service providers.

2) What do the experts say?

When you are unsure of the correct action to take, it is always best to seek the advice from an expert. Part of my role at JPS Advisers is working with businesses to work through concerns they have, rather than leaving things unresolved and becoming non-compliance issues later on, something I see all the time.

I have a number of resources available to help, including The JPS Guidebook for Australian Family Day Care Educators, and I am available for consultations via Zoom, no matter where you are located. You can schedule a meeting here.

Additionally, our team is expanding and we can now offer face-to-face consultations in NSW and Victoria. E-mail me at jodie@jpsadvisers.com.au so we can get to work on helping you.

3) Ensure your staff and educators are trained

Ensuing your staff and educators are trained, and have the resources they need to do their jobs will help reduce the burden on you. For this to happen, you must ensure you are providing quality training to your team. This means you need to be honest with yourself about whether you have the knowledge and experience to pass on, or whether you need to outsource the training to someone with the right skills and qualifications.

Investing in training is the best step you can take to ensure your family day care business remains compliant, viable, and in demand. JPS Advisers can help you create a training program to ensure you are giving you and your staff the best opportunity to deal with issues before they arise.

4) Know your job

It goes without saying that the more you know about your job, the better equipped you are going to be to help staff, educators, and families.

I suggest writing up a list of your strengths and weaknesses, so you can work hard at filling in the gaps. Additionally, consider getting a mentor, undertaking professional development training, and networking with others in the industry. Networking brings a range of benefits, such as tapping into the knowledge and experience of others, and also sharing your knowledge and experience with them.

I share tips and information for family day care business owners in my Facebook group and also in my newsletter that will help you build your expertise in your role. These are both free, so I encourage you to take advantage of them.

5) Be prepared

The last thing I want to tell you, is that not knowing the answer is okay. None of us know the answer to everything. But you need to be prepared, and know where to find the answers for you and your team. To give yourself the best chance to be able to offer a solution, make sure your policies are up to date and you refer to them regularly, you and your staff are trained, and you build relationships with experts in your industry so they become a trusted source when you need advice.

As educators, you have gained your early childhood training and credentials but running a business is more often than overlooked and even neglected. I have to put together the must have ‘My Home, My Business’

5 Branding Tips For Your Family Day Care Business

September 24, 2021October 21, 2019 by Jodie Signorino

In this post I’m going to give you a few branding tips.

In my role as an education business adviser, I am often asked, “how do I attract clients?”, or I hear people say, “I’ve been working for months and can’t get clients”.

Well, like all businesses, it is important to create a strategy for branding for your business. A brand gives your business an identity. It is what your potential clients come to know you for, and is what sets you apart from family day care educators.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking: “I wasn’t taught how to build a brand, I was taught how to care for children.”

I already know that you are great at what you do. But if you want your business to grow, then you need to think about how potential customers and the community perceive you. So, I am going to share 5 branding tips for your child care business.

5 Branding Tips For your Family Day Care Business

1) Develop a brand identity and voice

Developing a brand identity helps to connect you with the right people for the service you want to offer. To do this, you need to clearly articulate the key messages you want to send to your clients, and ensure it remains consistent across all of your communication and marketing.

One way you can do this is by creating a tagline. A tagline is a phrase or two that helps to convey your business values, purpose, or culture. A tagline should be short and easy to remember.

For example, I have recently started attending meetings with service providers and educators online via Zoom. So, I came up with the tagline “only a zoom away” so that my clients know how easy it is to have me working with their team, no matter where they are located geographically.

2) Online presence

Creating an online presence is a great way to build your child care business’s brand. Using online platforms, such as a website or social media, gives you the opportunity to control how your brand is presented to the world.

Having an online presence also gives you the chance to showcase your expertise, because you can create informative and educational content that helps your current and potential clients. This way, you will be the first person they think of when they need the services you provide.

3) Deliver what your brand promises

If you are telling people you are better than your competitors, then you have to BE better than your competitors. Make sure you stick to your policies and procedures, and build a program that delivers what your clients need and meets the National Quality Framework. If you have my policies, then you will have a program that supports the NQF. You can get them here.

4) Find Your Niche

Create a business plan to help find your competitive advantage, and then become the go-to person in that niche. You can get a business plan template here. For example, do you look after children with certain needs? Do you have smaller group sizes, or offer a particular learning environment? Are you trained in something rare and valuable?

Whatever you determine your niche to be, get out there and own it. Then make sure to include and highlight this in your branding.

5) Consistency

Finally, make sure you are consistent with your branding across everything you do, and everything you say. Your logo, brand colours, key messages, and brand voice should be clear and identifiable so your target market comes to know, like, and trust you.

So, there you have my branding tips. Remember, when you work hard at becoming great at what you do, your brand will speak for itself.

If you want some more branding tips for your family day care business then check out these packs:

Branding and marketing approved service providers

Drop Off And Pick Up Times – Why Educators Need To Be Flexible.

July 7, 2020October 9, 2019 by Jodie Signorino

I’ve seen a lot of discussion by in-home child care educators on social media lately around drop off and pick up times for children. Now, while I know it is important to have processes in place for these times to run smoothly, I’ve been a little shocked at the rules some educators have for the families enrolled in their program.

In some instances, I’ve seen educators state they have a sign on their door saying something like, “If you aren’t here by 8.30, then don’t bother coming at all.”

Wow! Really?

Now, I know many of you are going to disagree with me about this topic. And that’s okay. Ultimately, it’s your business so you can make your own decisions. Nonetheless, I’d like to give you a few things to think about when setting procedures for your in-home child care business.

1. Communication is key. There are going to be cut off times where you may need to leave the house to get other children to school and, of course, this needs to be managed. A child cannot be late for school because another family has enjoyed a late breakfast. But rather than enforcing a rule saying they can’t attend at all, instead try communicating with families to ensure they understand that if they arrive and you are not there, you will be returning at xxx time. They will simply need to wait.

2. You are providing a service parents are PAYING you for. In a sense, parents are at your mercy because they have to pay for the time their children are booked there, regardless of if their child attends or not. However, in my opinion, it doesn’t mean you should be taking advantage of that. As a mother, I know I want to pay for quality educators who are looking after my child’s needs, not their own.

3. In the grand scheme of things, will a late child really be a problem? Is it really going to be an issue if a child arrives later than expected? Sure, when children start school, there will be times they need to stick to, but do we really need to be enforcing such strict procedures on a two or three year old?

4. Children need to learn resilience. You may argue that a child arriving late will disrupt the other children. Well, life doesn’t always run smoothly, and children need to learn to deal with interruptions. And, what message does a “don’t bother” sign send to a child who is running late? They should give up on the day completely just because they are running late?

We should be letting children know that setbacks happen, but we can always bounce back from them. This includes minor issues, like running late in the morning, which is usually out of the child’s control.

5. Drop off times can be stressful for children. We all know plenty of parents who have to deal with children who don’t want to leave home. Mornings can be chaotic, (I know they are in my house), and just like we tell adults to practice self-care, we should teach children that it is ok to take time to take a few extra deep breaths when they need to.

6. Not being flexible can harm you in the long run. In-home child care is a growing industry and to remain competitive you are going to need to respond to the needs of the market. If you plan on doing this long term, then it’s worth establishing yourself now as a business that has a reputation of working WITH families, not AGAINST them. If you don’t, you run the risk of losing clients to your competitors.

If you are looking for help with drop off and pick up times then I have a whole section devoted to it in the JPS Survival Guide for Australian Family Day Care Educators (or the JPS In-home Child Care Business Guide for International Providers outside of Australia). Or, if you’d like to get more advice from me, then please don’t hesitate in sending me an email at jodie@jpsadvisers.com.au.

You can also connect with other in-home child care professionals in my Facebook groups, join the Australian group here or join the international group here

If you’d like to get more information, tips, and free resources to help your in-home child care business thrive, then subscribe to my mailing list so we can stay in touch.

JodieP.S. Remember ! I’m only a ZOOM away. Schedule here.

5 Professional Development Tips For Family Day Care.

July 7, 2020August 29, 2019 by Jodie Signorino

Whether you are a service provider or an educator, professional development is an important ongoing process that can help your business become the quality service that parents choose for their children. Quality Area 7 Governance and Leadership requires that training and continuous improvement plans and strategies are in place with an on-going cycle of self-reflection.

With providers and educators working remotely from each other, and educators responsible for the improvement of their own program and overall environment, you already know how hard it can be to ensure that everyone gets the training they need to stay informed and most importantly, motivated, right? And then there’s the problem of monitoring if the training is actually improving practice.

Here are five ways your family day care business can incorporate and embed training and professional development:

1) Monitoring and mentoring: This powerful strategy will help you identify and rectify gaps in either you or your team’s training and identify strengths and opportunities for your business to grow and flourish. Following training and professional development up with mentoring sessions is a great way to provide training and for the mentor and mentee to put together an ongoing professional development plan.

I’ve put together a pack you can use that includes tips and templates to get the most from your monitoring and mentoring sessions. You can grab it here.

2) Resources: As our industry grows, there are more and more resources available for us to use to help with our skill and knowledge development. It is important to choose relevant and quality resources that allow you to develop your own style. Before choosing resources, understand your goal for the training or professional development. I know one of my major goals for family day care is that practitioners have sound business practices to keep them safe, professional and on the continuous improvement path (by the by, I am currently developing an online business course for educators).

And that’s why I created a resource I am most proud of, the JPS Survival Guide for Australian Family Day Care Educators. It’s helped many family day care businesses put together their business and quality improvement plans, create policies and procedures, undertake risk assessments and implement professional practices, such as code of conduct, working with families, confidentiality and so much more; everything to get educators and services implementing sound business practices and of course ‘compliance‘.

3) Online delivery: Technology allows us many opportunities to connect and learn from each other. It means we can offer and receive training from wherever we are in the world. As a matter of fact, I’ve been asked a few times to attend training sessions as a guest speaker via Zoom. It’s worked really well, it can be a Q and A session, or pre-recorded training in areas your business needs and is currently working. It gets everyone experiencing a shared understanding, the core of a quality service.

If this is something you’d be interested in, then please don’t hesitate in sending me an email at jodie@jpsadvisers.com.au

4) Industry experts: Have you noticed that staff and educators attend training sessions, but yet no real change is happening in your service? The benefits of collaborating with an industry expert to help with your professional development is that they bring comprehensive knowledge of the sector and are able to relate the learning to national quality standards, laws, and regulations and different contexts for the learners to grasp and relate to. With me, you will get the advice and skills that are required to follow-up training. Because you can’t just expect training without some kind of follow up – that’s in the leadership.

An industry expert, like me, is someone who has faced the barriers you come across in your business and knows how to get through them. If you need help, then don’t be afraid to reach out for guidance. That’s what I am here for.

5) Self-education: I’ve been in the childcare industry for over 30 years and have helped hundreds of child care businesses by offering advice and sharing my strategies and personal experiences. However, I know that in order to do my job efficiently, I have to take a proactive approach to my own learning so I am always working on my development. I read books, take courses, listen to podcasts, have mentors in the industry, and keep abreast of changes to legislation. It’s on ongoing process.

It’s important to stay up-to-date on industry changes through networking, subscriptions and simply remaining informed (both online and off), identifying gaps in your skills and knowledge, and taking steps to get the training, information and skills you need to run your business successfully. I’ve created a Facebook group to support service providers and educators. This group is designed to support you, share ideas and connect to others. I am present in the groups to guide thinking and answer your questions.

If you’d like to stay connected with me to get more information, tips, and free resources to help your family day care business thrive, then subscribe to my newsletter list so we can stay in touch.

Jodie

P.S. Remember! I’m only a ZOOM away. Schedule here.

Back To Where It All Began For Family Day Care Expert, Jodie Signorino

July 7, 2020May 28, 2019 by Jodie Signorino

Jodie Signorino is on top of things. After spending the last three years working solely in governance advising, the family day care adviser is returning to her first love: training.

Signorino’s love of training started back when workplace training was just being introduced in child care. She established a training program in all of the centre’s she was responsible for that are still going strong to this day.

Now, almost 30 years on, Jodie will be combining her love of training with her role as the founder of JPS Family Day Care Advisers to enable improved service operation and delivery in the education and care sector.

“I have always been sought to assist family day care services with their governance arrangements and look forward to doing more of what I love” Signorino said.

“Bringing my skills to family day care, as opposed to centre based services, I feel like I’m making a real difference, and I am surrounded by people I trust to help me bring robust governance to a sector that has been failing on so many aspects. I am obsessive about governance, policies and systems that, once implemented, make a real difference to the business and of course ultimately the experiences children are getting. I am a parent and an early childhood professional and I believe that family day care is THE ultimate care arrangement for children and families.”

Jodie’s policies have received acclaim by many managers and other governance advisers, and have been referred to as ‘professional’ and even ‘strict’. But she is proud that the JPS Family Day Care policy and procedures are underpinned with the five governance principles of training, mentoring, monitoring, compliance and quality improvement. Jodie credits her time at working KPV now (ELLA) with establishing her skills in developing policies that actually work, although she insists that even if you have the best policies in the world, if they are not fully implemented then they are a waste of time and money.

One of those who was influential in Jodie’s governance training and understanding was Glenda Glover, who headed up the team of governance advisers for ELLA for over 20 years. Glenda was the one that challenged Jodie and made her think about what governance is and how it differs greatly from managing. Glenda was able to instil in her team of advisers the ability to identify the symptom, whether that be a staff member not performing, a parent complaint, or the governance of the service.

‘It’s all in the governance arrangements, including the delegation of authority!’

Jodie credits this training for her ability to see ‘governance’, and help services identify the cause rather than just addressing the issues.

“If a provider or manager feel they are constantly putting out fires and dealing with same issues over and again, the problem lies in the governance!”

Unlike Jodie, Glenda will not be pursuing governance in family day care having recently retired to enjoy her new granddaughter.

“Maybe she thinks I have learnt everything I need to know” Jodie laughed.

However, Jodie knows Glenda is proud of the adviser she is today.

Meanwhile, one new adviser that has recently been welcomed into the JPS fold is Vera Vasilchenko, a business adviser that works with services to bring their governance and 3rd party software together for better operations, business optimisation and of course compliance with the family assistance law. With Vera joining the JPS team they are a one stop shop to getting your governance structure right for improvement.

“I remember thinking governance and management were the same thing. Because I was a manger I though I totally understood governance. How wrong was I back then. Since focusing on governance I now know the difference and would like providers who run a service and educators who run a home business to know the difference, I want to see family day care re-build their reputation and climb the quality ladder with confidence and professional practice’ Jodie explained.

Signorino herself has become an influencer of sorts, with people she has worked with and trained going on to achieve great things in the education and care sector. In fact, it has been the advisers Jodie has worked with that have helped her to develop a complete governance package for family day care services.

Her influence, it seems, has extended to her home life, too. Jodie, who shares one child, Eloise, with husband Michael believes her daughter has already grasped the importance of policy development and implementation which is evident in her dealings with her school and school groups she has become a part of.

“I didn’t get it until my thirties, but at 14 she already gets the importance. It’s great to see her taking an interest in my work. In her head she is already a leader” Jodie laughed.

The Must-Have Tool Every Family Day Care Educator Needs Right Now

June 27, 2020January 24, 2019 by Jodie Signorino

As a family day care educator, understanding the law surrounding running a child care business from home is THE most important knowledge you need.

The law is designed to keep children (and you) safe and protected.

Educators come from a range of diverse backgrounds, with qualifications in early childhood education and care, not law, and while we all know we have to follow the rules, there is a definite need for a simpler way to stay on track rather than searching through hundreds of pages of legislation or policies.

The JPS Survival Guide for Australian Family Day Care Educators takes the stress and formality out of legislation and policies and provides educators with a simple workbook to help them build and manage their home business that meets the regulations and National Quality Standards.

The JPS Survival Guide for Australian Family Day Care Educators is designed for educators working from home to keep them safe and compliant under the National Quality Framework.

As I always say ‘the goal’ should be achieving Meeting the National Quality Standard in your business.

You can always book a session with me to make sure you have it all right … with the knowledge and systems in place to protect your business and at the same time remain viable.

Don’t worry about the regulatory authority or the Ratings and Assessment process again, should they come to your home, these tips will get your business where you need to be.

Family day care educators differ greatly from their centre based counterparts as they are liable for fines under the education and care regulations and are more often that not the ‘frontline’ face of the Service, dealing with families questions or queries that are essentially not yours to deal with; making the role of family day care educator much more riskier and challenging than it would be to work in a centre.

Now? having said all of that; the flexibility and benefits that come from working from home, providing child care to children so they can experience every day activities such as going to the fruit shop or not having to wait for educators attention in a room with 20 other children and the benefit of life-long relationships between educators and families that we only see FROM family day care, is why we do it, Right?

Theres is no doubt in my head that family day care is the ‘optimal’ model for children’s early years experiences.

Educators who work from home, not only impede on their own family but as I said ‘carry a greater risk’.

JPS advisers has worked hard with the sector to identify those risks and support educators to risk manage and plan their business to keep them and of course children safe!

7 Reasons Why Now Is The Perfect Time To Start A Family Day Care Business

December 30, 2021January 24, 2019 by Jodie Signorino

Family day care is becoming a preferred option for child care for many families, as the benefits of children being cared for in a home environment with a qualified professional become increasingly apparent. So, if you’ve been thinking you’d like to start a family day care business, now is the perfect time.

Here are seven reasons why now is the perfect time for you to make the leap, and start a family day care business.

1. You are in control of your professional development: When you decide to take control of your own career, your potential is in your hands, not someone else’s. You can develop your own program around your philosophies and values, and can become known as a specialist in the areas of child care you enjoy the most. Becoming known as an expert in your chosen area could lead to professional opportunities such as writing books or giving training in what you have become known for.

2. You get to run your own business: While many people can only dream of running a business from their home, you will have everything you need to build the career you want, and to do meaningful work as you guide children to a bright future. Family day care professionals have access to quality support services, such as JPS Advisers. Check out our Business of a Family Day Care Educator online training course here, or sign up to get our free business planning template to create your blueprint for your business.

3. Inspiration: A benefit of social media is the inspiration you will have at your fingertips when you start a family day care business. Children in child care deserve to have passionate and inspired people around them, so it’s important to check out what others in your field are doing. Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook groups are a good way to connect with others because business owners and educators love sharing ideas. Before you know it, you’ll be finding new ways to add your own style, flair, and expertise to your educational program, and you’ll have your own mini cheer squad supporting you. Like the JPS Family Day Care Advisers Facebook page to connect with like-minded peers.

4. Support and resources: If you become a service provider or educator, you may find yourself worrying if your family day care business is compliant. Finding you way through legislation can be tough, however, there are experts that provide a range of services, including coaching, training, resources and advice. Support services like this, such as JPS Advisers, can help ensure your business is meeting its obligations, meaning you won’t have to worry about the authorised officers closing you down when they turn up.

5. Fast growth: Because family day care is in such high demand, qualified and skilled individuals now have the opportunity to take the lead in the market and build a reputation as a quality family day care business.

6. Demand: There is no doubt that family day care is growing to be a popular as a choice for families with parents who work or study. Many families are seeing the benefits of having their children looked after in smaller groups with flexible, nurturing, and individual learning. If you have the qualifications and skills, then your community needs you!

7. Make a difference and create a legacy: Every game we play, every challenge we help children meet, and every accomplishment we help them achieve, will leave an impression on our children for a lifetime. If you are passionate about a giving children the right start, to play a role in shaping our future generation, and to help make those first memories beautiful and cherished, then it’s time for you to reach your potential and build a business that is going to make a difference.

“Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory bank of our children” – Charles R Swindoll

If you are an educational professional, and you’d like to get started on building a rewarding business, then family day care is a brilliant opportunity for you to share your knowledge and experience. There has never been a better time to get started.

P.S. Deciding to start a family day care business can be overwhelming, especially one where you are responsible for the education, care and safety of children. That’s why JPS Advisers have put together “The Family Day Care Educators’ Survival Guide”. This book contains the most comprehensive information available for family day care educators. It is packed full of procedures, tips, and recommendations to guide you to business growth and success.