003 - Mission Vision Values

Key Topics Covered:

• The importance of establishing a clear mission, vision, and core values for a child care business
• How Rezin and Christy had to re-evaluate and define their organization's culture when they returned to the child care industry
• The differences between a mission statement, vision statement, and core values
• How Rezin and Christy implemented a culture statement and accountability system to align their staff
• The impact of having a strong, defined culture on employee retention and attracting quality staff

Worksheet Mentioned:

• A worksheet to help child care providers define their mission, vision, core values, and culture statement

Additional Resources:

• Photo of Rezin and Christy's culture wall displayed in their child care facility CLICK HERE

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:01

The Child Care Business Owners Podcast, episode number three.

SPEAKER_00: 0:08

Welcome to the Child Care Business Owners Podcast, the essential podcast for anyone who's passionate about elevating and growing their child care business. This podcast is your blueprint for building a powerful business where we will dive deep into the world of child care ownership, bringing you practical advice, innovative industry insights, and strategies that have been proven in the field. And now you're home.

SPEAKER_02: 0:51

We're going to chat a little bit about that and what it means to us in childcare. Last episode, we talked a little, we ended a little bit about uh culture, talked about culture and why that's important. And so we wanted to touch on that today because the more that we talk with childcare owners, the more that we see that this is something confusing to people. Not everybody fully understands what is the difference between a mission statement, a vision statement, core values, and a culture statement, which I know a lot of companies do culture statements, but in the childcare realm, it's uh not something that we see entirely. There are a lot of people that do it, not a lot of people that understand it. So I hope we can kind of clear that up a little bit tonight and why it's important to us. Reason, share a little bit with us when we came back into childcare and we started doing it. Uh, what was happening within our facilities that made us feel like we kind of needed to step in and shape and up and sharpen these things up a little bit?

SPEAKER_01: 1:52

So when we were in childcare the first time, we didn't really have to cross this bridge because um we had the staff in place. It was easy to hire people back then.

SPEAKER_02: 2:02

When we were really hands-on back then, too.

SPEAKER_01: 2:05

We were we were in the day-to-day operations, so we kind of guided people gently uh the way we wanted to guide them, and of course that would bleed out our um vision and culture. But we came back in the second time, times have changed, it was you know a number of years later, and we discovered that um you know people didn't share all those values that we wanted to set in our daycare. And we saw people were coming in and just kind of doing their own thing. Um they weren't really following the policies, the procedures. So we had to sit down and really hammer out what do we want, how do we instill what we believe into these people, and that's what we went through on this journey of figuring out what kind of culture did we want to set in our daycare setting? Yeah. Childcare.

SPEAKER_02: 3:01

And really, we kind of assumed that everybody was on the same page, that we just all loved children, and so we all would just be good human beings and do daycare and childcare the way that we all should do it. And we learned real fast that when we don't set the culture, that they bring culture, right? They're their culture is happening, whether we set it or not, they're bringing culture. And so we learned quickly, you know, we thought we were hands-off. We learned very quickly that some behaviors and attitudes and things that were happening was not representing us very well. And if we had our name on this, we wanted to ensure that it was, you know, who we wanted, what we wanted it to be. So uh I just want to I want to speak briefly about the difference because I talk to a lot of child care owners and they get confused on a mission statement versus a vision statement and what core values is. So let me just go ahead and we're gonna identify those. A mission statement is just a short statement. It's brief. It focuses on the present purpose of the child care facility, and it explains why it exists, who it serves, and what it does every day to support children and families. So it's it's pretty simple. 150 words, 300 words max. It's not big, it's just this is currently what we do. Okay. The vision statement is a little bit different. It's a future-oriented statement that describes the long-term aspirations of the facility. It outlines what success looks like in the future and the impact that the facility wants to achieve within five to ten years. So, mission, this is who we are, this is what we do. Vision statement is this is where we're going. It's a little bit of a bigger picture. The core values are fundamental beliefs that guide the facility's culture, decisions, and actions. These values drive how the team operates and how they fulfill the mission and work towards the vision. So, together, these elements they bring clarity, direction, and consistency, helping the team stay aligned and contributing to the overall success of the facility. So a lot of these core values really come from within us. They're how we feel about uh childcare, how we feel about the operations of childcare. These are values that are very important to us. For example, our core values were uh kindness, creativity, caring, and clean. Now, amongst others, obviously, you know, integrity and honesty is a part of that. And, you know, but the the core values is when we were really evaluating for us the four there were four main things that were important that if we didn't have those in operation, a family would leave our facility. So you can have, okay, there's kindness, creative, creativity, caring, and clean. So you could have kindness, you could be kind in your tones and be kind to each other. But if you're not a creative facility, if you don't provide creativity for these children and hands-on learning and educational campus, if you're not providing that, you know, these parents are not going to be happier. These children are not going to be at their best. You could be kind and you could be clean and you could be caring, caring for their, you know, diapers and wiping their noses and making sure that their bodies are taken care of quickly. But if if they're you're not doing anything creative with them, that this is why parents would leave. I mean, you can go down the line with the same thing with kindness. You can be creative and caring and clean, but if your tone is just mean and you're not kind, parents are going to leave. You know, you could be kind and creative, but not caring. You know, you could not be quick to changing diapers, leaving their diapers dirty, or not wiping their nose or tending to their hair or wiping their faces or cleaning their hands. So um that is also that's a that's the caring aspect, is it's not just it goes beyond being kind and being creative. It's it's taking it to another element. And then the clean aspect is you can be, like I said, the kind, creative, caring. But if you're not a clean person, keeping your rooms organized, um, keeping things sanitized, kids are going to be getting sick. You're gonna get known for that if you have dirt all over the floors. And so, anyways, those were just the key core values for us that really guided our mission and our vision for what we wanted to do. So, our mission is that we wanted to be a Christian childcare facility that strives for kindness and creativity and a caring and clean environment. And so that's kind of how we also uh we developed our culture statement. So, culture is interesting. Like when you go to different, when you think of culture and you go to different different cultures, you know, we enjoy missions, we like traveling, we've been to several parts of the world. And there are certain parts in the world when you go on the missions that it's a part of their culture for them to not wear clothes. Like that is literally a part of their culture, and that's normal for them. But um, if I show up in that manner, that's not appropriate. That's not a part of my culture. So when we talk culture, it is really the it reflects the day-to-day behaviors, attitudes, and environment within a group of people that it outlines that this is acceptable. This is how we behave and how we act and how we interact in our environment. And so it's so important. I it is utterly important that as childcare owners, you know, this has to come from us because if we don't create this culture, right, other people are gonna bring their own culture to the table. And often it's not what we want it to be. So um, the behaviors and the attitudes, do they reflect kindness? Do they reflect creativity? Do they reflect caring? Do they reflect clean? And so creating that culture statement, and we call it KC3. And I like doing those types of things where where we label it so it's easy for people to know, okay, what is your culture? These are your guiding behaviors and attitudes. And in fact, you know, we incorporate that into almost everything we do. We have a a huge 20-foot culture wall in our in our facility so that people are constantly remembering this is who we are. And then uh we also incorporate it within our assessments that we do for our 30-day, 60-day, 90-day new hires is we evaluate everybody based on culture. We assess them on culture. Are they being kind? Are they being, you know, we also when we interview, you know, we interview based on culture. So I always say it's it's important for us to lead for cult, you know, lead by culture first. Now, when we had first come back, we were constantly being called back in. You remember how we I was constantly being called back in, dealing with behaviors and dealing with staffing crises and people screaming and crying and throwing, these are adults throwing a fit to the administrators in front of children and the way that they would handle children. And so I recognized, we recognized really quickly that if we didn't really evaluate our core values and then teach them and come up with a culture statement to say this is the attitude and the behavior that is acceptable here based on those core values, you know, we were gonna continue to have this rotating door of staff that just, you know, it's like we knew that they didn't fit the culture. We kind of had a culture we didn't talk about, but we just hadn't identified it yet. You know, and when you don't identify it, if you can't even identify it as the owner, how in the world is your team gonna be able to identify it and embody that? So that's what was really important for us. And what we we started to do is once we came up with that KC3 culture, is uh we really started to put that on everything. It went on handbooks, it went on the wall, it went in memos, it it was just a constant reminder to our staff that this is who we are. And then we broke it down like this is how you live out the KC3 culture with parents, how you live it out with staff, how you live it out with the children, you know, with each other, so that they had a clear training and understanding that these were the behaviors and attitudes that were acceptable in our environment. And you know, do you remember when we started to implement that? Do you remember kind of the transformation that we started to have within our facility?

SPEAKER_01: 11:44

Yeah, because then now you're not just hiring bodies, you're actually trying to hire people and evaluate them based on the these uh statements that you have to make sure they align. And if they don't align, what do you do?

SPEAKER_02: 12:01

Well, we I would say you either shape up or ship out. You know, you and and so and that is exactly what happened is is you know, we now that we could evaluate we could evaluate behaviors and attitudes with something that we all agreed on, when somebody wasn't living up to that, we would we would have to address that, which then led to how do we hold people accountable now to the culture? You know, what how do we make sure that they they follow through with this if this is acceptable or not acceptable behavior? And so we ended up that's when we started the point system with our disciplinary policy is through discipline and evaluations. Discipline and evaluations. So we started doing, and you implemented this so well, you implemented a quarterly evaluation process where it was all based around culture, and it was like this fantastic point system. And so, and then we ended up doing it, it's digital. And so every quarter, and then we would give bonuses based on how well that they did on these assessments, and then they would even assess each other based on culture. So it was great. They were getting feedback if this person fit the culture and how they didn't fit the culture, and everybody was holding each other accountable. So we we found great success. And what happened is we found a lot of these people that were not willing to adjust or change, you know, they were being written up according to culture, and they would get points based on culture. And so we we did uh five points in a in a six-month rolling period that if they got five points, it was an automatic termination. And so uh we started holding people accountable and even the admins and even us, we held ourselves accountable to emulating that culture. And so, yeah, we did see almost a complete turnaround. But I'll tell you this we really uh really had a lot of minimum wage mindsets, and we could only attract minimum wage workers back then because we just didn't have clarity on who we were. And once we started teaching it and living it, and the the staff started to embody it and and new staff would come on and they're like, this is what this is the type of facility I want to work for, and I want to be like this, and I agree with that. They were holding each other accountable, so we started to see us getting bachelor's degree teachers and and less and less of minimum wage wage mindsets that we're not willing to do the work to have an environment that wasn't toxic. And you know, indeed put out a a study, and they said, okay, what are the top three reasons why employees quit their jobs? And the the very top, the very first reason, 65% said toxic work culture, even above salaries and benefits. Salaries and benefits were the next highest, and then the third highest was um mismanagement from from managers and admin just frustrated with management, not listening. But the very top one was culture, and I found that interesting because people are willing to work, and look, the whole we talked a little bit about it on the other the last episode about wages. We have to continue to strive to do better, clearly, in the childcare industry for wages. But people are really willing to bypass a little bit lower wages or bypass having better wages for a an excellent workplace culture. And that's why I, as you know, being the director of human resources for four years now, because I'm passionate about people. I'm passionate about being the best boss that I can be. So I've really invested a lot in learning, you know, the the HR side of our business. And the number one important thing, if you want to see turnaround in your business in many ways, is you do culture first. You really do missions, visions, core values. You preach it to the choir, you teach it, you live it, and you focus on the culture. And you're you will see things start to turn around. Then of course, you know, when you do that, it's gonna, it's gonna kind of have a ripple effect where you're gonna have to really start to fix things because as you're fixing culture and you're dealing with um kindness, creative, creativity, and all that. And, you know, so you have to realize, okay, I've got to make changes as the owner to ensure that I'm also living up to this culture for my people. So it really forced us to take a look at all of our systems and processes too, and make sure that our environment was kind for our staff, that our environment was, you know, promoting a way that they can succeed.

SPEAKER_01: 16:37

Yeah, because that's super important. Otherwise, you'll just be chasing your tail constantly trying to figure out what you're doing wrong or why your people are wrong for your business.

SPEAKER_02: 16:48

Yeah. Yeah. So the w I, you know, when I I was speaking at a retreat a a few weeks ago to um at a childcare facility in North Carolina. And we were kind of going through this workshop with them, helping them identify their culture, and we went through and we listed on on the wall what is the most frustrating parts of your work environment. And literally everything, and we said this is total free free floor, you know. The owner was is fantastic, and she said, I'm totally willing to hear guys. Let's we're here at this retreat, to be honest. Everything that they said had to deal with the culture. So um, here's where I would suggest, and we can actually have a link. I'm not sure where we can put this, but but I have a worksheet that I think is so fantastic for people to kind of work out your mission, your vision, your core values, and your culture statement. So I I actually have a worksheet that can help you with this, but I'm just gonna give you a real quick rundown. Is for your mission statement, when you're trying to to really compile a great mission statement, um, it's it's it's gonna clarify the reason that the organization organization exists. So you have to ask these questions. Okay, why does our child care facility exist? Who are we serving? You know, children, families, community. What are the key services or experiences that we provide daily? And how do we contribute to the development and well-being of children? Just ask, just answer those questions. 300 words or less. It does not have to be huge. It shouldn't be huge. You should be able to quote that thing out. The vision statement, it's going to outline where the organization is headed. So, you the questions that you want to reflect on when devising your vision statement is what is our long-term goal? What do we want to achieve in five to ten years? How do we plan to impact our community? And what does success look like in the future?

SPEAKER_01: 18:49

And you can help develop that by actually getting a census from the community with kids that have children that would have daycare, asking them what are some of the important things, like why is child what in childcare is important to you? What are the things you're looking for and that can help? Because really our clientele is who we're serving. So if we can mix what they want their needs are with what our values are, if you mix those two things together, you'll have a perfect mission statement.

SPEAKER_02: 19:18

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then to really help you craft your culture statement, just list three to five values that are your guiding operations and interactions, like you know, compassion, integrity, fun. Um, they're gonna be different for everybody. Uh the core values, and then what type of workplace environment do your team members want to have? Um, what behaviors align with those values or unique culture traits? What sets your facility apart from others? Those are important when you're crafting your culture statement. So um it's just fantastic. I encourage everybody to um grab up this uh we have this worksheet, work, workbook, Reason can tell us a little bit about where it's gonna be. but it'll help you really craft your your mission, vision, values, core values, and your culture statement. And then, you know, we can talk a little bit more about how to lead from there because man, the moment that we did that, it got busy. It got busy and it got real serious because we really started working our way towards health. People were not showing up bringing their own culture. They now were were being held accountable to, you know, live out our culture. And so um it just it works and it brings health to a business and it's super important. Lead with culture first in everything that you do and you will start to see things turn around.

SPEAKER_01: 20:41

Yeah. So for the worksheet we'll have a link in the description on the actual podcast website. So if you're listening to this via another platform such as um Apple Podcast or iTunes and you don't see that link, then you can just follow the um podcast back to its original source and you'll be able to get that link there. And then we'll also put a picture um in the post of our culture wall so people can take a look and see what that looks like and how we develop that.

SPEAKER_02: 21:12

Very good. Well thanks it was great chatting with y'all about this something very very important to me something I'm super passionate about.

SPEAKER_01: 21:22

Yep and if you have any questions or comments we will be in future episodes posting a uh caller feedback line so you can either call in or um post through the website any comments or feedback or questions you have and we would love to answer those as we do our podcast. So until next time have a great time enjoy your childcare facilities