Dodi Imler spent more than 25 years as a preschool teacher and assistant director, but took on a new challenge in March: opening a new child care center as the director. She’s focusing her efforts on hiring staff and building a strong, supportive culture among employees—no small task in an industry known for low pay, worker shortages, and turnover.
Her recruitment and retention efforts are the centerpiece of a community impact project she’s working on as part of the Nebraska Early Childhood Workforce Leadership Cadre. This group, led by the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska, is building the leadership skills of early childhood professionals from across the state. Over the past three years, Cadre members have been designing and implementing impact projects to help solve an early childhood-related need in their community.
Imler doesn’t pretend to know all the answers to the challenges facing the early childhood field. Her program is still short-staffed—she has 18 people now but could use at least four more. Some of her employees are single moms who struggle with reliable transportation, and she competes with warehouses and telemarketing companies offering workers a higher hourly wage.
But from her office at the new Hamilton Heights Child Development Center location in central Omaha, a former 1930s storybook mansion with a brook running through the property that she and her staff call “the Shire” in a nod to “The Lord of the Rings,” she shared with the Buffett Institute what she’s learned and what’s worked for her as she tries to hire, retain, and engage staff.
Employees Want and Need More Training
“I think training is the key to almost everything, and what I'm hearing when I'm interviewing people or hiring people is that they have not had that,” Imler said.
New Hamilton Heights employees might have gone through a daylong orientation at past jobs, but they’re not receiving the in-depth training they need to redirect toddlers or teach them how to safely express their big feelings.
Orientation at Imler’s program lasts three to four days, but the full training period is 12 weeks. New employees are paired with mentor teachers, who are recognized and compensated for their leadership skills.
Be a Hands-On Leader
Imler said she’s not above pitching in and changing a diaper or wiping down a sticky table after snacktime if her staff needs help.
“I don't feel right if I don't know every single child and their personalities, so, I spend a lot of time in the rooms,” she said. “I can pretty much tell every parent from every room that, oh yeah, (your child) had a great day today, because I paid attention. I've gone into the rooms, I've made myself known. I've spent five minutes sitting on the floor with every kid.”
She’s there to help, not hover, she tells staff—she’s aware that her presence can come off as micromanaging to some.
“I can’t sit here in this office with the door closed all day,” she said.
Find Small Ways to Recognize Staff and Keep Them in the Loop
Imler is proud of a large whiteboard in the staff breakroom with a calendar noting updates and announcements—staff birthdays, vacation days, new children who are arriving, children who are transitioning to a new room.
It gives teachers a deeper understanding of what’s happening outside their room and why they might need to cover a classroom or give a little grace to a coworker trying to get three new students used to the classroom routine. They try to have a little fun, too, answering daily questions like, “What was your favorite Halloween candy growing up?”
At a different Hamilton Heights location, Imler said a teacher came up with the idea of writing dozens of positive messages on Post-it notes: “Hearing you laugh down the hall makes me happy.” “You are kind and generous.” A few times a year, staff would pick a Post-it message or two and give it to a coworker or leave it on their classroom door.
She also encourages staff to recognize the small victories of child development, like seeing a toddler sitting on the floor, flipping through a book and pretending to read a story out loud.
“You’re witnessing miracles every single day,” Imler said. “Sometimes, when you look at it that way, those stressful times are a little bit easier to go through, when all eight of your students are crying because they’re hungry.”
Imler credits the Cadre with creating a much-needed network for early educators, who often don’t get chances to collaborate, commiserate, and celebrate with teachers outside their own program.
“It’s just creating communities that have never been there,” she said.
Erin Duffy is the managing editor at the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska and writes about early childhood issues that affect children, families, educators, and communities. Previously, she spent more than a decade covering education stories and more for daily newspapers.