Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/nurturing-our-professional-lives/5011559/
Recently someone approached me at a conference saying they found my suggested strategies for staff development exciting and helpful. "If only someone were thinking about director development in the same way," she sighed as we parted. That remark got me thinking. Is director development significantly different from teacher development? How is it that directors ever find time to tend to their own professional needs? If they do manage to periodically shift their focus toward themselves, what kind of strategies and resources are helpful in developing themselves more fully for their roles?Any good management book or class for directors will stress the importance of time management and delegation of tasks. While these are certainly important skills to develop, the truth is that the typical work of a child care director is so encompassing, so filled with squeaky wheels and daily crises, that acquiring the best of these skills is often for naught. I continually hear directors name the frustration of not getting to any of the work on their list for the day. This often translates into a sense of personal inadequacy or failure. In most instances, this is hardly the case. The job is just enormous, and typically there is minimal ...