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Maturing As a Manager: Bringing Leadership and Management Together

by Susan Hay
January/February 2012
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Article Link: http://www.exchangepress.com/article/maturing-as-a-manager-bringing-leadership-and-management-together/5020312/

Very few people in early years would dispute that the success of a child care centre is almost entirely down to the strength of the centre manager. At its most successful, management expands to leadership, where leaders are able to influence the behaviour of others for the purpose of achieving a goal. Leaders develop a special set of rather baffling qualities that enable them to persuade others to do what the leader wants because they want to do it. Leaders can balance concern for the task, for quality and efficiency, with equal concern for the people they work with and the relationships they form. Adding leadership to management is maturing as a manager.

In my book, Essential Nursery Management (2008), I refer to Gillian Rodd’s (1994) list of the characteristics that bring leadership and management together:

• Curiosity: Interest in learning
• Candour: Open to public scrutiny
• Courtesy: Respect and dignity for others
• Courage: Willingness to take risks
• Compassion: Creating trust and empathy.

Given the competitive climate that centres are in, almost 20 years on, now we should add a sixth “C”:

• Commerciality: Thinking and acting commercially.

In the push and shove of day-to-day child care centre life, it is easy to put aside the ...

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