Nursery World - All about...Staff Communication

A strategy for consulting frankly with staff on improving a setting is outlined by Shona Carmichael How happy are your staff? What do they really feel about their jobs, the quality of provision, the management team? These are questions that, as a manager, you should be able to answer. But establishing a fair and accurate overview of staff views can be difficult.

How happy are your staff? What do they really feel about their jobs, the quality of provision, the management team? These are questions that, as a manager, you should be able to answer. But establishing a fair and accurate overview of staff views can be difficult.

In most early years settings, staff meetings and an open-door policy are the main means of communicating with staff. Yet too often, the timid people within a team choose not to speak up, daunted by their own shyness and, on occasion, the bullying tactics of some other staff members.

As a result, managers may underestimate the level of staff frustration or overestimate the depth of any negative feelings. It is so easy to hear just the complaints of some and to miss the quiet satisfaction of others.

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