I'm starting this new series on policies and procedures by focusing on what I believe is the most important aspect - making sure that staff fully understand your policies and procedures and reflect these in practice.
In previous articles I have referred to how important your values are. These should be the starting point for your policies and procedures, as your values are central to what you do and they should create a culture of quality practice.
However, you cannot begin to share your policies and procedures if you haven't got clarity about your values and what they mean to your setting. For instance, if within your value statement you say, 'We keep children safe at all times' but there was a safeguarding incident and your safeguarding procedure wasn't acted on, this means that you have gone against your values and, more importantly, children's welfare has been put at risk.
FIRM FOUNDATIONS
The Oxford dictionary defines 'values' as: 'principles or standards of behaviour; one's judgement of what is important in life'.
Ask yourself these questions and try to reflect on them. How have you defined your core values and what do they mean in practice on a day-to-day basis? Do they make sense to all your staff (including those who don't directly work with children such as cleaners or administrators)? How do you promote and share these values to your current and prospective parents? Do you incorporate your values into the day-to-day activities and experiences that you offer to children?
When visiting settings I have noticed that when there is insufficient clarity about values they do not form a firm foundation for the policies and procedures of the setting, resulting in staff feeling confused as the goal posts are frequently being moved.
There have been examples of a policy being changed overnight without any discussion or explanation to the staff team following a comment made perhaps by a local authority colleague, an independent consultant or a trainer on a course. This sometimes demonstrates to me that the setting is unclear about how to implement its core values.
On occasion these changes are almost a knee-jerk reaction and actually contrary to the philosophy of the setting. This changing for change's sake reminds me of a quote from US politician and philosopher Alexander Hamilton, 'Those who stand for nothing fall for anything'.
I have also seen different rooms within a setting follow different procedures. Again, this shows a lack of clarity on values and no consistency around implementation. Don't get me wrong, to listen to advice is good and settings should be consistently improving their practice but the advice needs to be thought through first before changes to policies and procedures are made and implemented in practice. Equally it is good practice to encourage staff to question the advice that they receive, as this demonstrates reflective practice.
And yes, of course we should update on a regular basis our policies and procedures, in line with legislation, guidance and good practice information. But, before you begin your journey reviewing and changing your policies and procedures, think about your values first. Only once there is a full understanding of your values across your staff team can you then begin to focus on your policies and procedures.
ASSIMILATING INFORMATION
First, we need to think about how we can make sure that staff understand what these mean in their day-to-day role. During consultancy visits, I notice that many settings ask their staff to sign that they have read and understood the policies and procedures. Yes, staff may have read them but have they understood, and how do you know that they have understood? How do you check that staff do indeed understand?
I have known many managers comment that they have told their staff numerous times about such and such a procedure but that it is still not understood. This is not necessarily the staff's fault. It is probably because of the way the information was presented to them and that it didn't match their learning style. Hence, they couldn't process it and put into practice.
Other managers may say that these policies and procedures are 'common sense' and staff should understand. Really? I say we need to be very careful when using the term 'common sense'. As individuals we all have our unique 'common sense'. Thus, we do, say and interpret things according to what is common sense to us as individuals.
For you, as managers, trying to communicate effectively with your whole staff team it is important to remember that we all have different ways of learning and taking in information; this is based on our preferred learning styles. As you know, there are various theories on this but in general the styles can be summarised as auditory, visual or tactile/kinaesthetic.
I would suggest that, if you or staff have not done so already, you do a test to ascertain your team members' learning styles. There are many online tests that you can do free of charge. Once you have this information you will be able to decide how to share information with your staff based on their learning styles and support their learning and understanding more effectively.
The styles are:
Auditory
Learn by listening and discussing facts and information
Visual
Learn by looking and studying facts and information
Tactile/kinaesthetic
Learn by movement and feeling facts and information.
IMPLEMENTING DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES
Here is a brief overview of how you can support your staff to understand your policies and procedures based on their specific learning style. It is important to note that once your staff have done the test they may overlap into two/three learning styles. In fact it is good practice to always use a variety of approaches ensuring coverage of all learning styles.
Visual learners
Try presenting the policies and procedures in a pictorial way, for instance, using photographs and a range of images in a step-by-step process to illustrate the procedures. For example, use photographs to depict the fire drill procedure. Display the information in a well used place such as the staff room, for staff to see easily.
Auditory learners
Use a mobile phone recording or MP3 to record the said policies and procedures and then discuss them on a one-to-one basis and in groups. Ask staff to talk through the process. For instance, 'Tell me what you would do after a child has had an accident?'
Tactile/kinaesthetic learners
Use scenarios so that staff can act out the procedures and practise doing them. For example, role-play the fire drill and means of escape procedure. This practical acting out will help the staff feel more confident when they have to do this in reality and participating in the process will also help them remember the importance of following and implementing this particular safety procedure. Another way of helping staff who have a more tactile style of learning would be, for example, to cut out paragraphs of the policies and procedures and ask staff to put them back in the correct order. Another way is to ask staff to scribe the key points of the policies and procedures on to a flip chart paper.
Remember, when writing a new policy or revising your policies and procedures always ask staff for their ideas and suggestions. This way you are empowering them and adding to their skills, knowledge and expertise as well as incorporating their skills and ideas.
In conclusion, by understanding how your staff learn, you will be promoting a fully inclusive learning environment and thus making sure that staff take on responsibilities and own your setting's policies and procedures.
By being aware of your values and being able to fully understand the policies and procedures, staff will then deliver them!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/tutors/inclusive-learning/ tutors-article-learning-styles
Laura Henry is managing director of the Childcare Consultancy laura@childcareconsult.co.uk
