The conversations we have every day as leaders are not just exchanges of information. According to Conversational Intelligence® — developed by Judith E. Glaser and grounded in decades of neuroscience research — they are also signals. Every conversation sends a message about safety, trust, and belonging. Understanding those signals changes how you lead.

The numbers are hard to argue with. The sector is losing people. But beneath the statistics sits a question that does not get asked often enough: what is it about the experience of working in early childhood that is making people leave? The answer points back, repeatedly, to leadership culture. And that is something that can change.

A role shaped by whoever happens to be in it ends up absorbing everything the service has not had the conversation about yet. Curriculum questions. Interpersonal repair. Conversations that should have happened six months ago. Over a term, it shapes how the role feels from the inside, and the person holding it is rarely the one who gets to describe what just happened.

Celebrating 5 years of our Online Conscious Leadership Program, empowering early childhood leaders with transformative skills and leadership

As the new year unfolds, early childhood directors find themselves at a crossroads of emotions and responsibilities. For some, the return...