Training early childhood teachers, leaders
and teams in management principles with boring management quotes just does not
work. Why not help your teams learn through games and rhymes?
Here are some great management
principles disguised in simple everyday games and rhymes. Play and sing while
you learn and lead! Become
a better leader, mentor your team to be more organized and be able to manage time,
change and people, effectively and successfully. Try it, it is fun and it works
too. Play the games given below with your teams and then at the end of the game
share the management gyan with them!
1.
Passing
the parcel- everyone knows how to play this game- but what team management
lesson does this game teach us? - Simple, do not pass the buck, some day the
ball will stop at you and you will get the forfeit. So do your work and your
duty and if at fault take the blame, don’t pass the buck!
2.
I spy
game – a simple game, in which you hide an object and others have to
find it. What does this game teach us? – It teaches us to be keen observers and
look for the hidden quality threats in our centre. So play this game often as
it develops keen observation skills which will help staff to seek out what’s
wrong. It can be a miss spelt word on a chart, a cobweb hiding in a corner, a
nail sticking out from the furniture, a water puddle that can be a potential
safety threat.
3.
Mary
had a little lamb- and everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go- what does this rhyme teach us?- a simple
management principle- Follow the culture of the organisation. Be a good leader and train your team well,
explain the reasons behind the rules and the systems and then you will have stress
free teams that focus and agree on quality, quality, quality.
4.
Race
around the clock with hickory dickory dock- time management is the lesson from this
rhyme. With the advent of social media, teams now struggle with multiple tasks
and don’t know how to prioritize for time management. The mouse knew what to do
when the clock struck one- do you? Teach your teams to set an hour wise
timetable/target for themselves. A beautiful way to teach and practice time
management.
5.
Little
Bo Beep has lost her sheep and doesn’t know where to find them……. when new academic year begins, a lot of things are happening together and coupled with weather, moods, deadlines there is a high chance of work going
haywire. When teams go haywire or a day goes
hay wire and nothing works, just go with the flow and slowly things will fall
into place. Disorganized
day schedules can add to stress levels and tears so just leave them alone and
they will come home……!
6.
Little
boy blue has a job to do- but where is the boy? Fast
asleep. There is always
that one or sometimes two staff members that go unnoticed and play hooky while
others work hard. Are you aware of each staff’s schedule ? Are all aware of duties and responsibilities? What
is every team member’s job description, and if they ‘sleep’ on their duties
then what are the
repercussions, define the duties and define the repercussions or else you will
have some team members always sleeping on the job and others bearing the brunt
of it, and doing all the extra work.
7.
Little
Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet…- New
teachers and new staff members are like little Miss Muffet, scared of the
unknown! Prepare teachers especially new ones about the job and the
‘emergencies or things out of control’ that sometimes add stress to the job. Is
she/he prepared or will she/he be like little Miss Muffet when faced with the
spider? The biggest spider that we need to watch out for is staff gossip as it
drives away many a Miss Muffet!
So you have a rainbow of songs and
games to practice and play at your centre with yourself and your staff. And in
each of the above is hidden a management principle or training, so in true
spirit of developmentally appropriate practice even you are playing while you
learn!
