Stop the drama train: Create a nurturing working environment in childcare centers

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Let’s think of your childcare center’s culture as weather. Dr. Britt asks, "Is it 75 and sunny most days or is it torrential downpour, gale force winds, tropical storms?”

Everyone wants their work environment to feel like “75 and sunny”—not a tornado warning. But how do you actually create that kind of vibe in a childcare center, when stress is high and turnover is common?

Dr. Britt and Dr. Teri from Impact Early Education sat down with me to talk about how to ditch the drama and create a positive work environment that fosters connections, boosts morale - and ultimately, increases staff retention and decreases turnover. (Dr. Britt mentions that turnover costs an average of $8,000 per staff member, which is just another reason why staff retention is so important!)

Dr. Britt began by citing research that states that to combat staff turnover, we need to:

• Increase salaries
• Provide better benefits
• Create supportive work environments.
  

While we can’t solve salary and benefits overnight, we can take meaningful steps toward the third point: building a supportive and positive workplace culture. That’s what this webinar was all about - and it’s what can make the biggest difference, starting today.

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What is a childcare center’s organizational climate?

Simply, what does it feel like to work at the center? It is the overall vibe of the center, and it’s influenced by every staff member’s perceptions, attitudes, values and beliefs.

10 dimensions that foster a healthy work environment

To understand what makes up your center’s “climate,” Dr. Britt introduces 10 interrelated dimensions. Think of them as levers— they are important on their own, but also when one improves, it often boosts the others too.

The 10 dimensions are:

1. Collegiality: The extent that colleagues trust and support each other.
2. Professional growth: The degree of emphasis placed on personal and professional growth.
3. Supervisor support: The presence or absence of leadership that is encouraging, supportive, and has clear expectations. 
4. Clarity: The extent to which job responsibilities and policies and specific procedures are clearly defined and communicated. 
5. Reward system: The degree of fairness and equity in the distribution of pay, benefits, and opportunities for professional advancement. 
6. Decision-making structure: How involved staff members are in center-wide decisions, and the amount of freedom that they're given to make decisions that impact their own classroom and their own work. 
7. Goal consensus: The level that staff agree on the goals and objectives of the center. 
8. Task orientation: How clear the plan is, and how equally distributed the tasks are, to get to that common goal. 
9. Physical environment: The spatial arrangement of the center, and whether it helps or hinders staff in carrying out their responsibilities.
10. Innovativeness: The center’s ability to think creatively, adapt, change, and problem solve.

These dimensions help you identify your “glows” (what’s working) and your “grows” (what needs attention). It’s not about perfection—it’s about progress. Start by naming where the weather’s stormiest, and make a plan from there. It may feel daunting, but Dr. Britt compares it to “eating an elephant - one bite at a time.”

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The top 3 dimensions that stir the drama

At Impact Early Education, Dr. Teri and Dr. Britt work with hundreds of childcare centers and directors, and they have noticed three dimensions that are the top drama-stirrers:

1. Supervisor support
2. Collegiality
3. Clarity

Supervisor support

This one’s all about leadership—but not in the way you might think. It’s not just being a supervisor. It’s about how you show up. Do staff feel like they can come to you? Are expectations clear? Is your presence felt, or are you often invisible?

The absence of support here doesn’t just affect day-to-day morale—it shakes the entire foundation of the center’s culture.

Watch the webinar to hear Dr. Britt’s surprisingly relatable metaphor about gaucho pants and leadership trends.

“You know, misery loves company, but so does happiness and a positive mindset. [Directors and leaders] have the power to sway it in either direction based on their attitude, their interactions, and the actions they implement in their centers.”

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Collegiality

This isn’t just about whether your staff “get along.” It’s deeper, and far more personal. Trust, support, and belonging look different to every person. So what happens when one teacher’s idea of “support” feels like micromanagement to another?

Dr. Britt shares a story about two staff members with totally different values—and how their unspoken tensions shaped the climate for an entire classroom.

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Clarity

Raise your hand if drama has ever stemmed from unclear expectations. (I’m raising my hand, and I bet you are too).

Whether it’s who’s supposed to write the lesson plan, clean up the sensory table, or take the lead with a parent email—lack of clarity creates frustration fast.

So, in early childhood education, where burnout is common, clarity isn't a luxury – it’s a burnout prevention tool. 

Dr. Britt shared a powerful example: She showed a slide that just said one word: “lead.” Without context, is it about leadership? Or pencil lead? Or a dog leash?

That’s how easy it is for miscommunication and misinterpretations — and for drama to follow.

Ready to foster a more positive work environment?

This article just scratched the surface. In the full webinar, we dive deeper into:

• Why those three dimensions matter more than you think
• How to recognize the signs of trouble before it snowball
• What small steps can bring things back to “75 and sunny”
• How to market to your staff, not just families 
• The difference between interactions, connections, and relationships
• The “trust bank” concept - and how to start making deposits
• Real-world coaching tips from experts who’ve been in your shoes