ECE Quarterly Reviews – 5 Major Questions to Improving & Growing Your Center
Going through the process of a quarterly review for your center is an amazing way to get a high-level view of everything that’s going on. Taking an hour to an hour and a half to do a little self-reflection of your center every three months should become a routine if it is not in place already.
Below are 5 essential areas to investigate when reviewing your center.
ECE Executive Questions
When reviewing the executive aspect of your center, you want to ask yourself questions like:
- What can I accomplish that would have a significant impact on my center?
- What changes can I make to benefit the center, and what prevents me from making these changes?
- What do you think a competing center has that would gain enrollment over your center?
These questions help identify general issues or compliments to your center. For example, are you bringing families to your center? If not, why? Identify where you need to work in order to become the best.
ECE Operations Questions
Operations is an important area to visit to ensure your center is running correctly. You will find out if you and your staff have the tools needed to complete your jobs. You’ll also have the opportunity to acknowledge if you have the right team in the appropriate roles. Who is answering the phones? How many people are doing tours? This is your time to get your center all on one page. One vision. One purpose.
ECE Financial Questions
When reviewing your center’s last three months of finances, you want to ask yourself if you have a plan for growth. It’s always best to have a plan no matter where you are as a center. Discovering what challenges you had that quarter and how to overcome them will also set your center on the right path to acknowledging any uncertainties and how to negotiate them. These uncertainties can be anything from another pandemic or a new center in your area. Being prepared for the unknown can prevent having blind spots in your center’s enrollment, possibly causing financial hardships.
ECE Enrollment Questions
The enrollment process cannot be reviewed or improved if it is not tracked correctly. So the first step is to ensure your center is capturing all the interactions and happenings within your center. If you are not, I think you found your first area of improvement. Then, based on your findings, ask yourself how your last quarter was in terms of ITER and how you can improve inquiry to enrollment ratios. All of the information gathered in this area of the review is for an ultimate goal of having forty to fifty percent enrollment rates.
Three Month Recap
Your three-month recap is just that; an overall recap of your center’s past quarter. So, what was your biggest win? Biggest challenge? What are three takeaways you have gained from reviewing your center this quarter? Asking these questions will help you envision what your center is doing now and what it has the potential to be.
Reviewing yourself or your center may have been very easy this quarter. You may have had many wins and positive feedback. That’s great; go with it and enjoy your victory! But sometimes, the review may be difficult and possibly provide you with an unwanted eye-opening experience. If the thought of sitting down and reliving your center’s last three months is terrifying, know that critiquing your center can only make it better. Remember why we are here, why we do what we do. It’s all to improve the lives of children and make the future a better place for everyone.
We have to work on ourselves, our center, and the experiences we provide to ensure our children have the brightest future possible.
