300! Let's Transform Your Team With Beth Cannon

In this episode of "Child Care Conversations," Kate and Carrie sit down with Beth Cannon, a seasoned leadership coach, to chat about the real challenges of leading early childhood programs—especially as the new year rolls in. Beth shares her journey from teacher to trainer, offers practical tips on staff engagement, accountability, and adapting to Gen Z, and highlights the power of clear communication. 

Plus, she announces her new book and upcoming events! If you’re looking for fresh, actionable leadership wisdom (with a dash of warmth and humor), this episode is a must-listen. 

Learn more about Beth at her website: www.bethcannonspeaks.com

Thanks for Listening 🎧

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Transcript

Carrie Casey (00:48)
Welcome back guys. We've got somebody who you all know. Beth Cannon is on the show today to have a fun conversation about what we're seeing in leadership now that we're going into the new year.

Beth Cannon (00:48)
Welcome back guys. We've got somebody who you all know. Beth Cannon is on the show today to have a fun conversation about what we're seeing in leadership now that we're going into the new

year. So Beth, before we get too far, we do assume that most folks have at least one job to But why don't you give us just a short snippet of your background and how you ended up in early child care. And that's there.

Kate Young (01:04)
So Beth, before we get too far, we do assume that most folks have at least heard your name, but why don't you give us just a short snippet of your background, how you ended up in early childcare, and then from there, we'll just

have a discussion.

Beth Cannon (01:19)
Yeah, so it's been close to three decades and now I spend most of my time speaking on stages doing leadership retreats and team building. But the story started back when I became a new mom. I was a school teacher and an aerobics instructor. It's funny I never meant to get into child care. I meant to get into fitness for kids and the business that we started Stretch and Grow. We've our first franchise back in the 20th century in the late 1900s and

It was just to really have such a passion for kids and getting them moving. And so it started out serving schools as an enrichment provider. And then I quickly became the franchise trainer for Stretch and Grow International, became an international speaker ⁓ well over 20 years ago and started doing business and leadership training kind of all along the way. Really, ⁓ you know, when COVID hit, it exposed that, gosh, early education needed some

some business training, some leadership training, and there were a few people that were kind of leading that, but I think I have such a unique look into early childhood education because being in stretch and grow, we're there when it's not show time. So people who are school owners know what happens in their school. People who are consultants just kind of see from the office, but people who do enrichment programs and work with the office,

we see what really happens when it's not show time. And so it just gave me a really unique lens into the challenges and into the needs of what we do and what we have. So that was kind of how it got started.

Kate Young (02:52)
Love that. Thanks for sharing for folks who maybe don't always get that. ⁓ I know that, you know, I think I've heard some of the same stories, no offense, even when they're different topics, but it all comes back to your teenage years. So I'm really kind of glad that we got to talk about not Beth as an eighth grader and some of her mischievous ⁓ endeavors. So.

Beth Cannon (03:01)
Even with a different

⁓ my gosh, that's... my dad's rolling in his grave.

Kate Young (03:18)
a famous, maybe infamous,

⁓ but I laughed when I heard it at the most recent event we were at and you were speaking and I was like, now I know there's more to Beth than that story and why is that the story I keep hearing? So apparently I'm in the room where that story gets told. But ⁓ so Beth, we both know and so does Carrie, we all know that it takes a different type of person to go from being a teacher

to being a leader in a school program. And unfortunately, a lot of these awesome educators do such a great job as a teacher that they get promoted. And so now they're promoted with absolutely no training. What might be something that you might tell a brand new director who's listening, it could even be a director who's been a director for a really long time, that is a place for them to start when they're reflecting on the infamous

Beth Cannon (03:59)
And so now.

you might tell a brand new director listening.

Kate Young (04:17)
they don't listen to me or my staff have changed, what might be a place you might encourage folks to start?

Beth Cannon (04:26)
Well, wherever you are, I want to tell you that the broken record of conversations that I hear, it's the same story whether you've led for five minutes or 50 years. Nobody wants to work anymore. Nobody listens. Why is everyone so emotionally fragile? And what do I do with these people?

And so I really don't think it has anything to do with the years of experience that they've had because I see the same challenges happening. 90 % of early childhood leaders were at one time teachers and they were high performers. They were 18 players and they got tapped on the shoulder and said, you, you're awesome. Move to the next level. And then they show up and now they're in charge of the estrogen cloud, which is because the majority of, you know, the majority of staff in a childcare center and in a preschool.

are women, right? And so that comes with the challenges and women who deeply feel everything. And so, you know, I used to, when people used to say, my gosh, my team, my team, my team, I would nod and say, I agree. Let's work on fixing your team. However, I think the strategy going into the new year is to first, not so much focus on your team, but focus on yourself. Because a lot of times I find it's not the people.

It's the processes. It's not that your team doesn't know what to do or they don't take any initiative. It's that the leaders never taught them how to do. They've never given instruction that evolves around this is doing, this is who is doing what or when. And so they're not great delegators because they think that common sense is common and you should know this. And it's not. We've got people who've never learned how to sweep.

Carrie Casey (05:51)
Thank

And it's not. We've got people who've never learned how to sweep

because they had an electronic ⁓ Roomba and so they never needed to sweep. So how do we set that up? How do we make sure that the teachers have the basic skills that they need to have?

Beth Cannon (06:07)
because they had an electronic ⁓ womba and so they never needed to sweep. So how do we set that up? How do we make sure that the teachers have the basic skills that they need to

have? Well, it's systems and it's processes is what it all goes back to. You walk in assuming nothing and you start from scratch. But I think that more than just the simple

tasks of the how, you know, how to sweep the floor. You know, when you're talking about leadership, it's really leaning in and listening and understanding. So when you know that sweeping the floor is on the docket for the day and you come in and you see that said floor has not been swept, well, what is the problem? Did they not want to sweep the floor? They knew they were supposed to sweep it and they didn't want to sweep the floor. They got busy and they forgot to sweep the floor or they swept the floor and you can't tell they swept the floor because they didn't know how to sweep the floor.

So, you know, it goes back to, yes, these are symptoms. The dirty floor is a symptom of a root cause of something. And I think the wisest leaders go back to what, not just the symptom and let's fix the symptom, let's treat the root cause. And most of the time, the root cause is in something that the leader, there's a gap in leadership. And I don't think a lot of people want to hear that.

Kate Young (07:32)
agree with you. think what's really interesting is, you know, as female leaders, as women who have talked on leadership for decades, one of the things that's really interesting in our industry is the number of men that our industry goes to and brings on as conference keynotes in leadership. But men and women lead differently. We are different.

Beth Cannon (07:32)
you

in leadership, but men and women lead differently. We are different.

Kate Young (07:58)
We also get to that leadership role

Beth Cannon (07:58)
We also get to that leadership.

Kate Young (08:00)
differently kind of like you just said before right like a lot of our leaders in this industry were teachers the other thing to think about is that a lot of the women in our industry were moms and If we actually think about everything we've ever been taught Probably as a teacher probably even as a parent, which is set that good example I think a lot of that is really the basic of that whole

Beth Cannon (08:08)
to think about.

And if we actually think about everything we've ever been taught, probably as a teacher, probably even as a parent, which is, set that good example. I think a lot of that is really the basic of that whole,

Kate Young (08:27)
your mindset, who you are, doing that internal reflection, starting your day with clarity. I don't care what name you give it. Basically the book stops with you and it starts with you.

Beth Cannon (08:27)
your mindset, who you are, doing that internal reflection, starting your day with clarity. I don't care what name you give it. Basically, the buck stops with you, and it starts with

Well, and you mentioned parenting and you you started off with a story about my rebellious teenage years, but let me loop around what that has to do with what we're dealing with now. I am a Gen X mom and I have raised two Gen Z children. The people who we are hiring, the majority of them are Gen Z. seeing, you know, when COVID hit, Gen Z came onto the scene right about that time and

Kate Young (08:47)
Hahaha!

Beth Cannon (09:07)
understanding the generations, we have to understand how they were parented. And so I told the stories of my rebellious teenage years because if you're Gen Z, or Gen X, sorry, you were raised in a time where there was not a lot of supervision. And so no one was paying attention to what was happening with the kids. And so the kids, me, you, made a lot of really risky choices and we didn't die. So therefore,

We raise children and we wrap them in bubble wrap and we don't want them to take the risks that we knew we took because we knew how unsafe those risks are. So in an attempt to keep our children safe, we didn't let them take a lot of risks. Gen Z is an anxious generation and a lot of it's tied back to those parenting skills, right? To where, and like you said, Keri, they didn't learn how to sweep because they had a Roomba. I mean, in our generation,

The Roomba was the Jetsons made I-Rona and we thought that would never happen. So, you know, I think it's, we all come to work with different, you know, with different skill sets, with different mindsets. But, you know, the fact is, is now we've all landed in this little microcosm of a school to where everybody has their role. And I find that leaders are feeling frustrated because they think that it's their team and they're like, tell me how to transform my team.

Carrie Casey (10:05)
Yep.

Beth Cannon (10:31)
And I can tell you lots of ways to transform your team. And I know that you ladies can as well, because that is what you teach. You teach leadership. This is what leadership strategists and coaches and consultants do.

want to kind of shift the mindset as we go into a new year and ask yourself the question, how did you shape it and how did you shift it? Because the leader in a school is the carrier of the culture, right? They are the steward of the standards. And what I found that has happened in the last five years. So again, I want to talk to that leader who's been like, I've been doing this for years. I know what to do. Now you know, I've been doing it for years too. And I'm still learning every single day because those

I didn't see that coming moments hit me like whiplash. And so you look back to how did you shape it and how can you shift it? The hardest balance is this, how do you hold space for the challenges that your team is having and they're real, the mental health challenges, the anxiety, the depression, which the symptom of that of course is high turnover, high call-outs, high absences, a lot of tardies, a lot of disconnection.

How do you hold space for that, but yet uphold your standards at the same time?

Carrie Casey (11:46)
And it comes back to how you brought people into your team. We're not saying that you're a bad leader if you're having these things. What we're saying is that your systems for bringing people on are not meeting today's needs. And even if somebody has been with your program for 10 years, you have to reintroduce them to what your program is today. Because what your program was in 2015,

Beth Cannon (11:46)
And it comes back to how you brought people into your team. We're not saying that you're a bad leader if you're having these things. No. What we're saying is that your systems for bringing people on are not meeting today's needs. And even if somebody's been with the program for 10 years, you have to reintroduce them to what your program is today. Because what your program was in 2015

is not

Carrie Casey (12:14)
is not what your

program is in 2026 because we've got cameras everywhere. We've got parent communication. In 2015, you were writing notes home to the parents who had a chart and all the parents could see every other child's note. know, Kimmy had a rough day. Everybody can see that because it was on one piece of paper and everybody could see it. That's where we were in 2015. Yeah.

Beth Cannon (12:15)
is in 2026. Because we've got cameras everywhere, we've got parent communication. In 2015, you were writing notes home to the parents. You had a chart and all the parents could see every other child's note. know, Kimmy had a walk today. Everybody could see that because it was on one piece of paper and everybody could see it. That's where we were You are the communication

Kate Young (12:40)
You were the communication hat.

Beth Cannon (12:43)
hat.

Carrie Casey (12:44)
And so

Beth Cannon (12:45)
So if you've got teachers who've been at the school for 10 years, they need new onboarding as much as somebody who you hired today. I think that's one of those ways that programs that are school year programs have an advantage, because they have a week of onboarding at the beginning of the school year, where year round programs don't really have that. And they don't make that a priority.

Carrie Casey (12:45)
if you've got teachers who've been at the school for 10 years, they need new onboarding as much as somebody who you hired today. I think that's one of those ways that programs that are school year programs have an advantage, because they have like a week of onboarding at the beginning of the school year, where year round programs don't really have that. And in the school year,

Kate Young (13:09)
They don't make that a priority.

Carrie Casey (13:12)
That's true, they don't make that a priority. But

Beth Cannon (13:12)
That's true. They don't make that a priority.

Carrie Casey (13:14)
having one or two days where you remind everybody and you have some of those conversations, what is our culture and what do we want it to be for this next calendar year or this next school year? What do we want the culture to be? Are there policies that are not working? And bringing the team together to ask those questions, because it's not all on you as the leader.

Beth Cannon (13:15)
having one or two days where you remind everybody and you have some of those conversations, what is our culture and what do we want it to be for this next calendar year or this next school year? What do we want the culture to be? Are there policies that are not working? And bringing the team together to ask those questions, because it's not all on you as the leader.

Carrie Casey (13:40)
And if you're making it all about you, you're making your job 12

Beth Cannon (13:40)
If you're making it all about you, you're making your job

Carrie Casey (13:43)
times harder than it needs to be. Have that meeting, take a day and onboard into what we're gonna do in 2026.

Beth Cannon (13:47)
Well,

Kate Young (13:52)
So Beth, I was just gonna

Beth Cannon (13:53)
and when I find it Go ahead.

Kate Young (13:56)
say, Beth, what should people be doing as they prep for 2026? Now might be a great way to go, okay, so in January, if you didn't have that meeting in September or it didn't work, what should they add to their staff meetings in January and February?

Beth Cannon (14:11)
Well, we always do kind of, it's like a foundations camp and we kind of, we do ours in August. But I mean, if you're, if you're feeling like you're there right now, I think, you know, it's, not just the staff meetings that are like the one time things that people may or may not show up to or may check out when they check in. I think it's the repeated, those fit talks, the frequent impromptu talks. You you, you, you fit your culture by one piece at a time by going directly to the, to the employee who's having an issue.

and have those feedback loop conversations. Hey, what are we doing that's working for you? How do you feel supported? Where do we glow? And then ask them, where do you feel like you need more support? Do you understand the assignment? Are you in alignment with the assignment? And then ask them, what do you think you're doing well? What do you think your opportunity for growth is? And when you deeply connect with one-on-one, I don't necessarily think a staff meeting is the answer. I think it's connecting with the people who are struggling one-on-one.

and helping understand like what's going on in their mind. Because when you really sit down and you lean in and you listen and you ask the people that are struggling and you don't just tell them you're doing this wrong and I need you to do this and you're not doing this. Ask them what is your understanding of how to sweep the floor? and ask it, that's what coaching is all about, right? Coaching is about asking the right questions and unleashing their power because

they may have some preconceived thing that you're not even aware of. so, but again, it goes back to the leader. And I don't say this to put more shame and blame and work on the leaders who are listening to this podcast. I say it because if you want to transform your team, if you want to see the shift, you've got to figure out how you shaped it and our leadership. And I say this with all humility because I had to learn the hard way, right? I had to learn.

When things aren't getting done and when there are disconnects, where did I mess up on the delegation? Where did I mess up on not helping them understand what is urgent and priority? Because in child care, everything feels urgent, right? And so they don't- Because we have to keep those kids alive. We've got a lot, I mean, that's a big job. It is a big job. It's absolutely a big job.

Carrie Casey (16:18)
Yeah, because we have to keep those kids alive. We've got a lot, I mean, that's a big job.

Beth Cannon (16:27)
When you look at the stand, there's more than just keeping them alive. It's absolutely a big job. But as we keep them alive, there's standards and there's things along the way that can help build a place to where people are gonna wanna come hang out and be a part of. And I think that this time of year, we get tired. And we think, well, we said it in a staff meeting in August, what the heck is happening?

you have to repeat yourself over and over and you've got to reinforce those things. And so your culture is this. It's a combination of what you create, what you tolerate and what you celebrate. So maybe this is the, as we're heading into the end of the year, round out the year with just some gratitude and some celebrations with, look at what we've done because I am the kind, I mean, I will go hiking and I will climb the tallest mountain

get the money shot and be like, what's next? Where are we going next? And so for the leaders who are visionaries, that's what we do. We're like, yep, check, okay, we did that, let's move on. We don't, I at least, am not good about stopping and celebrating what is really great about the team. We're just focused on, but that didn't get done.

Kate Young (17:42)
Absolutely. I love both of those tips. I think those are great nuggets. Hopefully folks will ⁓ pause, go get a piece of paper, take some notes on, okay, when's the last time I paused and celebrated. And what's, you know, the end of the year, the beginning of the year, all those holiday seasons, that kind of gets planted into our seat, our heads naturally. April rolls around and we've got, you know, teacher days and week of the young child. So,

Beth Cannon (18:07)
you know, teacher day.

Kate Young (18:11)
start to think about when are the times that maybe you don't have that appreciation. You have an appreciation dip. ⁓ You know, what could you do? Do you need to pull out your phone and actually schedule time? I am one of those people that if I don't write it down, it doesn't happen. And so, you know, with electronic phones and electronic calendars, over the course of the last couple of years, I've created fewer and fewer lists.

Beth Cannon (18:12)
about what are the times that maybe you don't have that appreciation. You have an appreciation dip.

I am one of those people that if I don't write it down it doesn't happen. And so, you know, with electronic phones, electronic calendars, over the course of the last couple years I've produced fewer and fewer lists

and actually when something pops into my head I go give it a time on my calendar to get it done. because otherwise it doesn't happen, it just stays online. Well, not just appreciation dips, connection dips.

Kate Young (18:39)
And actually when something pops into my head, I go give it a time on my calendar to get it done. And because otherwise it doesn't happen, it just stays on the list.

Carrie Casey (18:47)
Well, not just appreciation dips, connection dips.

And we have to have a deep connection with those, you know, approximately five people who are your direct reports. But you also need to have connection with the other members of your team. And so are you scheduling time to go in and form that connection so that that new teacher that was hired three months ago has some connection with you?

Beth Cannon (18:53)
And we have to have a deep connection with those, you know, approximately five people who are your direct reports. But you also need to have connection with the other members of your team. And so are you scheduling time to go in and form that connection so that that new teacher that was hired three months ago has some connection with

you? They know something about you. They know that you're a comic book.

Carrie Casey (19:17)
They know something about you. They know that you're a comic book nerd.

They know that you're a hiker. They know that you're a quilter. Whatever the thing is, they have some physical, like something they can anchor to their connection with you. Because part of the reason for having that meeting at the beginning of the year is that you're co-creating the culture and people are more likely to live in something that they helped to create.

Beth Cannon (19:22)
They know that you're a hyper. They know that you're a quilter. Whatever the thing is, they have some physical, like something they can anchor to their connection with you. Because part of the reason for having that meeting at the beginning of the year was people co-creating the culture and people are more likely to live in something that they helped create.

Carrie Casey (19:45)
And then we have the connection points and the celebration points throughout the year. And

Beth Cannon (19:45)
And then we have the connection point and the celebration point throughout the year and

Carrie Casey (19:51)
something Beth said that we didn't really hit on very much is the accountability, what you tolerate. And when you're having those accountability conversations, if you're having that accountability conversation and you go, hey, do you remember what you said back in September about how da da da da da, because of that, I have to call you on what you're doing right now.

Beth Cannon (19:51)
something that said that we didn't really hit on very much is the accountability, what you tolerate. When you're having those accountability conversations, you're having that accountability conversation and you go, hey, you remember what you said back in September about how, da da da da, because of that, I have to call you on what you're doing right

Kate Young (19:58)
could be its own podcast episode, Kerry.

Beth Cannon (20:13)
now. You know, I think I've really kind of focused on a shift because when we talk about, like we're gonna.

Hold them accountable. Like when there's a newscast, right? We're going to find who did it and hold them accountable. do we like holding them hostage? what, you know, I think it goes back to helping. And again, this goes back to processes and not people helping people understand what are their responsibilities? Like what are their routines that they do every week? What are the projects that they have that, you know, happen like in enrollment or spring fling or whatever. We've got routines and projects, but these are your responsibilities. Help them understand.

Carrie Casey (20:21)
Right.

Beth Cannon (20:48)
what results they're accountable for and then help them teach ownership. And so I think when we delegate, if you delegate, right, you just say, hey, I need you to do X, Z. But if you say, hey, we need to have a conversation. I'm now transferring this responsibility to you. like payroll, like payroll's yours. I'm not gonna remind you to do payroll. I'm gonna show you how to do payroll. We're gonna set up an SOP and a playbook for payroll. When it's due, how to do it. But.

this is now your job and I'm transferring this responsibility to you. And so I use that payroll as an example, because people hear that they're like, wait a minute, because who would show up if they didn't get paid? Not many people, nobody, right? Nobody's showing up, but help them understand like, this is something that I'm transferring to you. So I'm not gonna ask you to it again. I'm not gonna remind you when it's due. This goes on your project management board, but this is now your responsibility. So it goes from, this is a responsibility,

Carrie Casey (21:28)
Yup.

Beth Cannon (21:44)
You're accountable for this, but now there's the ownership piece. Like you own this. Nobody else in the building owns this, but you and helping them understand and then just asking those connections. Like, do you understand the assignment? Like, do you get that? I'm not going to send a reminder to you for you to do this. And so just repeatedly having those conversations, I think helps to elevate the level of account.

level of accountability that people have in their school. But again, that has to start with the leader being very intentional because like I'm a visionary, right? Like I'm a big picture thinker. And so sometimes I find it's hard for me because I'm like, I told you to do it in August. And then I think I told someone to do it. And then they, well, I told you to do it. Shouldn't you do it? You can't delegate like that anymore. I wish that that were the case. That's not the case. You have to have your systems and your processes in place. So although as a leader, I can say you own it.

Kate Young (22:33)
Right.

Beth Cannon (22:41)
Now I need to say, what system of accountability do you have for yourself? And then of course I track it in KPIs. Like they've got a dashboard that shows them where they have to be accountable for their own results. And then I as a leader can just do a quick glance at that dashboard and see, okay, yes, it got done.

Kate Young (22:59)
Absolutely. Okay, so we know that you're probably gonna be on stage a few times this year and you've got one coming up in January and it also happens to be about the same time something else is happening. So tell us what else is coming in January and what folks should be looking for and how do we help with that?

Beth Cannon (23:07)
A few.

They should be looking for my new book, Transform Your Team. And I want to thank you ladies. You guys have been amazing throughout the whole publishing process and the support that you've given has just been awesome. So I have finally put my first book into the world. It's called Transform Your Team, How to Fix What's Broken and Build What Matters. And the book launch is January 16th. It will be available. And then I think on January 23rd, I'll be the keynote at Seca.

the Southern Early Childhood Association. Think about what Seeka meant for a second. We're gonna all be at Seeka together and that will be like the first official book signing. And I am so humbled and honored that this, know, decades of experiences and learning and really, really, really hard things. I wish that we could learn from our successes. ⁓ But a lot of that, it's just, you know, a lot of confessions on what

did wrong and how I learned to fix it and how I've been able to help other leaders through some of the systems and processes that I teach in the book.

Kate Young (24:33)
So how can people find you, Beth? ⁓ We know that the book link won't be up yet. So you can definitely look for the book link come the middle of January. But in the meantime, where can they find you and maybe get on a newsletter or get on a list?

Beth Cannon (24:49)
Yeah, yeah, it's BethcannonSpeaks.com. If you go there, you'll be able to find a wait list to be able to get on the wait list for the book. But it's BethcannonSpeaks on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Kate Young (25:01)
Absolutely. Well, wonderful. Well, we're so excited. We can't wait to have Beth. Beth will actually be at the Director Bookshelf booth ⁓ at SICA doing that book signing in January. And if you come to any national conferences in 2026, chances are we will have Beth's book at the Director Bookshelf, which is one of the projects of Child Care Conversations, because we don't have enough going on. All right, Carrie, what do we need to tell everybody?

Beth Cannon (25:20)
Yay!

Here it

Carrie Casey (25:28)
Well, we need to tell people to mark their calendar for January 16th. And we need to tell them that if you're not following the show or subscribed, please do that on your podcast player of choice and share the show with someone else who needs to know. You know somebody else who wants to get Beth's book in the first week. You don't wanna be one of those people who shows up at a conference and is like, wait, Beth did a what?

Beth Cannon (25:29)
We need to pull people to mark their calendar for January 16th. And we need to tell them that if you're not following the show or subscribed, please do that on your podcast player of choice and share the show with someone else who needs to know. You know somebody else who wants to know, wants to get Beth's book in the first week. You don't want to be one of those people who shows up at a conferences like, wait, Beth did a

what? No, no, no, you want to have your book in hand.

Carrie Casey (25:55)
No, no, no, you want to have your book in hand so that

Beth can sign it when you see her at that conference. So share the show and get your copy of the book.

Beth Cannon (25:58)
so that Beth can sign it when you see her at that conference. So, share the show and get your copy of

the book. Thank you all so much for having me and it's been an awesome journey with you. I'm so thankful.