Audit the tasks that need to be undertaken at your service. Ask staff to list the tasks they undertake each day and how long they spend on them. Look at position descriptions and any other documents outlining regular tasks at your service for each role. Can some tasks be reviewed and reduced? 

Play to your team’s strengths, interests and skills. You might use staff appraisals and feedback to help identify these. People are generally less stressed and more efficient at work tasks that interest them or they have expertise in. 

Assign tasks. Be clear about what each task involves, who will do it, by when and how often. Staff might like to select some tasks and others might be assigned by roles. Consider staff working hours and pay classifications when balancing these tasks. Support staff to delegate or break up tasks  where needed. 

Consider models that support teams to grow in their roles. Distributed leadership can help to balance workloads and grow individual strengths and skills. A buddy system where one educator can teach and share tasks with another can also work. 

Monitor and review. Regularly ask your team for feedback at check-ins and note any tasks that repeatedly are missed or done last. These might need to be reassigned or further broken up and distributed.

Caitlin Mason
Consultant, Community Child Care Association