Meet Sheila Olan-MacLean, CEO of Compass Early Learning and Care (CompassELC) on a Teal Journey Post # 5

We met Sheila Olan-MacLean in 2016 when she came to our presentation on collective leadership at the Leadership Connections conference.  We asked if anyone in the room had read the book by Frederic Laloux called Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousnes.  Not only had Sheila read it, her team had been doing a book study and been adopting practices described in the book as Teal (yes the color.)  Teal organizations are adopting practices in the areas of wholeness, self-management, and evolutionary purpose. We have talked with Sheila a couple of times since we met, and included a quote from her in our book.  Sheila and her team are really walking the walk when it comes to collective leadership. 

Compass ELC staff have been experimenting with new practices that would bring more wholeness and democracy to their organization, and the way staff work together to create positive outcomes for children and families. Compass ELC operates 30 child care centers which are dedicated to creating supporting and nurturing environments for children to learn, and they are aligning their “adult practices” to match.
 
We were excited to hear an update on their journey.  They are not only experimenting more and more themselves, they are teaching other early childhood educators what they are doing.
 
Compass ELC staff are keeping themselves inspired and excited about their journey by:

• increasing the coaching skills and capacity of those in leadership positions; using credit card reward points to fund the majority of costs for 14 educators to visit Reggio Emilia, Italy (this city in Italy created a new approach to education which started a world-wide movement and continues to inspire educators around the world) every two years (teachers contribute a portion of the costs);
• ongoing reflection on their journey and the changes they see in staff and the results on children and families; and
• seeing people embrace the new opportunities for self-leadership and self-direction that they have opened up -- staff are stepping up and taking more responsibility for making their environment an even better place for children and families, and are believing that they can do that.

 
Staff are saying “I don’t have to come to work—I get to come to work, and I love my job” 
 
A recent collaboration culminated in a blog about cold and flus blues.  This was a collaboration between Sheila, educators and staff from one of their programs, a Program Lead and their Social Media team.  The result is a story about how a dilemma became a path forward through reflective thinking connected to their values and beliefs.  Here is the link or you can find it on their facebook page.   

 
http://www.compasselc.com