There’s that BOLD word again.

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Feeling bold...or perhaps more accurately acting boldly, taking the bold decision and refusing to settle for less than a boldly impactful outcome, regardless of how you feel can be totally game changing in helping you achieve your goals.

But sometimes being bold is hard right? 

It certainly can be, it takes confidence, surety that your information/facts are correct (or being comfortable to be proved wrong...a liberating feeling indeed) and a willingness to back up your bold words with real action.

With this in mind I started to think about what are the boldness blockers? What stops us from speaking out, stepping forward, challenging the absurdities, putting forward our ideas and making real, meaningful change?

Let’s start with the f word...FEAR!

We live in a world where people are quick to criticise meaning many of us are fearful of putting our head over the parapet, standing out and/or being different.

DOUBT; We question our knowledge and live with self doubt. The shadow of imposter syndrome limits and restricts our voice and the actions we take.

Our ENVIRONMENT; our willingness to be bold and our ability to be brave can be massively affected by the environment in which we find ourselves. Those working in organisations where they are instructed, managed, told what and when to do are far less likely to be bold than those for whom their leader discusses and agrees targets and goals but is open to creativity, innovation and suggestion from team members in how to achieve said goals. A culture of criticism breeds a team scared to come forward with ideas, afraid to challenge practice and unable to be bold.

The PEOPLE around us. People matter, our human connections can inspire and drive high aspirations, bore and breed mundanity or worse still foster a feeling of fear and nervous self doubt.

Lack of RESOURCE, be that people, kit or more often than not FINANCIAL RESOURCE. It’s hard to be bold when you’re fighting to be sustainable, to cover the cost of labour and to invest in quality of provision.

POLICY; whilst the vision of our Scottish Government to make Scotland the “best place to grow up” is utterly laudable, the steps required on the road to achieving that goal are challenging for many and leave them feeling stressed and under pressure...yet they determinedly work away, committed to doing, being and delivering their best.

The delivery of the current ELC expansion plans (latest updates here) and the drive to tackle child poverty at a time when local authorities face ongoing budget constraints, the challenges of living and working in a world where the shadow of Covid-19 hangs over us, and a need to do more with less has meant some hard decisions have been taken. 

It’s a time of change and challenge for our sector but it’s also a time of opportunity. It's a chance for those prepared to work cooperatively, to reflect and evaluate their decisions and actions and move forward boldly to create truly transformational change. Adversity breeds creativity and creativity combined with boldness can produce incredible results.

Being bolder, feeling empowered and able to make a difference is a wonderful thing, it’s a feeling we should nurture in our teams from when they first enter the workforce. Think of the impact our early learning and childcare, school age childcare and childminding colleagues already have on the lives of the children, families and communities they work with...now ramp that up and think of the scale of impact we could achieve if we can create a strong, valued, respected workforce. If we can make careers working with the youngest members of our society aspirational, rewarding, well paid and with entry points and career development pathways that motivate, excite and inspire.

Think of a BOLD workforce, well qualified, supported through ongoing professional development, able to move and transition to different roles within the sector and with the confidence to reflect, evolve and grow to achieve individual, organisational, local and national goals. A flexible, agile and responsive workforce...there are currently circa 40,000 of our colleagues registered as part of the daycare of children workforce in Scotland, just imagine what we can do if we harness the power and boldness within all 40,000.

That’s bold thinking but it’s exactly where we need to be if we really want Scotland to be the best place to grow up.

We need increased access to training and development, more entry points into the sector, more transition points and clearer career paths. Financially, we need more equitable allocation of funding for the sector and increases in both funding rates and availability of funded places for mature entrants to the sector. 

The robustness of the qualifications (and their delivery) needs to be reviewed as too many newly qualified practitioners lack the skills and underpinning knowledge employers need. 

And the propensity amongst some career guidance leads and educators to see childcare as an option for “less academic” school leavers must be challenged.

Working with our youngest children is a privilege, affording us an opportunity to change the world and as such we must respect and value those bold enough to join this profession.