Director File: If i walked into an underperforming service tomorrow, here's what i would do first

What would you do first if you stepped into an underperforming early childhood service or began leading a brand-new centre? When everything feels urgent, it is easy for a new Director to start changing rooms, rewriting documents, fixing the roster, chasing enrolments and carrying every problem themselves. But lasting service improvement does not begin with a dramatic overhaul. It begins with understanding the truth. In this Director Case File, Platinum Education founder Leeza Browne shares exactly how she would approach the first 90 days of leading an underperforming childcare centre or early learning service. Drawing on her experience transforming services, Leeza explores how to identify immediate safety and compliance risks, understand the operational reality, rebuild trust with educators and families, improve occupancy and enrolment processes, establish clear expectations and create sustainable systems, without burning yourself out in the process. In this episode, Leeza discusses: • Why new Directors should observe, listen and ask questions before making significant changes • How to separate what is genuinely urgent from what is simply loud • The essential safety, compliance and operational areas to review first • How occupancy, staffing, enquiries, family experience and team culture are connected • Why clear expectations and consistent follow-up create culture • The difference between caring for your team and carrying their responsibilities • How to move educators from dependency to genuine autonomy • Why marketing cannot fix a poor enrolment or family experience • What “people before paper” really means in early childhood leadership • How to structure a practical 30, 60 and 90-day service improvement plan • The mistakes to avoid when taking over an existing childcare service • What owners should establish before opening a brand-new early learning centre Leeza also shares two powerful leadership lessons from her own career: what happened when her team transformed a newly acquired service before understanding what families valued, and why giving a dependent team autonomy before building their capability can feel more like abandonment than empowerment. Whether you are an early childhood Director beginning a new role, an Approved Provider opening a childcare centre, or a leader trying to improve an established service that is not quite where you want it to be, this episode will help you decide which brick needs to come next. You do not have to repair the whole service today. You need to establish safety, create clarity, stabilise your people and build the systems that allow great practice to continue—even when you are not standing in the middle of it. Platinum Education supports early childhood services through every stage of the journey, from start-up and service turnaround to growth, operational leadership and Exceeding practice. Connect with Leeza on Instagram: @leeza_browne_platinumed Contact Platinum Education: [hello@platinumed.com.au](mailto:hello@platinumed.com.au) Every moment counts.