Sometime ago a director spoke to me regarding her disappointment that her center was denied accreditation. She stated that she was depressed and actually crying about the matter when suddenly she looked around and observed that none of the staff seemed to be affected.  It was then that she concluded, 'I had gone through the accreditation process, but had not taken staff with me.'  Fortunately, this story had a happy ending with the center going through the self-study process once again and achieving accreditation recognition.

This story exposes the importance of engaging every staff member in the self-study process.  Only when staff invest in the accreditation experience, will they make needed improvements and adopt best practices as routine habits.