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PRAISE IS IN THE DETAILS
Disillusioned or negative employees are especially hard to motivate because even praise doesn’t seem to reach them. But that could be because your praise is coming off as superficial. With hard-to-reach employees, praise must be detailed and accurate. Use this three-step process to get your message across:
1. Show that you understand the difficulty of what they did. 2. Show you understand how they succeeded—their technique, their decisions. 3. Show you understand the value of what they did.
In other words, giving praise can be work! But like work, it’s worthwhile when it accomplishes something.
GED ONLINE
You can't get your GED online or through correspondence courses. That's the message from the General Educational Development Testing Service, the architect of the GED Tests. Nevertheless, GED administrators nationwide are reporting increasing numbers of complaints from people who paid high fees to take what they thought were GED Tests, but weren't. GED Tests can be taken only at an official GED Testing Center, says a GED spokesperson. Any organization that offers the GED through any other means is not affiliated with the GEDTS and may not be accepted by employers, colleges and universities, or the military. To find the GED center closest to you, go to www.acenet.edu/resources/GED/center_locator.cfm. To check the authenticity of an individual's GED, contact the appropriate jurisdictional agency that administers the GED Tests. A listing of these agencies can be found at www.gedtest.org.
CALENDAR
New Year’s Resolutions Week, Jan 2-8. What better time to clearly define some constructive goals for the New Year?
Healthy Weight Week, Jan. 15-21. Healthy Weight Week is a time to celebrate healthy, diet-free living habits that last a lifetime.
National Nuclear Science Week, Jan. 23-27. Nuclear science plays a vital role in the lives of Americans and the global community. National Nuclear Science Week recognizes the contributions of the nuclear science industry and those who work in it every day.
Mozart Week, Jan. 27-Feb. 5. Held at the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg, where Mozart’s original instruments will be heard and several of his original, handwritten manuscripts will be on display.
International Creativity Month. Creativity is vital to personal and business success in this age of accelerating change. January provides an opportunity to take a fresh approach to problem solving and to renew confidence in your creative capabilities. Created by motivational speaker and author Randal Munson.
National Blood Donor Month. Bad weather, busy post-holiday schedules, increased cold and flu symptoms, and even the winter blues are common excuses for not donating blood during the winter months. January has been observed as National Blood Donor Month since 1970, and the need is just as important now as it was then.
National Mentoring Month. Focusing national attention on the need for mentors to young people, as well as on how individuals, businesses, government agencies, schools, faith communities, and nonprofits can work together to increase the number of mentors, National Mentoring Month works to assure brighter futures for the next generation.
Thyroid Awareness Month. Up to 59 million Americans have thyroid problems, and many remain undiagnosed and untreated, in part because patients and their doctors are unaware of the signs, symptoms, and risk factors of a thyroid condition. Get checked out soon.
Jane Hayward, part of the hospital’s media services department, oversees the design of BIDMC Quarterly. In the initial design of the quarterly publication, Keating and the communications team were presented with five different designs.
Even cheerleaders lose their enthusiasm from time to time. If you’re feeling sluggish and unmotivated, reviewing this checklist may help you reignite your spark.
Teams work together, but now and then they also need to play together. Spending a little downtime with teammates is one way to build the kind of camaraderie that makes people comfortablesharing information and ideas. And you don’t have toworry about planning elaborate outings. Just get together for a meal—restaurant, potluck, or barbecue at your place—at least once a quarter.
—Adapted from “Fifteen tips for the new manager from an experiencedIT pro,” by Beth Blakely, on the TechRepublic Web site
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Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth.. . . Tame the dragon and the gift is yours.
