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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
Law Day, May 1. The theme of this year’s Law Day celebration, sponsored by the American Bar Association, is “No courts, no justice, no freedom.”
Free Comic Book Day, May 5. Green Lantern! Spider-Man! Archie! On the first Saturday in May each year, participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books to anyone who walks through the door.
National Teacher Day, May 8. Take time to honor your local educators and acknowledge the crucial role they play in making sure every student receives a high-quality education.
Mother’s Day, May 13. Show Mom you care: Brunch, flowers, a card, or maybe a big ol’ hug.
Endangered Species Day, May 18. An opportunity to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species and our nation’s disappearing wildlife.
Memorial Day, May 28. Remember those who gave their lives in defense of our country.
ALS Awareness Month. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord, causing paralysis and death. ALS Awareness Month seeks to bring the lives, words, and images of the ALS community into focus while publicizing progress toward treatments and a cure.
Get Caught Reading Month. Founded by the Association of American Publishers, Get Caught Reading Month is designed to remind people of all ages how much fun reading can be.
Healthy Vision Month. Millions of people living in the United States have undetected vision problems, eye diseases, and conditions. Established by the National Eye Institute in May 2003, Healthy Vision Month is set aside to emphasize vision as a health priority for everyone.
National Hamburger Month. The hamburger sandwich is said to have been invented in Seymour, Wis., which hosts an annual hamburger festival. Celebrate with your own backyard grill, and serve up up some tasty burgers with bacon, ketchup, lettuce, tomatoes, mayo, and your other favorite fixings.
Be Kind to Animals Week, May 6-12. American Humane Association’s Be Kind to Animals Week celebrates the role that animals play in our lives, promotes ways to treat them humanely, and encourages everyone, especially children, to do the same.
National Stuttering Awareness Week, May 6-12. Stuttering is a communication disorder involving disruptions, or “disfluencies,” in speech. The cause of stuttering is unknown, but scientists do know that stuttering is not caused by emotional problems, is not a “nervous” disorder, and is not the fault of the family or of the person who stutters.
National Women’s Health Week, May 13-19. This nationwide initiative encourages women to make health a top priority and take simple steps for a longer, healthier, and happier life.
National Police Week, May 13-19. President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation designating May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day in 1962, and establishing the week in which that date falls as Police Week. Decades later, National Police Week has grown to encompass a series of events attracting thousands of law enforcement officers and fallen officers’ survivors to our nation’s capital each year.
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.
