"Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Check out more great quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/martin_luther_king_jr.html
We continue our study of Ten Ways to Create a Positive Work Environment....
5. Give Recognition and Appreciation
Whenever you can, 'catch people being good' and make sure they and others know about it. Give recognition and appreciation to everyone at every opportunity. For example: "Susan, I appreciate your organizational skills and the way you organized your team today to deliver quality care." "James, thank you for staying overtime yesterday. I really appreciate your positive, can-do attitude."
When verbalizing appreciation try to make it as personal as possible. Rather than just saying something vague like "good job", be specific about the personal quality or skill your team member brought to the task. Recognizing excellent job performance and attitude, and showing appreciation for these things will go a long way towards making your staff members feel that they are a valued and respected part of the team.
What are some ways that you have given recognition/appreciation to your team members in the past? How did your team members respond? Finally, research for one new way to give recognition/appreciation that you haven't done before and share about it in the comments section.
Have a happy week!
I try to have conversations with staff/teachers any time I can. When they share something they did in the classroom or I saw something positive, I say something to them to make them feel good. I thank anyone that does something for me too. I appreciate when someone does something kind.
ReplyDeleteAll great ways to recognize and appreciate.
Deletel like to use holidays as a reason to give my team gifts and a hand written card with their strengths being recognized. Also, whenever I check their stuff, I always try to give them a compliment at the beginning. I will send out a text that evening if I saw something that I thought was so great, I kept thinking about it. I found this idea from www.forbes.com and thought it was cute and fitting for a school environment! . Create a simple “ABCD” card that are given when someone goes “Above the Call of Duty”.
ReplyDeleteCool idea! Thanks for sharing with us. Can't wait to see it in action.
DeleteRenee, I love the ABCD card! I want to try that. I'm trying to get better at recognizing my team when they do something well.
ReplyDeleteOur floor had a rough day on Friday. Reflecting on what happened over the weekend I realized how amazing it was that my team members were observant enough to notice small, strange behaviors that a few students exhibited. They also very quickly acted on what they saw and prevented things from escalating. I sent a text to these two team members letting them know that I acknowledging what they did and letting them know that I appreciate them. I haven't heard back from them.... maybe in the future I will try a more personal touch with a hand-written note.
I've thought about creating an MVP award- just a trophy graphic that I could print out and hang in front of someone's door- anyone that did something 'above the call of duty' that week.
Nice thinking with the MVP award. I bet people would really like that.
DeleteI've been trying to give more personal, face to face compliments (which I'm not very good at). A member of the PBS team stood at the 'goal symbol" (what we try to earn) and explained it to the kids in the morning. I went to her room and told her what a good idea that was. Also, after a team meeting another teacher spoke up in support of something I was saying and it seemed to really make sense after she said something. I went to her and thanked her for speaking up and backing me up. As for something new, I will get back to you.
ReplyDeleteGood work self-reflecting and identifying something you want to work on. I think you're really on to something with the face to face compliments....With some I think that makes the most difference.
DeleteGood thinking, team! I'm happy to see ideas out there like the ABCD card and the MVP trophy. I can tell you that when I visit classrooms I often notice that teachers display appreciation/positive notes that they get from leaders/each other.
ReplyDeleteIn Kindergarten we are really working on getting a lesson completed a day and finishing our programs. I think I will make a certificate for teachers who complete a lesson a day in a subject and hang it up outside their door. I already made them a chart of where they could be if they finish a lesson a day to help them see the end goal. Hopefully this will be a little something fun. If a lesson a day doesn't happen, I might aim for someone who completes, say 95% of their possible teachable days, but hopefully I can have someone every month meet the lesson a day criteria in some subject.
ReplyDelete