After one of my communications workshops at the Florida Recreation and Parks Association, Barbie Van Camp, CTRS, CPRP, from St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation approached me with a great tool for creating family rules. She learned it from working with the Girl Scouts, and it’s a simple way to improve communication between family members and provide a structure to help families function better. (more…)
What motivates us?
For many years, it’s been thought and taught that in order to motivate people and mold their habits, one should punish undesired behavior, and reward desired behavior. This “carrot and stick” approach to management is based on the idea that humans are fundamentally extrinsically motivated. (more…)
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every time someone wanted to give you feedback, they did so in a perfect way? They had perfect timing, the perfect tone of voice and perfect wording so that you would immediately know what to do and how to do it. Here imagine yourself singing, “Communications Kumbaya” while everyone holds hands. Well good luck! (more…)
Co-written by Elizabeth Cates, M.A.
With the current nursing shortage, nurses have a lot more choices of where they’re going to work and how long they’re going to stay. As baby boomers retire and younger generations of nurses enter the workforce, gone are the days where a nurse would start a career and then four decades later retire from the same position. With the rising demand for nurses in the coming years, it is crucial to create a welcoming and appreciative atmosphere.
Hello readers! This past week, I found a wonderful resource that hospitals use to assess their communications climate. The American Medical Association created what they call a C-CAT (Communications Climate Assessment Toolkit) which is a survey of 74 questions to help your organization diagnose its communication climate. In the healthcare world, communication is VITAL when patients lives are on the line!
Is your organization currently in the midst of making changes? Are you looking for ideas to improve your practices while increasing employee satisfaction and retention? If you are ready to discover new ways to maximize your organization’s productivity and efficiency, then all you need to do is ask the right questions. Appreciative Inquiry allows you to do just that.
Appreciative Inquiry is a verbal science developed by professors David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva at Case Western Reserve University in the 1980’s. The model shows us how to ask questions in a way that will elicit positive responses. By seeking positive responses, users gain a fresh new perspective, and spur positive change within their organization. The reality is, wonderful things can begin to happen when you stop focusing on the negative and start focusing on the positive.
