I am a HUGE fan of professional development! If you do not believe me, read every blog post I have ever written, or have a conversation with me about how to . . . fill in the blank. Looking to improve yourself? Seek out professional development. Want to get ahead in your career? Seek out professional development. Need to solve an issue you have been wrestling with? Say it with me; seek out professional development.
Professional Development comes in many forms: books, magazines, newspapers, blog posts, podcasts, webinars, networking to name a few. In this blog post I would like to list for you some conferences that you might find of interest.
There are many different kinds of professional development/seminars/conferences that you can attend:
Subject specific seminars – I attended a two day conference on Microsoft Excel. It was an intense program on learning everything you would want and need to know about using Excel. Here are a few that I have been looking at:
Industry specific – I attended a conference two summers ago put on by ISACS (Independent Schools Association of the Central States). It was specific to the type of school that I work at and was geared towards Admins. I met some of my inner circle members at this conference.
Administrative Professional specific – This is the type of conference that I enjoy most. There is usually a theme to the conference, the presenters speak about pertinent subjects that they tie into the theme and are relatable to our day-to-day experiences and the networking is amazing! In a previous post, I shared that I attended the IAAP Summit this past July. I am still, four months later, so very pumped about the information I obtained at Summit and continue to put into use the lessons that I learned. Here are some excellent conferences that are geared specifically for the Admin:
I am sure there are many more conferences that I did not mention. If you have attended a conference, or are interested in a conference that is appropriate for someone in the Administrative Profession, please leave a comment below.
Next week, I will blog about ways to go about getting approval for your professional development.
A few weeks back, I wrote a blogpost on AI and how we as a profession cannot be replaced by AI therefore we should not fear it. That being said, we will not go very far on our good looks and charm. Professional Development is the key and there are many ways to obtain knowledge so that we grow in our positions. Here are a few ways that I have incorporated Professional Development.
I went back to school at obtained my Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management. I know that this is not an avenue for everyone, but I know that I am currently contemplating taking a class or two at my local community college on writing and maybe a language. Many high schools in my area also have night classes that offer fun classes as well as traditional subjects. Park districts and libraries also offer single evening courses on varying topics. Come up with something you would like to learn and research where it is being taught. You will get hooked on continuing education. It is addictive!!!
There is also in-house training. Does your employer offer training in house, or can you organize a lunch-and-learn with your fellow admins? You will be amazed at what you can learn from others in your organization. SCORE!!!!
There is so much out there for us to continue growing our knowledge base. If you take advantage of just one of the suggestions I made here, you will make yourself more valuable to your employer and more marketable in the workforce. Whatever you decide, I am here for you (as are most of the people I have created links for above) and happy to answer any questions, you might have.
Here’s to your Professional Development. Cheers!!!
Yesterday, on my Facebook page, I shared a link to a documentary called The Global Generation about Lake Forest Academy where I work and my son Jacob went to school. I mentioned that I hoped after watching the documentary that you would be able to understand why I am so passionate about my place of employment and my hope for peace and harmony within our world.
In watching our students talking about how they found friends from around the globe and discovered that they were so similar yet different. It made me think about how, as an Admin, we interact with many people during the day who are the same yet different. I thought I would reflect on the wise words of the students and apply them to our outstanding profession in our efforts to #LeadUp. (IAAP Summit 2018)
Understanding and Appreciation for all. Everyone has something to offer. We should encourage others and “celebrate the intersection of all our stories”. Help your executive to see what you bring to the table and BRING IT!!!! If we do not open up, we will not be heard. In this same manner, listen to what your executive is saying. Not in just their words, but in their actions. And don’t forget your co-workers.
Cultivate a community “where human differences are acknowledged, respected valued and viewed as essential”. We can be the change that is needed. We are miracle workers who have power that we do not realize we have OR we realize we have it, but others do not. Once again, it is our responsibility to #LeadUp and show how to acknowledge, respect, value and view as essential all members of our team, employer and our profession.
“We will become stronger if we become closer as a global community”. As Admins, we need to build each other up. We need to help each other to achieve our goals. If I should help you achieve your goals, it is a step closer that I and all other Admins will be to our own goals. And as an Admin who has been around the block a few times, I want to help bring our community closer for the future of our profession. “The challenges we face empower us.”Lets become stronger together!!!
“Education is the key to becoming a better human being. Dig deep!!!!” “Generalizations are based on a lack of first-hand knowledge”. Would you listen to these students?!?! They are begging for us to set the stage for them to come in and rule the world!!! Do you see yourself in these words? Trying to make a difference as an Admin? Trying to change the culture of where we have been and where we know we should be? Be the change!!!
I am so grateful for my relationships with Admins from across the globe. I am in awe of these Admins as well as those that are in other industries within a few steps from my front door . I am so eager to learn from all Admins who are different from me. No matter what business your employer is in, or where your office is located, Admins perform many similar tasks. We can learn so much from each other, please share yourself with others. Be kind and offer to help those who are unfamiliar with our profession. Speak up, my friends . . . #LeadUp!!!!
In my initial blog post and in my “About” section on this blog, I mentioned how I am on a journey to change the world. Please, PLEASE, join me. Teach me, show me, walk along side me as we take this journey together. Thank you.
Our annual reviews at Lake Forest Academy take place between the end of January to the beginning of March. I am working on mine right now. (Insert the sound of a record scratching here) What?!?!?!? Yep . . . I have learned the hard way that I need to be preparing for my annual review the day after my annual review (I need at least the day to bask in the positive feedback OR to lick my wounds)
It is hard to remember all the things you did over the course of a year. Keeping a list makes preparing for the review a snap. Here is an easy way to make your list:
Each day before you head home from the office, write down three (3) things that you accomplished that day. You can start out by adding the things you do every day, but as you continue this practice you will begin to write down the things that are not exactly on your job description. By putting these items down daily on your list you can begin to show the progression of skills learned. This is also a good way to keep track of how much time you spend each day on certain projects if you want to take it to that level.
And of course at the end of each month, you will want to continue culling your list as well as at the end of a quarter. Then you will start the process all over again stopping at each quarter.
BOOM!!! Here is your review the start of your review. Now before you go all crazy on me because I have only pointed out the positives, you will want to look at the lessons you have learned. Just as I keep a daily/weekly/monthly list for the things I have done, I like to keep the same daily/weekly/monthly lists for what I call “insight”. Everyone makes mistakes, but what did you learn from it? How would you approach this issue differently? What measures have you taken to insure it does not happen again? Have you found new ways of doing something that takes less time?
I use a two page weekly calendar that I got for free. I take each day and divide it in half. One side for the accomplishments and the other for the insight I gained. I have also used both an Excel spreadsheet and OneNote to keep track of these two lists.
By putting these lists together, you make it easy on yourself for when you need to talk about your accomplishments, professional development (you took upon yourself to obtain) or issues that you need your Executives help on resolving. And if you send this to your Executive on a Quarterly basis, and then send all four (4) Quarters to you Executive right before your yearly review, you will make your Executive’s job easier (because you have essentially prepared your review for them) which is our favorite thing to do. Right?!?! And, BONUS – it can relieve the anxiety we often feel when review time is upon us.
There is so much to glean from these lists including having a reference on how you are coming along on achieving your goals. This is a blog post all by itself that I hope to tackle in the future. If you have some ideas on how to prepare for an annual reviews, please share with us all.
Everyone is talking about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to take over the Admin role. Hogwash, I say! We Admins are way too smart, in many aspects, that AI cannot duplicate. Such things as innovative thinking, compassion, empathy, self and social awareness, reflection, authenticity, gut instincts, tolerance, management of your thoughts/emotions, collaboration and relationship development to name a few.
In this blog post, I would like to talk about what AI can do for Admins that will give us time to pursue opportunities that will help us become the strategic partner we are all capable of being.
Appointments
When adding an appointment on a paper calendar, we need to hand write every occurrence whether it is weekly, or monthly or yearly. With AI, when you add an appointment to your calendar app it can automatically have the dates repeated whether daily, weekly on a specific day of the week, monthly on say the first Sunday of the month, yearly on a specific date, only on work days or you can customize it to your specific needs and include an end date. We have become so accustom to this that we do not realize how much time it has saved us. Thank you, AI.
Spreadsheet importing has saved me hours of time entering dates into my electronic calendar. This is the ultimate in customizing your calendar input. In a spreadsheet program you can enter information as you desire it to show up in your calendar. Once you have input everything you want, import it into your calendar. In one quick click, I have imported a year’s worth of meetings, classes, and travel. Here is an example of how we use it for our Advisory time at Lake Forest Academy. We have Advisory on certain days starting at 9:40 am and other days at 10:10 am. These days are somewhat random so you could not go in and ask for the event to repeat.
When I use this template for our school year, I have over 2,000 entries to import. It is such a time saver!!! AND if I need to put these on my Executive’s calendar, instead of going in and copying each one of my entries to their calendar, I just import this document into my executive’s calendar. Genius!!!!
Confirm schedules
In my calendar settings, I have set my calendar to send me a Daily Agenda email. When I am sipping my hot cup of coffee in the morning, this is one of the first emails I look at to remind me of all that will be happening during the day. This has saved me many times when I have forgotten that I have an early morning meeting and I am lazily hanging in my chair with that cup of coffee.
Notifications/reminders are another AI that has saved me from being late for an event. I set up both notifications and email reminders for every appointment I put in my calendar. I go a little overboard, but this is what works for me. I set up email reminders for 15 minutes, 5 minutes and 1 minute prior to the appointment. This way I know when I need to start wrapping up whatever I am working on (15 min), gather up the supplies I need for the next appointment (5 min) and then head over to the next appointment (1 min). I also use this to remind myself a week in advance that I need to purchase a birthday card or gift, or a day in advance that I need to bake for Advisory.
Attendee confirmation has saved me many hours of phone conversations that start out as “I will be at the meeting” to ending up to be 15 minute conversations. I also ask in my calendar request to let me know if the attendee will be attending the meeting in person or remotely. I love that no phone call needs to be made to answer this question. An attendee can indicate that they are coming, but it will be remotely by adding a comment to the request. Brilliant!!!
Phone calls
On our smart phones, we can hold down the big button at the bottom of the face of our phones and ask to call a person or recite the telephone number we wish to call. OR
“Alexa, what is the number for . . .” “The number for . . . is . . . Would you like me to call?” Microphone drop. Exit stage left.
Order Supplies
I love how on the commercials for refrigerators, AI can see that you are running low or out of something and automatically put it on your shopping list. In our offices we can use AI when we order supplies via the internet. Many companies allow you to set up a repeat send of supplies. If you know you run out of an item about every two weeks, you can set up that a shipment will arrive every two weeks just in the nick of time.
Email organization
File automation is an awesome AI trick! By creating filters for emails, my inbox does not fill up with items that I want to read, but do not want these emails to clutter my inbox. You can filter with email addresses, or keywords. An example of how I use is with the keyword “advisory”. All emails that have been emailed to me with the word “advisory” in them will automatically go into my Advisory File. When I arrive in Advisory (because I have imported all of my advisory meetings and have set my notifications) I can go to my Advisory file and read all of the emails from this one location instead of looking through all my emails in my inbox and possibly missing one. If you are not doing this, research how to do on your email platform. You can thank me later.
Task/Reminder is a time saving feature that each email platform has. I am so very passionate about this feature in Gmail/Calendar that I have taught a class on this a few times at my school. Because there is so much to cover on this powerful feature, and this post is already long, I will attack this in another blog post soon. I promise!
Boomerang is a free application (10 a month) or you can pay for more uses. I use just the free version. This app allows you to remove an email from your inbox and have it come back into your inbox when you want it. Very helpful for when you are slammed with a ton of work currently, but you know that next week or next Wednesday you will have time to tackle this email. I reply to the email saying that I will work on this next week and then Boomerang it for next week and it comes out of my inbox. On the other hand, if I have some free time and want to set up an email that should be delivered next Thursday at 3pm, I can write the email and send it to Boomerang to deliver next Thursday at 3pm. I love this kind of organization that allows me to use my time wisely.
As I mentioned, this blog has gone on way to long. There are so many other AI apps to use that I could not possibly list them all here. Both Vickie Sokol Evans of RedCape and Melissa Esquibel are amazing sources for more AI tips and tricks. You should become familiar with these knowledgeable women and their work.
By using Artificial Intelligence for these types of task, instead of worrying that AI will be taking your job, you are empowering yourself to grow and develop as a strategic partner. By making yourself a strategic partner, you are making yourself more valuable to your Executive, your company and the Admin industry. Take time to invest in yourself by using Artificial Intelligence to your advantage.
Jackie
PS: If you have any tips that I did not mention here, please leave a comment so we all can benefit from your knowledge. Thank you.
We just had our Reunion celebration this weekend at Lake Forest Academy. One of my Inner Circle colleagues asked if she could borrow a dress. I have received many dresses from her and it made me think about how costly it is to build a work wardrobe when you are coming back to work full-time.
Working at the Academy, we have many events to attend like our Welcome Back Dinner, Reunion and Gala to name a few. These special events happen every year and require cocktail attire. There is also the day-to-day work attire that I did not have to wear to help kindergarteners get there wet snow suits off. With limited funds, I needed to look professional and be creative on how I obtained the professional look I wanted. Here are some of the ways that I upped my work attire for everyday office, board of trustee meetings and the special events held at our school.
dressbarn has been a favorite of mine for all of the wardrobe needs I have. I like to wear dresses for my everyday work wardrobe and have found the majority of my dresses on the $19.99 clearance rack in the back of my local store. The dresses I purchase at this price usually are at the middle to the end of the season, but they wear great and have lasted for several years. My sister-in-law, Bertha, gives me coupons for purchasing items that are not on the clearance rack and they always seem to be having some sort of sale. I also purchase tops, blazers and work pants at dressbarn. To top it off, dressbarn has an educator discount. BONUS!!!! (Talbots has an educator discount as well)
TJMaxx is another favorite of mine. This summer I needed a few new dresses for the IAAP Summit in Austin, TX and I found beautiful Calvin Klein dresses for $29.99! TJMaxx carries many designer brands at greatly reduced prices. I purchased three (3) dresses for less than I would have paid for one in a department store.
I normally would not shop at Macy’s because I find their pricing to be a little out of my range. However, they offer this free service called My Stylist to help you fill in the gaps of your work wardrobe. A fashion consultant met with me to see what my needs were. I asked for only pieces that were on sale. I had many complete outfits brought to the dressing room and I just tried on and picked what I wanted. It was a wonderful way to find what you need.
Goodwill and my local consignment shop in town have been a great source for cocktail fashion finds. I don’t think I have mentioned it yet, but I do not like to shop. I go in looking for something and then leave. This is very easy to do in these types of shops.
My last little fashion nugget is a necessity for those of us who live in the Midwest. My holy grail of fashion is . . . Commando Ultimate Opaque Matte Tights. As I stated earlier, I like to wear dresses. Tights are a necessity during our cold season. I purchase mine at Nordstrom at the hefty price of $36 a pair. But before you think I have lost my mind, let me break it down for you. My current pair (which I will be replacing this fall) has lasted me two (2) entire years. In wearing these tights 2 to 3 times a week from October to March I calculated $.69 per wear (2 times a week for 26 weeks for 2 years). That is a significant return on my investment.
So if you are heading back to work full-time, or need to spruce up your current work wardrobe, give these ideas a try. If you have some great ways that you have frugally added to your closet, please share with us.
Okay, I have to declare. No, I need to shout from the roof tops that “I have THE best inner circle of women that any woman could want or need!!” I have girlfriends who have helped me through my child raising years (and still want to be my friends). I have young whippersnapper faculty/staff members who keep me moving so I don’t become stale. I have new colleagues that I have known (through their teachings, books, and blogs) for many years, but have just recently met that continue to encourage me to strategically reach for my dreams. You name it, I have many in my inner circle cheering me on, empowering me to be my best.
There are days that I just want to sit back and coast, you know . . . rest on my laurels. I looked this phrase up in Google and loved the definition. Rest on one’s laurels definition is “be so satisfied with what one has already achieved that one makes no further effort”. My inner circle would never allow this. These women want to see me live my dreams and accomplish my goals and I am so very grateful for their fierce friendship and fervor. An inner circle can mean different things to people so I thought I would tell you what an inner circle looks like to me.
First-class Friendships – women and men who are honest with you and enjoy sharing your joys and accomplishments as well as working with you through the tough times.
Encouraging Positive Peers – every one of us needs help and by cultivating relationships with your peers or being of service to your peers not only enriches your work life, but it can teach you new skills that you can bring to your own desk. Win-Win!
Outstanding Magnificent Mentors – in order to up your game, you need Magnificent Mentors. Be specific in what you need from your mentor and accept requests to be a mentor as well. We all have something unique to offer. Sharing yourself, your skills with others is so rewarding.
Having a stellar inner circle is a necessity in today’s competitive environment. No one can operate in a vacuum and make their dreams come true. Everyone needs a top notch inner circle to keep them on their path or to convince them to take a new one.
One more really cool benefit of the power of an inner circle is that the circle increases in size as you grow. New people come into the circle as you seek out your dream. They help you add more to your Admin arsenal as do you add to theirs. Let me know how I can help you. It would be my honor to be a member of your inner circle.
I left my Admin job at the top of my game. I had given birth to my oldest son and had all intentions of going back. He came into this world a little sick and I could not leave him. So I put my career on hold and raised both him and his younger brother as a stay-at-home mom. Now everyone knows what a hard job a stay-at home mom can be, but like always, I was up for the challenge.
When my oldest went to kindergarten, the principal of the school was looking for some part time help at the school. I stepped forward and for 13 years I worked part time getting the kids off the bus in the morning, supervising them on the playground and during lunch. I would also sub for the office admins in the schools within our district as well as admins in the district office.
Our public library often held classes on resume writing, Microsoft software and other relevant classes for people looking to gain employment. I took them all in hopes of keeping my skills up and to turn my part time job into a full time position in one of the schools offices or within the district office. When it was obvious that this was not going to happen, I decided to look outside the school.
I sent my resume to all the large corporations that were in a 25 mile radius of my house but to be honest with you, I was not interested in 60 hour work weeks. My oldest was in high school and my youngest in middle school. So I sent my resume to all the public schools in the surrounding neighborhoods. I heard crickets. I then started looking at the private schools and found a position as Office Manager of External Relations at Lake Forest Academy. I knew nothing about a boarding school environment but was intrigued. After researching the website I wanted this job . . . badly. I had received offers from two places but was holding out for LFA. I got the job and all is history. WHAT?!?!?! Just kidding. This is the important part.
I started full time in the External Relations Department, the fundraising department for the school. It was exciting and exhausting all at the same time. I came home and hit the couch and was zonked out before 7pm. Working part time in a grade school does not prepare you for full time in an independent/international college prep school. LFA does not roll up the welcome mats at 3pm. No it is open 348 days a year. And even on holidays our faculty and boarding students live on campus so it is humming. There are trips to the city (Chicago) for dinner on the weekends or to Milwaukee for a baseball or basketball game. During the weekday there are evening trips to Target for supplies or a fan van to see one of our teams compete. Nothing prepared me for this.
And nothing prepared me for how insecure I would be about my admin skills. As I said, I was at the top of my game in corporate America and had kept up my skills. But working for a team of 12 in a fast paced office was overwhelming and I needed to gain my confidence back fast. That is when I began to research experts in the Administrative field. I picked up all the books I could from the experts such as Joan Burge,Bonnie Low-Kramen, Peggy Vasquez, Sandy Geroux and Julie Perrine. I signed up for newsletters from Lucy Brazier, Rhonda Scharf, Chrissy Scivicque, Office Ninjas and Courtney Clark. I would frequent the websites/blogs of International Association of Administrative Professionals, Vickie Sokol-Evans, American Society of Administrative Professionals, Jennifer Abrams, Colette Carlson and Exceptional EA. I signed up for every free webinar I could find and watched every YouTube webinar. I KNOW that I am missing many of the wonderful sites that I frequented and currently visit. I promise to include them in other posts in the future. The point is, I gave myself the professional development I needed and at no cost or low cost to me. Providing myself with knowledge that I gained from those who had struggled with the issues I was struggling with and came out on top and were willing to share gave me the confidence I needed to work towards being the best Admin I am capable of being.
If you are returning to the workforce after a hiatus, you got this!!! It is in you, you just need to find your mojo. Whatever it takes to find it, use those avenues. If there is anything that I can do to cheer you on or steer you in the direction of what you need, ASK. We all are in this together. We all have doubted ourselves. Heck, I STILL doubt myself . . . often!!! You can do this and there are so many Admins with great knowledge who are out there waiting to help you. Dream big and go after it.
I am a month off of the 2018 IAAP Summit that was held in Austin, TX and I have to tell you that it was an amazing experience. Not only were there top notch speakers, but the networking was incredible. I am a self proclaimed introvert, so networking is a stretch for me. A special friend suggested I write about my experience, and share the details. Here is how I approached this conference.
First and foremost, I made sure to schedule downtime to regain my energy. I had so many things that I wanted to do that were out of my comfort zone that I had to schedule alone time. All I needed was a few minutes of quiet time (5 to 10 minutes worked for me) and I was ready to present my best self. At times, I can lose the confidence that I need to fulfill all my dreams. I just need a few minutes to talk myself back into doing what I know I want to do but my brain might tell me that I can’t. Anyone relate?
Secondly, with all the choices of exceptional presenters, you need to come up with a game plan ahead of time. IAAP had an app that allowed you to pick your presentations based on the times and days. It was very helpful. I needed to take it one step further so I created an Excel Spreadsheet to indicate when I had free time.
Thirdly, and this is where the fun and amazing yet scary/way-out-of-my-comfort-zone happened. Many of the speakers at this conference have been my favorite people to follow on social media. These amazing women are my heroines in the Administrative arena and I wanted to meet them . . . one on one. WHAT?!?!?!?! Yep, I wanted to meet them and have a conversation. I wanted to get to know them as individuals like I was with a long time friend. After all, I knew them for years from blogs, books, websites, social media, webinars etc. You name it, anything they had made available to the public I gobbled up. But how was I going to do this? They know nothing of me.
As soon as I came up with this wonderful idea, my brain began to shoot it down. What if they don’t reply? What if they say no? They are going to think I am weird . . . maybe a stalker. I could have stopped at that moment and never taken the chance, but this was something I really wanted and I pushed through the anxiety and sent each of them a quick message saying that I would love to buy them a cup of joe and would they be interested. To my delight they responded! Kind notes saying “I’d love to see if we can find some time to meet up”, “I would love to chat, when do you arrive?” and “thanks so much for reaching out”. Slowly, but surely, my free times became filled with coffees. I was going to meet some of the women who I admire most in the Admin industry. These women had taught me to be the ADMIN that I am today. I Googled each name and took notes. I searched every nook and cranny of the Internet to find out about each of them and then came up with three or four questions for each woman. I was prepared.
Summit came and went. I had the time of my life!!!! I met each and every Goddess I asked to coffee and then some. In the excitement of the moment, I forgot the questions that I had prepared. I wanted to just BE in the moment. I had the opportunity to just hang with each lady like we were lifelong friends and it was awesome! I have only one regret . . . I was too awestruck to put myself out there for one individual. I won’t let that happen again, Lucy Brazier!!!
And my final tip for getting the most out of a conference is to teach what you learned. Go back to your employer and tell them how much you enjoyed the conference, what you took from it and how you would like to share it with the rest of the organization. I have chosen five of the topics from the IAAP Summit that I will be sharing with the Admins at my school in the upcoming months.
Attending a conference is a gift. Put yourself out there and make the most of it!!!
I work at an international boarding/day college prep school. I absolutely love working at a school. Each new school year allows you to raise the bar on yourself. This school year I am choosing to be a more positive influence on my coworkers and to actively choose to turn negative conversations into positive ones. We have some big changes happening this school year and I want to be a source of calm and positivity.
This summer I had the privilege of meeting an amazing Administrative Professional, Master speaker Bonnie Low-Kramen.
She spoke at the IAAP Summit in Austin, Texas. It was an awesome presentation with many take-aways that I could use immediately. But one thing she talked about touched my heart. Bonnie talked about women lifting each other up. Bonnie has been on a mission for a long time to end workplace bullying. There are many aspects of bullying, but one that I can have an immediate impact on is lifting other women up.
The workplace is a competitive place and can cause negativity within the ranks. I want to focus this year on positive energy at the office. Below are three things that I believe will bring positive energy to the workplace.
Come to work each day with an optimistic outlook. Attitude is everything. So when you encounter a conversation that is going negative, turn it around and make it positive. Attack your day with a sunny disposition. It is more fun to take on the day with optimism. It goes by much faster.
Choose one person to pour yourself into. Optimism is infectious. Find a peer to invest your time and energy in to meet their needs. OR, bestow your optimism into all the peers at your workplace by being a positive representative of your peers. Stand up for the admins in your company.
Periodically, send a thank you note. We all carry a full load, so take on this task at a level that is comfortable, not taxing to you. Sending someone a thank you note is a simple way to spread positive energy. I few suggestions on who to thank: the janitorial and maintenance members, those who have lifted you up when you needed it and those doing a thankless job. Send your note via email, or for a bigger impact, send a handwritten note. Nothing fancy or expensive. It is the thought that has the positive impact.
Small gestures of goodwill can offer great rewards. Please join me in putting ourselves out there. A very beautiful and smart admin/author/international speaker/coach, Peggy Vasquez, wisely said to me “you have to be willing to take a risk in order to get what you want”. I want a workplace that is humming, with women lifting up each other and enjoying a positive and calm environment. I wish this for you as well.
