By Michael McCarthy
 

Once upon a time, Performance Improvement Consultant Russell Justice wisely said: "The best positive reinforcement is anything that gives us a story to tell."
 
People go home from work with stories to tell every day. Most of the stories are not very positive. We want to give people good stories to tell.  Good reinforcement “creates” a [...]

 
      When I was 11,  I cut the grass in my family’s yard all by myself for the first time. Tired and sweaty, I was so proud. A family friend drove into the driveway just as I was finishing. His first words out of the car were “You missed a spot behind the shrubs.” I was [...]

  
A manufacturer had hired 24 employees from a company which had laid them off.
Most had been with that company for a long time and had trained newer co-workers (who weren’t laid off).
These 24 people were still feeling “burned” from their experience when their new boss asked them to cross-train each other. The goal was to become more [...]

Start your department’s new year off with a book club. Learn something new and fun, and make your workplace more positive in the process.
May I suggest You Made My Day: Creating Co-worker Recognition & Relationships, by Michael McCarthy and Janis Allen, available on www.janisallen.com - just click on "bookstore." 
Here’s an exerpt from the book:
     Recognition and relationships are intertwined [...]