The Office: A Bouquet of High Fives

Written by Cathy Harvey, Administrative Assistant to Shepherds College

 

This semester, Tracy Terrill, Executive Director of the college, encouraged the staff to think about what each of us can do to intentionally “build the Shepherds College community.”  The larger community includes not only faculty, staff, and students, but also parents, professional partners, and all the other departments of Shepherds Ministries: nursing, maintenance, the business office, the kitchen staff, marketing, program, Shepherds Enterprise—you get the idea.

He gave us a start in our thinking by offering the first goal:

#1 – Build community with our words by

            a)  Avoiding unnecessary negativity and

            b)  If we think something good about someone, tell them!  We should not let the moment pass, but speak a work of kindness, send a note of encouragement, e-mail a word of praise.  It can be as simple as a sticky note on their desk - anything, but do it!

The second goal was left for us to craft.  He gave us a sheet of paper with a picture of a large brick to represent what we will do to help build community.  We had to fill in the following phrase and turn it in to him.

#2 – “In order to build the SC community, I will…” 

Here is one idea our Horticulture instructor, Leslie Leith, designed.  She calls it a Shepherds College P.A.T. Award which stands for “Positive Attitude Teamwork.”  It is a form anyone can use to show appreciation for someone who was caught demonstrating positive teamwork taking place in our community. 

The symbol is a flower pot with several different colored hands.  I like to think of it as giving a bouquet of high fives or a bouquet of applause.

There is also a place on the form to fill out for the person’s supervisor so the supervisor is aware of what  their team member accomplished.  It is a great way to honor someone’s “behind-the-scenes” contributions.

Here are a couple of examples of staff caught in the act of jobs well done.

Chef McCarthy was honored because he went over-and-above a request when a staff member asked if they could use the teaching kitchen table to put out food for a staff lunch.  When he learned that the food was going to be cold, he quickly assessed the logistics of how long it would take staff to wait in line at the microwave.  He offered to warm all the food up in advance.  Not only that, he then used it as a learning opportunity to involve the Culinary Arts students.  He added grated cheese, shredded lettuce, and sour cream to the meat, bean, and rice being served to round out the menu.  He then had the students set up lovely chafing dishes to warm all the food, and let the students practice their catering skills by serving all the staff as they came through.  The request for merely for using the table to lay out the food—Chef McCarthy went over and above!  High Fives to Chef!

Gloria Dahlberg of Day Services has always been so cheerful and flexible about giving up the gym for afternoons that the college needs it for Preview Days, student retreats, graduation, or any event where the college needs the gym.  She uses the gym daily for an hour after lunch so Day Service residents can exercise, but she never hesitates to make an alternate plan when we need the gym.  High Fives to Gloria!

 

Linda Manlick in the business office saves the college a lot of time by researching the cost for all the supplies we need to order so we get the best price.  She is quick and accurate and also offers alternative ideas so we can be as frugal as possible.  If we need a rush order, she is there for us and acts to service us with a spirit of helpfulness.  I feel a sense of teamwork from her as she treats our needs as important as she would hers.  High Fives to Linda!

Lily McCarthy, one of the college para instructors, cheerfully pitches in no matter what is needed.  Apart from her classroom responsibility, she recently spent hours ironing the creases out of 10 new flags purchased for graduation.  It is a small detail that probably no one will think about on graduation day, but she tackled it with such care and thoughtfulness, making sure she did not burn or damage the flags with too hot of an iron.  When finished, she hung them all carefully and tagged them so we could see that state or country each flag represented.  High Fives to Lily!

And on and on we could go.  It is not hard to find ways to use the P.A.T. award because Shepherds hires wonderful people who care.

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.