I’m presenting a break out session this afternoon on one of my favorite topics, generations in the workplace. Below are the slides and handout for the presentation. Thank you University of Wisconsin Madison campus for being such a wonderful host!
October 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Generation Now: Surviving & Thriving With Multiple Generations in the Workplace
October 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Finding Your Way: Managing & Leading Through Change in Libraries
I’m in the beautiful city of Madison, Wisconsin to give the keynote at the Back in Circulation Conference. Below are the slides from my presentation as well as a link to a PDF of the slides.
October 6, 2012 By 1 Comment
Camera Shy? Get Over It
Whether you are a mom or not you can relate to this article by Allison Tate on the Huffington Post Blog, The Mom Stays in the Picture. I love photography and always have my camera out at events. It seems that most people cringe when I go to take their picture–even for a candid shot. I’m the same way. My husband takes pictures of me with the kids and I review them and delete ones where I look too fat or am at a bad angle. On the flip side I lost my aunt, uncle, and grandmother when they were way too young. The pictures I do have, I cherish, and not once do I ever look at them and think my aunt or grandmother was too fat or the picture was taken from a bad angle.
The only picture I have of me with my aunt. Extra special because she is also holding my son.
Do your family a favor and let them take your picture! As Tate says so beautifully:
I’m everywhere in their young lives, and yet I have very few pictures of me with them. Someday I won’t be here — and I don’t know if that someday is tomorrow or thirty or forty or fifty years from now — but I want them to have pictures of me. I want them to see the way I looked at them, see how much I loved them. I am not perfect to look at and I am not perfect to love, but I am perfectly their mother.
October 2, 2012 By 2 Comments
Take This You Internet Bullies!
When you work with the public, you get used to lots of random comments from people. My most memorable were when I was pregnant.
“Are you having twins?”
“Wow you’re about to pop!”
“You still haven’t had that baby?”
“You must have a litter in there!”
“Honey, it’s called disability insurance–use it.”
It’s funny what we get used to and just pass off as random comments. When you are a trainer or have another “on stage” role, the random comments can get downright cruel. I’ve heard my share–comments about my voice, my accent, my weight, I’ve even had my abilities as a parent questioned as a result of a post on this blog. I think that sometimes the anonymity of the web gives people a sense of freedom to say whatever they want. The truth is, no matter how “anonymous” someone is when posting a comment, mean stuff hurts. There is a difference between constructive feedback (which everyone should learn to give as well as receive) and mean spirited comments.
The following video made its way across my feed today via Facebook. I knew I had to share this because we can all relate.
I find myself on both sides of the fence on this one. Before I worked in libraries, I taught first aid and CPR classes at a community college. Included in the training was a segment on preventing heart disease and strokes. As instructors we were told to model what we were teaching and to eat healthy in front of the students at lunch, not to smoke in front of the students during breaks, and to maintain a healthy weight. The last requirement was always a challenge for me, and I have to say that in every session where I covered risk factors for heart disease and talked about the importance of maintaining a healthy body weight, my cheeks flushed in embarrassment. I always wondered if I was secretly being judged by my participants.
In whatever role you are in, I ask you to consider the consequences and feelings of others before posting comments on websites or filling out program or training evaluations. Given that October is National Bullying Prevention Month I wanted to share this video and some of my thoughts with you. As a mom, bullying has been on my mind the past few months. As librarians we are in a position to reach a vast audience including parents, teens, and children about bullying and its impact on society and individuals.
Learn more at:
http://www.pacer.org/bullying/
August 16, 2012 By 1 Comment
Accentuate the Positive
This fantastic idea comes from Homestead Survival:
Start the year with an empty jar and fill it with notes about good things that happen. on New Years Eve, empty it and see what awesome stuff happened that year.
A Year Full Of Blessings Remembered from Homestead Survival
I love this idea as a way to focus on the good things that happen in our lives. So often we focus only on the negative. If you are a trainer this would be a cool thing to do with evaluations. Clip out the good ones, then when you get the occasional bad one, look at this jar and remember all the good feedback you’ve received. You might find you need a bigger jar!
What are some other ways you could adapt this idea for your personal or professional development?
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