Feedback

I think everyone needs to hear how they are doing on the job. In many jobs, people hear if they aren't doing things well. I think managers have more difficulty saying when people are doing a good job. Sometimes people really need to hear, "wow, great job on that." Well, and feel like it is sincere as well. :)

Some jobs have a lot of extrinsic rewards and praise. Others have more intrinsic rewards. Speech/Language therapy is a profession with intrinsic rewards. We get paid a livable wage but it isn't stellar. We are supposed to be motivated by the feel good factor or our patients/clients/students making progress and knowing that we are helping people. However, when working with people with severe/profound cognitive impairment, the progress is smaller and can be difficult to see at times. Therefore, it can be harder to get that feedback and intrinsic reward. I think that is part of why the field of cognitive impairment has such a high burn out rate. However, when someone does something for the first time, that really is the feedback that makes me happiest.