Where ya been?

OK, it has been well over a week since I last blogged. I've been busy, really. I can't really say what I've been doing because the time is just a haze, but I do know that it went by very quickly. I started the new job last week and I think I'm going to like it. I'm not really getting eased into the job but I think it is better that way. I am going to learn a ton and felt like a student at times last week since, well, I was a student 9 years ago!

On Saturday, I went to the hair salon to exchange some face wash that I got and then spent some time in the afternoon taking pictures for the This Is Knit's World Wide Knitting in Public Day Scavenger Hunt. It was fun but tiring riding around on public transport getting the pictures since John had the car. He was playing golf. We then went to the pub to celebrate a friend's birthday. (Note the size of the beer and sangria that John is holding)

We are also getting the house settled in. We went and got bookcases this weekend and John put them together so now we can start putting books away and getting rid of some of the clutter. Slowly, slowly putting things away and getting settled...

Motivation

While home, we frequently heard ads on the radio for a Motivation show. At first, we thought that the ads were a joke because the radio station does this sometimes. Well, that and the ads were so ridiculous. I looked up the show online and the information seems to be for businesses that want to motivate their employees through incentives and rewards.

As I've blogged about before, everyone needs intrinsic and extrinsic rewards in their work. This show seems to focus on the tangible extrinsic rewards. It doesn't appear to address any non-monetary related rewards. In my experience, it isn't monetary (or travel) incentives that increase motivation. It is about how a company treats its employees.

If management decides to change someone's job without asking them or telling them until they show up to work one day, motivation/morale is going to be low. If management keeps changing your workload every couple months because clients are complaining that they haven't had the service in the contract that they signed with your company, morale is going to be low. If you work really hard and complete a project on an unreasonable deadline that saves the company a lot of money and you don't get a personal thank you from any management, you aren't going to be very motivated to do a good job. If you lose your desk to a new hire when you have been in the company a few years, you aren't going to have high morale. If you have to share voice mail with other people when clients are supposed to be able to leave confidential information for you, morale will suffer. If management decides to move people's offices around and you get moved into an office so cramped that you can't move your chair without bumping someone while another department has twice the space and half the people, you probably aren't going to be that motivated. If your boss schedules you for a two hour meeting on a Friday (repeatedly), you aren't going to be that happy. If you boss tells a coworker that she can leave a couple hours early one day and make up the time later and 10 minutes later tells you that she doesn't have the authority to let you go an hour early to make a flight, you aren't going to be very motivated. If your boss tells you that she doesn't want to be a supervisor anymore (or never wanted to be one), your motivation may go down. If you repeatedly go to "cheer leading sessions" where upper management tells you everything is great while the company's going bankrupt or being bought out, your motivation isn't going to be high. When you spend a couple hours to have a meeting to prepare for another meeting where the same things will be discussed and nothing decided, employees may get a bit frustrated or apathetic. If your coworkers refuse to share materials or help you with clients even though you help them out and they use your materials regularly, your morale may go down.

Now, I'd like to see a conference that actually address some of the reasons for employee apathy...

(Note, this list is a compilation of many people's jobs.)

Potential

Throughout my life, I have been able to see potential in things. I see a situation or object as it is currently, but I also see "what could be." As a child, this meant taking a scrap piece of fabric and draping it on my dolls to create different clothes. I could make a dress, a skirt, a shirt, etc from a piece of fabric without sewing it. In school, my thinking/seeing in terms of "what could be" made me a better student. I am curious and enjoy learning. I was an avid reader and read the novels assigned to my sister (she was 6 grades ahead of me) when I was in middle school.

In my personal life today, I sometimes see in photographs. Light catches my eye and I find myself framing the image, whether I have a camera or not. Sometimes I will pause to look at how things appear from different angles. It also affects my knitting but not quite as much yet. I see yarn that I like and I think, "What could I make with that? What other yarns could go with that?"

In my professional life, this ability to see "what could be" is a double edged sword. It helps me to be able to see potential in the people that I work with. It also helps that I can see that small changes can have a large impact on people. It aids me to be driven in my work because I see myself as a work in progress, always striving to improve and be better at what I do. The challenge is that I frequently see the potential in a situation and can get down when reality is a long way from the potential. I get quite frustrated in these situations, especially when I don't know how to help the potential to become the reality, or at least a bit closer it. However, the most frustrating is when others appear to not want see the potential or strive towards it.

Two more

So last Tuesday, I blocked out the whole day to deal with immigration and to get my work authorization renewed. I got there at 7:30 AM and to my surprise, the doors were already open. I met the guy at the door who was in charge of giving out the visa tickets (they only give a certain number a day) and he said I had to get my garda card renewed first. So, I then got into a different line to wait for a different number.

While waiting, I was in front of a nurse from the Philippines who had been here 7 years and hadn't applied for citizenship. He was complaining about the process and how long it would take to get the paperwork done. So, I was 11th in line and waited for about 20-30 minutes to be called. I gave the guy all the papers he asked for and he said that he would stamp my passport. He insisted that I didn't need to go through the visa line. He then took my picture for my garda card. I waited longer and got my passport and new card. I looked in my passport and there was only a rubber stamp type stamp in my passport saying I was allowed to stay for two more years. I asked the guy keeping track of the visa numbers and he said he didn't know, I should ask the immigration people if this was really all I needed. I then asked the guy who processed my paperwork and he said, yes, that was all I needed!

So, I was done about 9:00 AM!! I then called a friend who's been through this process just to double check that was all I needed. It is all she has as well. So, a stamp in my passport (just like the ones they use when you enter/exit a country) saying that I can stay until the 22 May 2009 is all I need to work for two more years! Well, that and the garda card that has a code saying I am on a work authorization...

As it should be

The main goal of therapy for a group that I used to see was functional communication.  During one session, the clients were playing with toy cars on a mat. One of them used his talker to tell the others what to do with their play. He then laughed this infectious laugh when they did what he said to do. It was really adorable. Later in the session, we were going to play with a large ball that I had on top of a cupboard. I asked who could get the ball down. They all answered that they could. I then asked each one to get the ball down. The first child tried. He couldn't reach. One of the children ran over to the talker and hit the "oh no" button to say "oh no! We can't get the ball." He did this repeatedly. So, after about 5 minutes of this, I helped them figure out that only I could reach the ball. We then played ball and again one boy used his talker to direct play and comment. That is how augmentative communication therapy is supposed to work!

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.

Long Weekend!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day on Saturday, Ireland has a public holiday on Monday. That means we don't have to work so we have a much needed 3-day weekend. We will be taking in the festivities of Paddy's Day by watching the parade and spending lots of Saturday in a pub. I haven't decided if I will give myself dispensation from the giving up of alcohol for Lent or not. Everyone has told me that the Pope gives special dispensation for Paddy's day.

This long weekend is much needed. Everyone is stressed out and in desperate need of a holiday. There hasn't been a public holiday since New Years which means many people haven't taken a day off since then. I know that is only 3 months but it is a long 3 months. It is a dark, wet, cold 3-months. In honor of the holiday, I suspect that about 1/2 of my mates will be off tomorrow. Also, the best part of it being the Friday before a bank holiday: no one wants an appointment so I have a whole day to work. We'll see how much I get done since I am hoping to cut out of work a bit early myself. :)

Reflections

I just got back today from a trip home for Christmas. While visiting with friends and family, I realized just how much I have changed and grown since I moved to Dublin. When visiting with friends, they all talked about work a lot. Since I used to work with many of them, it was nice to catch up with them about what was going on at my former employer, which also made me feel better about my decision to leave.

I also saw the friend that I was going to go work for had I not moved to Ireland. She works about 70 hours a week and has little time for anything else. She realizes that this is too much but can't seem to work less or say no to people. Had I not moved, that would have been me as well. That was me (ok, more like 50-60 hours a week) before I moved. Now I have balance in life. I don't think that I could go back to the workaholic ways. More importantly, I don't want to go back to being a workaholic. I am a far more balanced person and have a better quality of life here. People are always surprised that my quality of life is better in Dublin but we are focussed on making the most out of life.

The other thing that struck me while home is that I am between worlds. I don't really fit in at home anymore because I have changed. I also don't really fit into Irish society yet. My word choices have changed and of course people at home found it amusing to hear me talk now. I really don't know how to explain the feeling of being between cultures. I tried to explain it to a couple people but wasn't really successful. The best I can say is that I have started to adopt some Irish attitudes but haven't fully acculturated yet.

While home, a lot of people asked if we were moving back when my work authorization is up in May 2007. It was difficult to tell people that we don't plan to move back. We don't really have any plans. We are just going with the flow. If we get homesick, we'll move back. Otherwise, we'll keep enjoying our Irish experiences. Actually, this is another massive change in me. I used to plan everything. I used to have a definite plan for my career. Now, I still have the goal but if I don't get there, I believe in what I am doing. I believe in my work more than I did at home. At home, I was helping people. Here I feel like I am making more of a difference and that is why I went into the field.

Happy New Year all and thank you loyal (and new) readers!

Training: what to do

I have gone to many different types of training. One thing that annoys me during presentations is poor organization. So, here are my suggestions on how to give a better presentation:
+ Use lots of visuals
+ If you are going to give a copy of your PowerPoint presentation as a handout, either follow it or tell the audience that you aren't going to follow it
+ Don't jump all around your power point presentation. I know, this is really the same as the last one but it annoys me
+ Give movement/stretch breaks
+ Do case studies/practical activities to illustrate your points
+ Give lots of practical suggestions on how this could directly relate to one's work
+ Provide a schedule of the events for the day
+ Allow time for discussion and facilitate discussion of the topic
+ When using PowerPoint, do more than read your slides. I can read your slides. I want you to expound on what is on the slides
+ Put key information on the handouts

In a fun day's work

I thought that I would post a fun story about being a speech/language therapist. As part of therapy for a client, we experimented with different foods and played with food. One session, I brought in bananas and whipped cream. We mashed a part of the banana with our hands and then tried to get the student to taste it. Then we decided that we should put whipped cream on our hands and mix it in with the banana.

I squirted out a bit of whipped cream from the can and rubbed it on my hands. I really didn't like the feel of it but I did it. Then we put some on the client's hands. And he clapped. This sprayed whipped cream all over. We then decided to spray some on the plate. The student had a difficult time getting the cream to spray out so I decided to see what happened if the can was upright. No, I had never sprayed a whipped cream can upright before. Well, a bit of cream squirted up and then some air came out. When the student did this, the can kept spraying cream out. It was in our hair. It was on our clothes. It was on the table. It was on my glasses. It was on the floor! Everywhere! After spraying the cream all over, we played a bit with it and then cleaned up.

The good, bad, and ugly

As I have written about before, I have worked in a variety of different settings. In my work with children who attend mainstream schools, I have consulted with teachers and principals. They frequently ask me for suggestions and ways to carry over therapy goals in school. Sometimes when people ask for suggestions on how to work with a child, they then tell me why my suggestions aren't doable. Other times, they appreciate what I have to say and I think that they will carry over goals. I try my hardest to give practical suggestions because it makes it easier for people to carry over and easier for my clients to learn the concept because it is in context.

Then there are the people who are difficult to work with. They question everything. Now, I don't mind when people ask me what my qualifications are. I will happily tell them. I do have an issue when people tell me that I can't possibly be good at my job because I don't have children of my own. Or when they question every little thing that I do. Or my personal favorite: that I am not old enough to have the experience necessary to work with a child! I don't take these things personally. I try my best to reframe the questions and try to figure out if I think they are really asking something else, which I think they usually are.