PANGASINANONLINEBALITA

June 23-29, 2012

By: LIBERTY G. ROXAS,Ed.D. District Supervisor DepEd-District II, Dagupan City

Leadership Rewards and Recognition

leader makes other people feel important and appreciated. The leader excels at creating opportunities to provide rewards, recognition and thanks to his or her staff. A leader creates a work environment in which people feel important and appreciated. Learn more about rewards and recognition in this fifth article in my Leadership Success series. How Leaders Make People Feel Important Through Rewards and Recognition A key leadership trait is the ability to inspire followership. In addition to supplying a shared vision and direction, leaders must develop a relationship with the people they inspire to follow them. The successful leadership relationship inspires people to become more than they might have been without the relationship. Following an effective leader, people accomplish and achieve more than they may ever

have dreamed possible. The foundation of this successful relationship is the leaders ability to make people feel important. (Sure, money works to a certain extent, although, as a limited quantity in organizations, I wouldnt overemphasize its importance.) So, effective leaders need to demonstrate these practices. * Pay attention to people using common courtesy. Say good morning. Ask people how their weekend turned out. Ask whether Rebecca won her soccer match. Practicing simple courtesy is a powerful relationship-building tool. * Listen to what your coworkers, peers and staff members have to say. Listen giving full attention to the person seeking your attention. If you cant pay full attention and listen actively, set a time with the person to meet when you can. You gain much information from the ideas and opinions of others. You make people feel special

when you listen to them without distraction. Know that Rebecca has a soccer match. * Use powerful, positive language in your interaction with others. Say please and thank you and youre doing a good job. Say, We couldnt have accomplished the goal without you. Your contribution saved the customer for the company. Powerful, positive recognition makes people feel important. Powerful, positive recognition encourages your employees to contribute more of the same work in the future. * Put praise in writing. A thank you note to the employee, with a copy to her file, magnifies the impact of the recognition. * Keep your commitments to staff. If you have a meeting set up for Tuesday, attend the meeting. Cancellation should not occur except in a true emergency. Promised Pat a raise? Dont do it unless you know you can keep your promise. dence too. This is not to say that you should create unrealistic expectations. However, your expectations will be one of the key factors in helping students learn and achieve. 4. Consistency In order to create a positive learning environment your students should know what to expect from you each day. You need to be consistent. This will create a safe learning environment for the students and they will be more likely to succeed. It is amazing that students can adapt to teachers throughout the day that range from strict to easy. However, they will dislike an environment in which the rules are constantly changing. 5. Fairness Many people confuse fairness and consistency. A consistent teacher is the same person from day to day. A fair teacher treats students equally in the same situation. For example, students complain of unfairness when teachers treat one gender or group of students differently. It would be terribly unfair to go easier on the football play-

* Give staff public credit for contributions. You didnt think up the idea for senior staff review. Instead say, Mary thought this approach would work well and I agree with her. The credit belongs to John. Isnt that a terrific idea? You may think these actions sound a lot like leadership by the golden rule. Youre right, although a fellow consultant told me about an even more powerful rule - the platinum rule. In the golden rule, you treat others as you wish to be treated. In the platinum rule, you treat people as they wish to be treated. These are powerful, yet simple, ways you can reward and recognize people. These are powerful, yet simple, ways to make the people you employ feel important and appreciated. The bottom line? Believe people are important. Act as if you believe people are important. People will feel important. Important people will think of you as a great leader. ers in a class than on the cheerleaders. Students pick up on this so quickly, so be careful of being labeled unfair. 6. Flexibility One of the tenets of teaching should be that everything is in a constant state of change. Interruptions and disruptions are the norm and very few days are 'typical'. Therefore, a flexible attitude is important not only for your stress level but also for your students who expect you to be in charge and take control of any situation. Likewise, great teachers share a unique set of qualities, such as a desire to educate young people and act as a positive role model; an ability to work with students from diverse backgrounds and abilities; interest in helping people learn; enthusiasm about a subject; strong interpersonal and organizational skills; the ability to work unsupervised; creativity, energy and patience; and digital learning tools and technologies. Henceforth, teachers should be proud of for they are not made but were born to teach!

Great Teacher of Times

Lilibeth J. Rodriguez T-III Mangaldan National High School

Are you "born to teach?" Greatest teachers share some common characteristics that every teacher can benefit from focusing on these important qualities which are as follows: 1. Sense of Humor A sense of humor can help you become a successful teacher. Your sense of humor can relieve tense classroom situations before they become disruptions. A sense of humor will also make class more enjoyable for your students and possibly make students look forward to attending and paying attention. Most importantly, a sense of humor will allow you to see the joy in life and make you a happier person as you progress through this sometimes stressful career. 2. A Positive Attitude A positive attitude is a great asset in

life. You will be thrown many curve balls in life and especially in the teaching profession. A positive attitude will help you cope with these in the best way. For example, you may find out the first day of school that you are teaching Algebra 2 instead of Algebra 1. This would not be an ideal situation, but a teacher with the right attitude would try to focus on getting through the first day without negatively impacting the students. 3. High Expectations An effective teacher must have high expectations. You should strive to raise the bar for your students. If you expect less effort you will receive less effort. You should work on an attitude that says that you know students can achieve to your level of expectations, thereby giving them a sense of confi-