Are most of your meetings dull and laborious? Here is an idea to make them more efficient, more creative, and more fun!
Get red, green, and yellow paper plates. Glue each one to a tongue depressor or other kind of stick. Give one of each to each person in the meeting.
When someone agrees with what a person is sharing or wants to vote “yes” on a question, they hold up the green plate. When someone disagrees or wants to vote “no” on an issue, they hold up the red plate. When someone wants more discussion, has a question, or wants to share their opinion, they hold up the yellow plate.
You will be surprised at how much clearer this makes everyone’s communication and how much more efficient your meetings will be. It also adds the element of creativity and fun to what most employees dread the most — boring meetings!
For more creative ideas to spread contagious enthusiasm and enhance employee motivation, go to www.barbaraglanz.com/ideas www.barbaraglanz.com/ideas/
“Johnny the Bagger®” is Even Impacting Schools!
Three years ago I was asked by Francine Lazarus, Ed.D. who was a teacher at an elementary school in the Tampa, Florida, area, if I would come to speak for their teacher inservice day at the beginning of that school year. Her husband is an executive with Publix Supermarkets in Lakeland, and when I spoke for all their managers, each of them was given a copy of “The Simple Truths of Service Inspired by Johnny the Bagger®.” Francine was so taken with Johnny’s story that she decided to use that as a theme in her classroom and wanted the other teachers in the school to be inspired as well.
Last year I heard from Francine that she had been promoted to be the principal of her OWN school, Bellamy Elementary. She decided to use “Service from the HEART” and Johnny’s story as the annual theme for her whole school. These are some of the ideas she has shared with me of what they are doing: Barbara,
Congrats on your well-deserved honor! I’m very proud of you and you looked SO beautiful 🙂 I’ve shared the information with my faculty/staff so they know about the person who inspired the idea for our school theme this year.
Things have really taken off with Johnny and “The Simple Truths of Service!” There are HEARTS all over the school and every day the teachers e-mail me with new ideas…I’ll take some pictures for you.
We’re thinking of ordering those rubber bracelets that the kids wear with a HEART of Service message on them for the students to give out in the community when they want to recognize Service from the HEART. During Pre-Planning, each team of teachers adopted their own “Personal Signature” and brainstormed ways to bring their idea to life throughout the year. My music teacher is teaching David Roth’s song about Johnny, “A Little Something More” (I ordered the CD at Maythelightmusic.com) to the teachers on 8/30, and we’re going to put a special heart of service “thought” for parents in the weekly bulletin that goes home every Friday.
Everyone loves the books and the Johnny pads. Everyone says this theme has much more meaning and importance than themes like “Wild About Learning… or Dive into Learning.” From Johnny, our students will learn to be caring citizens while adopting an “above & beyond” work ethic!
Barbara, thank you so much for the work that you do…It TRULY makes a difference!
Bellamy Takes Education To HEART With A HEART Of Service!
Francine Lazarus, Ed.D.
Principal
Bellamy Elementary School
To order “The Simple Truths of Service” book, the DVD of the story of “Johnny the Bagger®”, and the DVD, “Service from the Heart”, click here
For more information about “Johnny the Bagger®” and Barbara’s presentations on “Service from the Heart”, go to www.barbaraglanz.com
10 Tips to be Healthy and Happy
10 Tips to be Healthy and Happy from Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, “Eat, Pray, Love:”
1. Take a walk.
2. Write something.
3. Read something.
4. Don’t eat too much.
5. Spend some time in silence.
6. Stretch.
7. Send a message of love to someone.
8. Drink water.
9. Mess around in the garden.
10. Floss
I would add as number 11. “Spend some time with someone you love.” These are the little guys I love to spend time with, even if only on Skype!
Owen and SImon all dressed up for my Speaker Hall of Fame Award Banquet!
Almost all these tips are things that can be done during a work day, so please share them with your colleagues. Taking care of oneself is the first way to have a more passionate, productive workplace!
To learn more about Barbara’s work to help create workplaces of joy, go to www.barbaraglanz.com.
Trip to Turkey
TRIP TO TURKEY — September 6 – 12, 2011
The impetus for this trip was the wedding of my second cousin, Heather Howard, on September 9. 2011. I joined my aunt, Joan Anderson , and my cousin, Loralyn Willis, and her husband, Fred, in Istanbul at the Taksim Life Hotel, and we spent the five days we were there having fun together.
Standing in Taksim Square
September 6-7 – Travel
I left Sarasota for Tampa at 9:15 am, my flight to JKF left at 12:05, arriving at 2:55, and then my Delta flight to Istanbul left at 4:50 pm, arriving in Istanbul at 10:15 am September 7 (3:15 am EST!) I took a cab with some of Heather’s friends and arrived at the hotel early afternoon. We were so impressed driving into the city with all the beautiful landscaping along the medians – lovely patterns of flowers, hanging baskets from poles, and much greenery. With all the domes, minarets, and spires of the skyline, we found it a beautiful city to enter.
CPAE Hall of Fame Acceptance Speech ~ August 2, 2011
On August 2, 2011, I was honored. thrilled, and humbled to be inducted into the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame in Anaheim, California, at the National Speakers Association convention. There are only 120 members in the world, including Art Linkletter, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Zig Ziglar, Og Mandino and Ken Blanchard. The current members select and vote for the new members, thus the name “Council of Peers Award of Excellence”. Just five people are chosen each year. This year’s amazing recipients were Chad Hymas, Victoria Labalme, Mike Rayburn, Dan Thurmon, (and me)! All my children and two of my grandchildren were there and many, many precious friends, so it was truly a “night to remember!” This is the speech I gave when I accepted my award:
In late June our Mastermind group met at the farm home of Jolene and Keith Brown in West Branch, Iowa. Even though I had grown up in a small town in Iowa and had many friends who lived on farms, I had never spent several days actually living on a farm. The experience was an eye-opener for each of us “city folks” and taught us some important lessons about hard work, community, and values.
Sometimes there are moments in all our lives when we look back and realize we HAVE done something right! Erin, our youngest daughter, took us on a rocky journey from her thirteenth birthday onward. Although she had a genius IQ and nearly every talent and gift you can imagine, she suffered from self-esteem issues as well as an addictive personality.
Coupled with a fiercely independent spirit (she told us several years ago that when Dad and I told her, ”No,” that was the green light!) and a risk-taking approach to life, we wondered if she would even LIVE to be 30! Yet, through it all (and there are stories you would be hard put to believe), I believed in her and prayed for her and supported her.
Today she is a lovely young woman with two college degrees and a wonderful job in fashion design. Those of you who know Erin or who have prayed for her over the yeas will be particularly touched by the words below, and those of you who don’t, can relate, I’m sure, since all families and relationships have their battles and their triumphs, their ups and their downs, their laughter and their tears, their fears and their hopes.
Barbara is enjoying her wonderful birthday cruise on Princess Cruises. Her voyage began in Denmark, then sailed on to Norway, next was Berlin. After enjoying some time at sea, they will be visiting St. Petersburg – Russia, Helsinki – Finland, Stockholm – Sweden, ending back in Copenhagen -Denmark. What a beautiful adventure. Bon Voyage!
“Barbara is one of those rare people who can not only give a phenomenal presentation, but coach others to dramatically improve as well. I hired her to help me improve my signature keynote. She helped me immediately make changes that have led to a much improved presentation. Among other things, I will use more stories, better stories, and speak from the heart more because of Barbara. I highly recommend her without hesitation to anyone who wants to become a better speaker.”
Scott Crabtree, Chief Happiness Officer,
www.HappyBrainScience.com
Portland, OR
Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. - Caroline Brownlow -
