Category: Key Things to Help You Everyday

Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.

Stephen R. Covey, ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’

With Employee Appreciation Day just around the corner, it’s a timely reminder for Australian businesses to step up the recognition of their hard-working employees.

Employee Appreciation Day is an excellent opportunity to show your team how much you value their efforts. With recognition so closely tied to retention (and recruitment), it’s critical that you take the time to create bespoke, meaningful ways to celebrate this occasion within your unique workplace.

While Employee Appreciation Day is celebrated on one day, it’s principles should be upheld all year long. By reinforcing a positive work culture that recognises achievements, you can uplift your employees to reduce stress, increase productivity and boost motivation to help you exceed your organisational goals.

How to show appreciation on Employer Appreciation Day

Don’t forget, a little appreciation goes a long way in fostering a happy and motivated workforce. By leveraging Employee Appreciation Day in Australia, you can show your team how truly valued they are. 

88% of Australian employers are concerned about their company’s ability to retain employees in 2024.

With reasons spanning everything from competition (26%) to heavy workloads (25%), non-competitive salaries (21%) to burnout (20%), it’s clear that employees require more focus than ever before*.

Celebrations don’t have to be complicated but they do have to be meaningful. If you’re wondering where to start, consider some of our suggestions below: 

Say ‘thank you’ Sure, it sounds simple but vocal appreciation is super important. 

These two little words not only make employees feel valued, they also help to set a great example for positive reinforcement in the workplace. 

Cultivating a positive work environment helps to boost productivity and the wider employee experience. 

DCM Institute wants to say THANK YOU to all our participants who attend our Professional Development Days and Masterclasses and are committed to continuing their professional development journey with us through the use of the Knowledge Centre.

Feedback is an invaluable tool for your professional development. Research suggests individuals who seek and act on feedback tend to be more effective and successful in their careers.

To make the most of this process, we encourage professionals to adopt a strategic approach. One that involves actively soliciting feedback. This will pushes you to unlock your potential, enhance your skills, and navigate your journey of growth with greater insight and confidence.

A good strategy would begin with:

Change Your Perception

We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.

Bill Gates

To truly benefit from feedback, one must overcome self-resistance and approach it with curiosity and confidence. Acknowledge that feedback doesn’t necessarily dictate truth but offers an opportunity for active learning and reflection. The goal is to use feedback as a catalyst for growth, understanding that the key variable for development is the individual.

Develop a Growth Mindset

Embrace the concept of a growth mindset, as coined by psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck. Individuals with a growth mindset believe in the malleability of their abilities, fostering a willingness to face challenges and persist through failures.

For Village Managers, a growth mindset is essential for continuous improvement and adaptation – not to mention balancing the sometimes competing priorities of the wider business and residents.

Recognise Different Types of Feedback

The best feedback is what we don’t want to hear.

George Raveling

Feedback comes in various forms, including appreciation, coaching, and evaluation. Understanding the purpose behind feedback is crucial for both givers and receivers. Appreciation motivates and encourages, coaching enhances knowledge and skills, and evaluation rates performance against set standards. Misinterpretation can occur, so engaging in clarifying conversations is essential to align expectations.

Accept, Clarify, and Thank

Receiving feedback effectively involves a three-step process. Firstly, accept the feedback with an open mind. Next, clarify by seeking specific examples and understanding expectations. A great way to do this is to ask the person giving you feedback “When you said [], what do you mean?” Asking questions can be both scary, and humbling. But those who embrace feedback do it regularly, even when it makes them feel uneasy.

Finally, express gratitude to the giver for their time and effort. It’s crucial to be attentive, slow to speak, and quick to listen, managing emotions thoughtfully throughout the process.

A feedback integration strategy is not just about collecting feedback but about embracing it as a catalyst for growth. By changing perceptions, fostering a growth mindset, recognising diverse feedback types, and adopting a thoughtful reception process, village managers can harness the transformative power of feedback on their journey towards excellence.

The year was 2005, and it was my inaugural Pancake Day as the new Chef in an exclusive Retirement Village. Little did I know, I was about to step into the culinary carnival of the century! This day, as I discovered, was not just a celebration; it was a culinary extravaganza, a grand spectacle in the retirement village’s social calendar.

As the morning sun heralded the arrival of Pancake Day, I took my place in the kitchen to prepare as any good chef. We call it Mise en place – a French culinary phrase which means “putting in place” or “gather”. It refers to the setup required before cooking.

It turned out, there wasn’t enough time for what happened next. They descended upon the dining hall like children at a desert bar. And they bring reinforcements – friends and family, all eager to partake in the day.

The wait staff found themselves in a whirlwind, a dance of pancakes and plates as the demand soared higher than our griddle temperatures. Pancake flipping went from an art form to a method of survival.

There was a moment of sheer panic as our supplies of strawberries and ice cream disappeared before our very eyes.

Thankfully, the culinary gods smiled upon us. The residents continued their feast, and the dining hall echoed with laughter and stories of how this day had been celebrated in the family home, long before their retirement.

Looking back, that first Pancake Day remains etched in my memory as a delightful yet chaotic adventure. It was a day when the kitchen became a stage, and I, the unwitting protagonist, learned that Pancake Day in a retirement village is not just a day—it’s a gastronomic carnival that brings people together in the name of fluffy goodness.

About Pancake Day

This year, Pancake Day falls on Tuesday, February 13, 2024. The day always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday (a feast that is determined by the cycles of the moon), so the date changes slightly each year.

Why do we have pancake day?

Pancake Day, also known as Shrove Tuesday, is always the day before Ash Wednesday on the Christian calendar. The word ‘shrove’ originates from the English word ‘shrive’, which is the act of confessing one’s sins and doing penance. Making pancakes is a tradition that was developed as a means of using up rich foods such as eggs, milk and sugar before the 40-days of fasting.

The perfect pancake recipe

Ingredients

– 2 cups all-purpose flour

– 2 tablespoons sugar

– 1 tablespoon baking powder

– 1/2 teaspoon salt

– 2 large eggs

– 1 3/4 cups milk

– 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

– Butter or oil for cooking

Instructions

1. Prepare the Dry Ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Ensure a thorough blend to guarantee an even consistency in your batter.

2. Create a Well in the Centre

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. This is where the magic begins.

3. Whisk the Wet Ingredients

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Pour this delightful concoction into the well you’ve created in the dry ingredients.

4. Mix Gently

Gradually incorporate the wet and dry ingredients, stirring gently with a wooden spoon or a spatula. Do not overmix; a few lumps are perfectly acceptable for the fluffiest pancakes.

5. Rest the Batter

Let the batter rest for about 10 minutes. This gives the baking powder time to work its leavening magic, resulting in pancakes that are light and airy.

6. Preheat the Griddle or Pan

While the batter is resting, preheat your griddle or non-stick pan over medium heat. Add a pat of butter or a splash of oil to ensure your pancakes don’t stick.

7. Spoon and Cook

Spoon the batter onto the hot griddle, using about 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until bubbles form on the surface, then flip and cook until the other side is golden brown.

8. Keep Warm:

As you cook batches of pancakes, keep them warm in a low oven (around 95°C) to maintain their delightful warmth.

9. Serve with Toppings

Now, here’s where you can get creative! Serve your perfect pancakes with a variety of toppings – fresh berries, a dollop of whipped cream, a drizzle of maple syrup, or, if you’re feeling indulgent, a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

10. Enjoy.

We received an enquiry during the week from a colleague in the sector to see what our views were on continued to do something on Australia Day in retirement villages.

It was a conversation they were struggling with given the public debate around changing the date for our national day.

It is a debate that needs to be had, respectfully.

Respectfully means that in our role as Village Professionals if our residents want to celebrate Australia Day, then it should be encouraged.

We have written in our newsletters and openly discussed at our networking days the important role social engagement plays in keeping residents healthy and active. Australia Day is a day on a Village’s Activity Calendar that many residents continue to look forward to, with many having deeply rooted traditions.

These are traditions of residents coming together and being social in community centres. Of barbeques and long lunches. Of a happy hour that lasts for hours.

We must always remember that we have the privilege of working in someone’s home. That is an important word – home. They say home is where the heart is. In a retirement village, a healthy beating heart is the social environment we foster and encourage.

So long as our residents do not do anything to disrupt the quiet enjoyment of others – then why shouldn’t they be encouraged to continue their traditions. Even if the debate happens within our communities, keeping it respectful won’t disrupt this beating heart.