A Small Way to Be the Change

A funny thing happened to me at work today.

Let me begin by backing up. I have a history of... cutting timing close when I have to get up early in the morning :-) But last week, I was getting up early and actually getting to work with good time before 8:00 a.m. Then, yesterday, I had a hard time getting up and I arrived at work at, oh, 8:03 ish. Bummers.

Then today, we got out of the house late and it was dreary and rainy and --ick!-- I ended up getting to work around 8:03 again. Unfortunately, as I strolled past our CLC clock I noticed that it was reading a few minutes even later. Nothing that horribly affected my work day, of course, but I was still worried.

To get to my office I have to pass right by my boss (Stacey)'s office. The whole way, I was thinking, I hope Stacey doesn't mind!
Just as I crossed in front of her door, I heard a sweet, lilting question waft from her office:

"Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiby?"

Uh-Oh. Now I'm in trouble.

"I just wanted to say...." she began, as I stuck my head in the door.
"...Thank you so much for being SO on top of things..."

Oh no. Is she being sarcastic? I am SOOOO in trouble this time!

"...And encouraging our staff."

What?!

Stacey's small smile grew bigger as my confusion became quickly evident on my face. "For nominating Susan and Alicia," she said. Suddenly it dawned on me: she was not talking about my lateness, but about the nominations I'd submitted for my two co-workers for an HCC Award!

"How, how did you know?" I asked, knowing that I'd just submitted Alicia's nomination less than 24 hours before, as I was leaving work in the evening. I'd submitted a nomination for Susan the month before and no one had said anything.

"I get an email every time one of my employees gets nominated for an HCC Award," she said.

While my boss's totally unexpected praise did make me feel relieved, it also made me think. I had no idea she was going to know about and read those nominations... I just decided I was going to take a small part in "being the change I wish to see in the world". Every month the list goes out to all the employees of which people were nominated for HCC Awards, a morale-building recognition certificate that is given to one employee of the college from another. And every month, I read the lists and think, "Oh my, I only knew ___ people on that list. How come nobody I work with is on there?"

Well, last month when the list came out, I balked at how miniscule it was--only a handful of names were nominated for great work. What was this? Then it finally dawned on me: why wasn't *I* doing anything about it? In a flash of excitement and pleasure I found the link and nominated both my co-worker, Susan, and my sister, Mamie, for their outstanding work at HCC. About a day later, I received notification that the certificates had been electronically mailed to my nominees. Cool!

Yesterday, then, when our first Mission had successfully ended and our Fearless Program Assistant had about died from nervousness, I nominated her for an HCC Award. And then today, she got it (and my other co-worker, Susan, showed me that she'd printed out her certificate from last month and stuck it to her bulletin board). Do you know how fun that is? Not because I am expecting anything--that's a plus, too, to be recognized for it--but just how good it feels to do my little part to "be the change", so to speak. :-) I am truly blessed and I love to pass that feeling on!

.........
So guess what my challenge to you is now? That's right! Find a small way YOU can "be the change you wish to see in the world"--I suggest starting with a few random notes of encouragement to people around you (maybe co workers, maybe family, maybe someone else) but you can start with anything. Be a blessing and you'll be blessed! It's the way to go!