While working as a department supervisor, I had a team leader reporting to me who had a peculiar ritual: at the start of each day and again at 3:00 in the afternoon she and her team would stand up and sing together “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” complete with hand claps during the refrains. This was odd to me, for one because we were located in Michigan, and two because, well, I just didn’t get it. I thought it was annoying, disruptive, and total a waste of time. And, in the end, I actually told her she had to stop. This didn’t go over well, and I became even less popular than I already was.

Now that I’ve had many years to mature and reflect on my period of tyranny, I’ve come to see it all more clearly. What she knew that I didn’t at the time was that these breaks in the work day were critical to maintaining high morale, keeping her team energized, and building unity among everyone. And to think I destroyed all of that with one single no. :sigh:

Enthusiasm about our own individual Pinterests prompted some of us to create a Baudville Pinterest! Our Baudville boards share great office ideas, events, gifts, products we love, and office potluck ideas. 

This week, we’re privileged to have Jennifer V. Miller return to the Recognition at Work blog to reflect on the gift of giving!  Please make Jennifer feel welcome with your kind comments! 

The act of giving someone recognition is a gift that’s in season all year long. And, it’s the gift that truly keeps on giving. Consider this: according to researchers from University of California, San Diego and Harvard, positive behaviors like giving someone praise is a sort of social “contagion”—it’s scientifically proven that one person’s act of kindness creates a cascading effect, prompting others to “pay it forward” and also do good.  

Did you know Baudville.com is a wealth of information and ideas for our customers? We have hundreds of articles, eBooks, white papers, and free downloads – and they’re all free! No log-in required! You can find all of it in our Recognition Resource Center. 

The Recognition Resource Center is a library of ideas and knowledge for individuals starting a recognition program, planning an event, or recognizing their team. To visit, click on the gray tab on the left hand side of the Baudville homepage or click here. Starting today, this area of the website has a new look and navigation that should make it easier to find information and new ideas.

We have changed the navigation, and you can now find content by resource topic or type. If you’re looking for information for a certain event or industry, I recommend you sort by topic. Resource topics include education, healthcare appreciation, volunteer appreciation, team recognition, low cost ideas, special events, and more. If you’re browsing for the latest eBook or download, use the resource type navigation. It will help you get to our white papers, videos, and free downloads the fastest!

Features of the new Recognition Resource Center include:
• New design and page layouts
• Revised Recognition Event Calendar with more holidays
• Easy-to-use navigation and expanding menu
• Ability to browse by resource topic or type
• Refine content to find information faster
• Organized Recognition TV webisodes 
• Recognition Tools, like our ePraise and Gift Finder, are more easily accessible 

If you’re a regular Baudville customer, then you’ve likely seen the Spinner Ornaments we’ve developed in past years for our holiday product launch. Seems every year our Spinners get more and more popular, which fuels us to create more and more designs.