I never thought working at a super club would change my life, but in so many ways it did. It became the catalyst for the design of my scheduling department. How can we effectively run a business if we don't look at the big picture, all the while keeping our customers happy and our interpreters busy.
Posts tagged #Managing a Team
Put me in coach! I'm ready to play today...err not ???
Interpreters who become managers should lead and not do, or at least not as much.
Investing in Your Team
Here are 5 value-added opportunities for group training.
Leading from the Bottom
If your department or organizational structure reflects a top-down hierarchy, consider flipping it around so leaders are positioned to lead from the bottom up.
Compassion Is Key for Interpreter Managers
This post highlights the fourth of six steps for interpreter managers to create a great place for medical interpreters to work: Compassion.
Accelerate Medical Interpreter Professional Development with Shared Learning
When participating in professional development activities, let's find ways to share the learning with all interpreter colleagues.
Medical Interpreters Should Focus on WIIFM, not CEUs
Obtaining CEUs shouldn't be the primary consideration when signing up for medical interpreter continuing education courses.
Appreciation Is Key to Creating a Great Place for Interpreters to Work
Appreciation is the second of six steps to creating a great place for medical interpreters to work.
Collaboration: A Win-Win for Medical Interpreters and their Managers
Collaboration is the first of six steps to creating a great place for medical interpreters to work. (It is also a benefit for their managers!)
Attention: Interpreter Managers
This is the first post in a series that focuses on six steps to creating a great place for medical interpreters to work.
Opportunity is Key to Closing the Gap
Hard work, a curiosity to know more, respect and honesty are the keys to creating opportunity for yourself and others. I've learned that finding opportunity is the key to finding success. Opportunity won't find you. You must be determined to find it. If you seek to improve your position in life there are a few things you'll need.
6 Steps to Creating a Great Workplace for Healthcare Interpreters
Anyone who manages healthcare interpreters knows that they are frequently faced with a number of stressful situations. As these stressors build up overtime, interpreters can become disengaged, disillusioned and burnt out. So what can we do to support professional healthcare interpreters and alleviate these stressors?
Motivators Matter
Motivators are powerful. In the professional realm they carry you through the rough days and drive you to reinvest your efforts in the work before you with vigor. But how can you tell if the inherent rewards of your chosen profession align with your personal motivators?
With A Little Help From My Friends
Healthcare interpreters are expected to be life-long learners. Fortunately, we interpreters tend to be a knowledge-hungry people, meaning continuing education turns out to be more of a professional perk than a chore. But if you're working alone, good reference materials may not be enough to keep you "in the know".
Back in my college days (suffice it to say that this was pre-Facebook), I had a professor — a life-long learner himself — who often gave examples of things he had learned from his "friends". He'd then go on to reveal his "friend" to be someone who had lived in the second century, or on the other side of the planet.
As a result of that professor's anecdotes, I widened my definition of "friend" to "anyone who inspires or supports you" — whether or not you've actually met this person.
When it comes to professional development, it's important to be connected to the ideas of others if you want to grow — to cast a wider net for those sources of inspiration and support.
In the Facebook / Skype / LinkedIn / Twitter era, there is no shortage of ways to discover and connect with like-minded individuals or professional groups. It's important, though, to distinguish between the medium (online networks, professional organizations, etc.) and the connections you're trying to make with real human beings. In this case, the networks themselves are just tools for connecting; it's still up to you to make and define those connections on a human-to-human level.
As you build your circle of friends, do consider including people and perspectives that foster development in skills and competencies which are less obvious, but still of general value to professionals — such as leadership, customer service, speaking, communication, or time management.
It can also be helpful to diversify in another direction: those who share your role in other industries.
For instance: individuals involved in the training and development of healthcare interpreters will also benefit from extending their circle of professional friends to include sales trainers, or manufacturing trainers. In my own experience wearing my "trainer hat", this circle of friends has provided valuable insights, resources, and tools — all of which have expanded and reinforced my own professional development as a learning and performance practitioner. And since we share a common interest in learning about learning, we have a base level on which we can naturally interact and exchange useful insights from our very different industries.
Here's a peek at a few of my own learning and performance "friends":
As a healthcare interpreter, who are your professional "friends", and how are they helping you to grow?
Be Identifiable: I’m the interpreter, not a family member
Health care interpreters can benefit by wearing a uniform or other apparel that clearly identifies him or her as the interpreter. It makes the interpreter visible and distinguishes him or her from other individuals in the encounter, like family or members of the nursing team. It is a good first step toward creating awareness of role boundaries and role differentiation. And that's not all.