An Appreciative Approach to Managerial Coaching: Words Matter When Increasing Employee Engagement

Employers set out to create positive cultures where employees can thrive. Despite this effort, engagement surveys find more than 60% of employees are just going through the motions at work. Disengagement affects such key workplace factors as productivity, customer satisfaction, absenteeism, safety, and turnover. What will it take to shift employees from being disengaged to bringing their best self to work? The field of positive psychology may offer promising possibilities. Mounting evidence on the use of appreciative inquiry, strengths-based development, and self-determination theory in the workplace illuminate pathways to initiate and sustain greater well-being and productivity. Managers and others who coach employees are a critical to creating and sustaining this enhanced work environment. This paper examines how the findings of current positive psychology research points to potential ways coaching conversations can foster higher levels of motivation, cultivate a sense that one’s work is valued, and strengthen a commitment to goals. This literature review identified a number of evidence-based practices managers may use when coaching to constructively develop individuals in ways that are aligned with personal values and motivation. A discussion of future directions for this work is proposed through a positive psychology coaching intervention aimed at increasing employee engagement

Helping Diminish the College Knowledge and Access Divide: Development of a College Outreach Camp to Serve Community Needs

This descriptive case study examined the development of a college outreach summer camp at a university in Texas. The camp aims to diminish the college knowledge and access divide that exists between first generation college-going, lower-income, and underrepresented students and their counterparts in the region in which the university is located. Drawing on one year of survey data, interviews with program personnel, program documents, and newspaper articles about the camp, this study highlights some of the camp’s early successes, as well as growing pains of starting such an effort to serve community needs

Developing Civility and Connection in Midland, Michigan

Growing loneliness and incivility are on the rise across America. In Midland, Michigan, civic leaders desire to further infuse positive psychology into their community by enhancing positive citizenship through civil discourse and connection. They have identified this need after instances in their community where citizens have engaged in discourteous and unproductive speech. Informed by current psychological research, our team proposes improving civil discourse and increasing positive connections in Midland through holding community discussions using a Communication and Connections Discussion Guide. Community leaders will be trained as facilitators to lead discussions using the Discussion Guide with various groups of any type and size in Midland. We believe the citizens of Midland can and will learn to constructively engage with their fellow citizens for enhanced communities and a better future. We have every confidence that Midland leaders will persist until every sector in the community has been illuminated with the message of hope, warm communication, and strong connections offered by these principles and practices of well-being

Climatic Cycles Recorded in Glacially Influenced Rhythmites of the Gowganda Formation, Huronian Supergroup

The Gowganda Formation of the 2.45–2.2 Ga Huronian Supergroup contains glacially-induced, varve-like rhythmites that potentially preserve a detailed record of climatic conditions during the Paleoproterozoic Era. Four rhythmic couplet thickness records were measured at two outcrops near Wharncliffe, Ontario for the purpose of time-series analysis. The couplets, which range from 1 to 32 mm thick, are composed of alternating layers of siltstone and claystone. Time-series analysis of the couplet thickness records using the MTM Toolkit of Mann and Lees (1996) consistently revealed periodicities in the range of 2.2–2.9 couplets per cycle, which is consistent with climatic cycles such as the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) observed in modern times. This periodicity suggests that the rhythmic couplets represent annual deposits (i.e. varves). Evidence for the presence of cycles at 3.0– 4.9 couplets, 6.6–6.9 couplets, 8.8–9.2 couplets, 22.8 couplets, and 30.1–31.0 couplets were also observed in some couplet thickness records; however, the presence of these longer term cycles was inconsistent from site to site

Strategies for Strengthening the Technical Workforce: A Review of International Evidence

Numerous countries suffer from a shortage of technicians and skilled workers, particularly in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), due to a mismatch between the skills and interests of the students graduating from or leaving the current education system and the needs of the labor market. Often, parents and students place a high priority on entering and completing university, and as a consequence, many students pursue academic education in secondary schools in order to gain entrance to university, only to find themselves entering the job market lacking the skills they need for employment and advancement. Further, in some countries, the vocational school system is not well-respected by the public and focuses heavily on preparation of youth for specific jobs in one firm rather than preparing them for careers within an industry as a whole. This literature review aims to synthesize the research evidence about the effectiveness of various strategies used by national governments, non-governmental organizations, technical schools, and industries to strengthen both the quality of the technical workforce, as well as the avenues through which individuals can access career and technical programming

Emergence of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance (MCR-1) among Escherichia coli isolated from South African patients

The polymyxin antibiotic colistin is an antibiotic of last resort for the treatment of extensively drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, including carbapenemase- producing Enterobacteriaceae. The State of the World’s Antibiotics report in 2015 highlighted South Africa (SA)’s increasing incidence of these ‘superbugs’ (3.2% of Klebsiella pneumoniae reported from SA were carbapenemase producers), and in doing so, underscored SA’s increasing reliance on colistin as a last line of defence. Colistin resistance effectively renders such increasingly common infections untreatable

Managing for change: October 11, 1989

Bi-weekly newsletter of University Hospital's Change Project, provided to managers at the hospital

Emergence of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance (MCR-1) among Escherichia coli isolated from South African patients

The polymyxin antibiotic colistin is an antibiotic of last resort for the treatment of extensively drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, including carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. The State of the World’s Antibiotics report in 2015 highlighted South Africa (SA)’s increasing incidence of these ‘superbugs’ (3.2% of Klebsiella pneumoniae reported from SA were carbapenemase producers), and in doing so, underscored SA’s increasing reliance on colistin as a last line of defence. Colistin resistance effectively renders such increasingly common infections untreatable.

Fatal Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning in Kittlitz’s Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) Nestlings, Alaska, USA

Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is an acute toxic illness in humans resulting from ingestion of shellfish contaminated with a suite of neurotoxins (saxitoxins) produced by marine dinoflagellates, most commonly in the genus Alexandrium. Poisoning also has been sporadically suspected and, less often, documented in marine wildlife, often in association with an outbreak in humans. Kittlitz’s Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) is a small, rare seabird of the Northern Pacific with a declining population. From 2008 to 2012, as part of a breeding ecology study, multiple Kittlitz’s Murrelet nests on Kodiak Island, Alaska, were monitored by remote cameras. During the 2011 and 2012 breeding seasons, nestlings from several sites died during mild weather conditions. Remote camera observations revealed that the nestlings died shortly after consuming sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus), a fish species known to biomagnify saxitoxin. High levels of saxitoxin were subsequently documented in crop content in 87% of nestling carcasses. Marine bird deaths from PSP may be underreported.Keywords: Avian, Harmful algal bloom, Kittlitz’s Murrelet, Paralytic shellfish poisoning, Saxitoxi

How and with whom do educators learn in an online professional development microcredential

A claimed technological advantage of online professional development (OPD) is the flexibility for educators to learn at a time and space of their convenience. However, the question of how, and with whom educators learn in OPD has received limited empirical attention. Using a participatory design approach, we explored the lived experiences and social networks of 19 educators following a formal OPD in a microcredential format. The mixed method study findings indicated that most (but not all) educators developed learning ties with their peers. This suggests that additional structural opportunities are needed to maintain social engagement in OPD. The findings will be of interest primarily to educators developing and delivering OPD, as well as current or potential professional learners who want to make the most out of OPD