Wednesday, May 4, 2011

14 ways to improve morale

No, really. Sometimes I feel a little bad about the blog and the pall it might cast on folks. (Seriously, I should print T-shirts that say "I stopped reading Chemjobber because it's depressing.")

Try these tips and see if you can put a smile on a coworker's face.
  • Donuts always make people happy (or me, anyway). 
  • The "Never Give Up!" picture is worth a chuckle (sometimes.)
  • A sincere word of encouragement never hurt anyone. 
  • Also, a ready supply of bad jokes helps, too. 
  • Organizing group lunches that allow people to vent is great. 
  • Take responsibility and clean some undesirably messy part of the lab. Don't ask for thanks. 
  • A Friday morning breakfast tradition can be fun. 
  • Owning up to screwing up can really break tension a lot, I think. 
  • Ask people how they are -- and listen. (Don't do this, if you're creepy.)
  • Safe and gentle and very, very rare pranks in the lab are enjoyable.  
  • The "Hang In There" kitten is useful, too. 
  • Taking about your young kids can refocus a tough conversation, sometimes. 
  • Volunteer to do someone else's dishes. That'll make 'em wonder. 
  • A candy dish on your desk helps. 
  • BEER. (Thanks A1227p.)
Now go out there and take on the day!*

*Back to your regularly-scheduled depressingness tomorrow. ;-)

13 comments:

  1. @CJ: If you make up T-shirts saying "I stopped reading Chemjobber", then I'll make up shirts saying "I stopped writing Chemjobber".

    Maybe we can wear them to the same conference? # ; )

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  2. good way to improve morale is to scale up commonly used building blocks for the group, purify them to a shiny crystal state, put them into wide mouth bottles with a pretty label and pass them around.

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  3. So that's where all my Dess-Martin and NBS went! Milkshake!!!

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  4. Milkshake, that's pretty brilliant. I like it.

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  5. NO NO.....Do NOT talk about your young kids.

    We are single and childfree for a reason.
    We know that parenting is hard.
    We know that it's expensive.
    Why the heck do you think we aren't doing it.

    We don't care about your kids.
    Unless they did something truly hilarious that involves destruction.

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  6. nMC:

    1. Actually, I was thinking about conversations between coworkers that are both parents.
    2. "Unless they did something truly hilarious that involves destruction." This is almost every day in my household.

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  7. Gosh, I am really slipping if I left that one out.

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  8. Also: dart board. Pic of adviser's face optional.

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  9. I am childless (and a bit bitter about throwing a large chunk of my youth away for the sake of chemistry)...

    However I still really like hearing stories about young kids being cute!

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  10. I should have added that undertaking the scale up work to improve the group morale may not necessarily improve your standing with the Boss. If your boss is a dick, he may not understand why are you are wasting your time on methodology support while you are submitting too few final compounds - whereas a zombie postdoc from South Asia will be praised for filling up the submission queue faster, with bunch of one-step reaction she run with your advanced intermediate... So use only at your own peril. I can confirm that making stuff for others does improve your chemistry reputation among the colleagues - but in the end its the Boss who writes your appraisals and gives you the future reference.

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  11. so true milkshake!

    While methodology development is much more stimulating (and boosts morale), if you work for a place that values quantity of submitted finals compounds stuff like that will lead to you being shown the door!

    Same thing goes for scaling compounds for toxicology studies. 10g (5 steps, >99% pure) or 10mg (one step, >85% pure), one final compound counted at one company. Which chemist exerted more effort?

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  12. Free food, free booze, free zoloft.

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looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20