HOW TO STOP COMPLAINTS QUICKLY

Back then I was a Head of Department of Early Childhood, an Acting Early Childhood and Primary School Principal and a Primary School Principal in international and national schools in Indonesia, I used to handle complaints from parents. 

I succeeded in softening the complaints by listening their complaints attentively and then waiting until they (parents) finished talking.  After that I would say, "I am sorry about that". Then I promised them to find out what caused it to happen and then to get back to them as soon as possible to sort out all the problems. I also encouraged them to complaint to me if they were not happy with the results or conditions that occurred during that time.

To cut a long story short, I could reduce complaints that occured or might occur by delivering what I promised to them (parents),  making myself available to listen to their complaints respectfully and solving the problems that occurred as soon as possible.

©Tina Adi

BE AWARE OF SOME TYPES OF LEADERSHIP STYLES

When we are a newcomer in an organisation or company, we have no idea why our colleagues are doing this and that. Most of the time people are responding to the leadership style in the workplace.

Here are some tips to understand the workplace environment:

• Humiliate and crush leadership style

This style is absolutely against the psychological, professional, development and  wellbeing their subordinates.

• Lip service leadership style

It feels nice in the beginning, but it will be destructive at a  certain point.

• No communication leadership style

This leadership style will cause frustration to their subordinates because communication is important.

• Handball the problem leadership style

This leader has a tendency to handball the problem to their subordinates inappropriately. This leadership style is enjoying their position, reward (salary) and facilities, but not the responsibility as a leader.

©Tina Adi

BOREDOM CAN CAUSE ANXIETY, UNCONTROLLABLE BEHAVIOURS AND INJURIES

Based on my observation as an Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) Educator at a variety of services, I witnessed bored children were anxious and they did not know what to do. They came to me every 10 minutes and asked me about the time until they were picked up by their parents.

Sometimes some of them endangered themselves by going to the places that were not safe for them and out of bounds.
Most children could not do some risk assessments before playing.

Boredom can cause children to do unsafe activities. This might cause injuries to themselves. Example: children went to the bushes area that is out of bounds without asking permission from their educators. They (children) might forget that snakes can be in the bushes area and there are deadly snakes in Queensland, especially during mating season. There maybe other types of reptiles there, as well.

How to help children to overcome their boredom?
The best way is to redirect them (children) to do some fun and safe activities before their boredom escalated.
It is important for educators to know what caused the boredom. For example, if a child's best friend does not attend the service, often the child will be bored. Understanding this, the educator will provide those children who are missing their friends with activities to redirect them to focus on positive and safe activities.

I could see that most of the children who are attending the OSHC program need guidance and direction on how to enjoy their play in a safe environment.

It will be better if the service also provides a variety of decent toys and tools for children to play with.

Sometimes bored children might yank their peers or educators' chain to get rid of their boredom. Educators need to be aware of this. Educators need to be careful so that their emotions will not kick in as a result of a child's negative behaviours.

Educators need to guide the victims of the harassment to be calm, So that they can think clearly in order to act appropriately.

The key to create a boredom free and safe environment for children is educators supervise properly, observe actively, stay focus on the task and step in at the right time to minimise any children's behaviours that may trigger unwanted conflicts.

©Tina Adi

A Multicultural Food Idea, About Japan

Sushi Making

Ingredients:
Sushi rice:
• ½ kg of sushi rice
• 2 dessert spoons of raw sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 5 dessert spoons of sushi seasoning

Filling:
• 5 sausages

Note: filling can be changed according to your taste.
You can use a can of tuna or cucumbers or carrots or fried finger chicken nuggets or beef floss, etc.

Sushi wrappers:
5 sheets of seaweed for sushi (nori)

For serving:
• soy sauce for sushi
• Japanese mayonnaise

How to make sushi:

• Put a piece of seaweed (the shiny side down) on a chopping board or a flat plate.

• Cover it with an even layer of seasoned sushi rice. 

• Put the filing on top of the rice closest to you according to your taste. 

• Hold the seaweed, rice and filling and then roll it away from you. 

• Squeeze the sushi roll tight so that the filing and the rice will stick together. 

• Cut the sushi roll according to your taste.

• Ready to be served


Sushi rice can be changed with mashed potatoes if you cannot eat rice

How to make mashed potatoes:
• Slice the 5 potatoes into 4 to 6 pieces each making them easy to steam and mash.
• Steam the cut potatoes until they are soft (about 10 minutes).
• Mashed them down.
• Let them cool down. 

• Ready to be used

©Tina Adi

A Multicultural Food Idea: Xiao Mai Making

Ingredients:

500 gr of minced chicken

4 cloves of garlic

2 chicken eggs 

15 gr of shiitake mushrooms 

2 medium sized carrots

½ of a teaspoon of sesame oil

¼ of a teaspoon of ground white pepper

¼ of a teaspoon of salt

150 gr of tapioca flour 

5 leaves of spring onions

2 dessert spoons of chicken powder (brand: knorr)

Dumpling skin wrappers:

100 dumpling skins (the round ones)

How to cook:

• Cut the mushrooms and carrots into small pieces.

• Combine all the ingredients and stir it evenly. 

• Place a desert spoon of the stirred ingredients on each dumpling skin wrapper. 

• Pinched together all side of the wrapper to form a flower like shape at the top, sealing in the minced chicken ingredients at the top. 

• Put each xiao mai in the steamer using a high heat setting.

• Steam them for 20 minutes.

• Ready to be served.

©Tina Adi

EMPLOYEES ARE COMPANY ASSETS

We need to remember that every company needs to work hand in hand with their employees to be able to operate their daily activities properly in order to achieve their philosophy, goals, visions, missions accurately. 

Every company needs to have a stable happy employees, so that the employees will not resign and force  the company to hire new employees. 

Instead of using the organisation's cash flow and  assets to hire and train new employees due to staff churn. 

There are things to do to create a positive and happy working atmosphere:

• treat the employees with respect 

• treat the employees with empathy 

• treat the employees with fairness

• create an environment where there is reciprocal respect between all organisational members (this will help with staff retention)

• hire the right person in the right position, at the right time, with the right attitude

• continually train their employees with professional development programs to improve their ability to achieve and to fulfill the organisational philosophy, visions, missions and goals. 

©Tina Adi

It is Important to Create a Respectful Atmosphere with Young Children

Young children, who cannot even speak yet, he or she understands our conversations. 

For example: I was about to wipe off the food from a child's face, hands and feet after eating. 

I asked him,"Can I wipe off the food from your face?". 

Surprisingly, the child moved his face into a position, where I could wipe it. 

I then asked him again,"Can I wipe your hands? Which hand do you want me to wipe first?". After that the child lifted up his left hand towards me.

I believe that the child trusted me to wipe his face, hands and feet even though it was the first time for him meeting me. He was calm and relaxed during the cleaning process. 

I think that the child understood that I have respected him by asking his permission to wipe his face, hands and feet. The child then responded positively and gave me permission to wipe his face or hands or feet by moving his face, hands and feet into a certain position, so that I could wipe his face or hands or feet easily. 

©Tina Adi