When You Give, You Get
When we’re giving to each other, it’s like Christmas every day. At work, we tend to mostly think of giving as giving to our patients. But as givers, we need to give to everyone; coworkers, management, administration, the cafeteria lady who’s up at night serving you food, giving to the central supply person that delivers equipment, and the physicians. We get to give to everybody!
My definition of Giving is a little different. Giving is not about what you think the person would want. It is about getting in touch with what the person really wants and needs. Have you ever really wanted something and got something different? Although I am sure you appreciated the gift, it was not what you wanted and needed. The person that gave what you did not want was not Giving for you. But if you have always been wanting and needing something and they bring it to you, that is Giving.
Giving does not need to be material. If your patient wants and needs a little rest. And if you’re going in there constantly to take their vitals and do what you need to do to complete your work assignment instead of rearranging your work load to allow this patient rest, then that’s not being Giving. It’s Giving that person what they want and need.
So, for example, let’s say everyone is doing what’s wanted and needed. If I wanted a cup of coffee, I got seven-billion people in the world who are thinking about “how can I get her a cup of coffee?”
And if everybody is Giving to everybody else and not so worried about what they need for themselves, everyone else will meet our needs too. Creating an environment of Giving would make the workplace a much nicer place to work. All the nurses would have each other’s backs and they would be pitching in and helping each other and Giving to everybody.
So, think about giving when you go to work next time and everyday by using your GIFTS.
