Praise and Work

Being in our school's parents' association is a nice pilot phase for work. There are lots of egos, little skill, a great deal of inefficiency, and little thanks. Of course an ideal job would work differently, but these are all factors that remind me of past work experiences I have had at some time or another. It's a decent bunch, and I'm sure we're all working towards the same, valuable goal, which is to make our kids' education better. Did I say "working"? I meant, sitting around every two months in a talk shop for two hours. The preparation, follow up, initiative, organizing, e-mailing, etc is all done by one person currently: yours truly. We are a team of three, heading the parent group, but one person has contributed "ok" to any proposals (better than "no", or?);  the other responds with silence. Which is fine, because I don't mind working alone, and have time for these tasks. But the funny thing is that, at a meeting yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea for us to alternate chairing meetings, and asked one of my colleauges to do the first round. She did a good job, and got a lot of thanks and praise for all the work she has done. Did I say "she"? Did she agree, or thank her colleauges, or divert the praise to the sole source of action? Of course not. She smiled, full of positive feedback, and left the room. This is a good reminder about management skills for those of you managing your staff...