Monday’s LeaderTip: Appreciation

Showing appreciation is a no-cost, simple, and powerful investment in your people, and, for that matter, in a better world. When you thank others for their contributions, they are inspired—and you're also left with a good feeling. Gratitude often disappears during busier or tougher times. Unfortunately, these are the very moments when it can make the biggest difference for everyone. Take the time to give a sincere pat on the back, make a personal phone call, or dash off a handwritten note just to let someone know they did (or are doing) a great job. No other small efforts can do as much for morale and an energized team.

Self-coaching:

• Consider a few things at the end of each day or week for which you are grateful, and express your thanks.

• For consistency’s sake, some find it helpful to make a list of standards for showing appreciation—that is, what “qualifies” in your book for something that merits your personal thanks?

• Look at your calendar / tasks / projects over the last several months, and make a list of people who have earned your gratitude, according to those standards.

• After thanking those people, consider a system or practice that will help you not to miss opportunities to show appreciation.

David Peck
Executive Coach and President
Leadership Unleashed

______________________

Based on client experiences / lessons learned, our weekly LeaderTips have been offering self-coaching themes and topics of interest to leaders since 2004. They are often published in BusinessWeek Online, sent weekly to our clients, and hundreds of other corporate leaders worldwide. I invite you to forward them to others, who are also welcome to subscribe using the link below. Note that over 100 of these tips appear in my book, Beyond Effective: Practices in Self-aware Leadership. Click here to subscribe to LeaderTips via email.

Comments

[Enrique J. Zaldivar]

David is absolutely right on the no-cost, simple and powerful return from the investment of showing appreciation.

A distinction I always emphasize to my clients, when discussing the extremely important issue of appreciation, is the quality of the appreciation and I’d argue there are basically three different levels of appreciation:

Vague appreciation: Just the pat on the back, even if sincere, runs the risk of being perceived by the recipient as “just checking the box”, if it’s imprecise, if it lacks specifics. Perhaps, even this kind is better than nothing, though I’m not completely sure — in some cases, with some people, it may actually do a bit of harm to the relationship.
Specific appreciation: This one, in addition to the pat on the back, is anchored on describing the specific behaviors observed, which motivated the expression of appreciation. Here, the recipient — and potentially others — do learn what behaviors we value and seek to promote in the future, and ends up valuing the expression of appreciation as it’s connected directly to some recent effort.
Individualized appreciation: In this highest form, in addition to the specificity already described above, the expression of appreciation also connects the valued behavior with what’s important to the recipient, with what motivates her or him.

Regards,
Enrique