Thank Them – Praise Them – Recognize Them

 

Remember those hopefully long forgotten days when we had bosses who thought that your pay check was “all the thanks you need?”  We’d like to think that they are long gone but unfortunately, we often hear that attitude is still very much present in today’s managers. 

We are in the “Thanks” business, it’s what we do, and we believe it because we know it works.  Unfortunately, there always seem to be a manager who defends the philosophy of not thanking employees and recognizing them for their performance on an often basis.  As social beings most of us intuitively know that thanks, praise and recognition is good for us.  We can’t recall a time when an employee every told us that they hated it when someone thanked or praised them for their effort.  They may have been embarrassed about how it was done, but that’s a different issue.  The American Psychological Association in a paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology showed simply that a little gratitude does go a long way and motivates increased pro-social behavior. 

In our opinion not fostering a culture of thanks is unproductive, lacks judgment and we think it’s unwise.  It’s surely at least counterproductive for everyone involved.  Paychecks are great; it’s why they come to work, but it’s only half the contract.  It’s just paying what you owe, it’s not showing appreciation. 

Opposing managers often use these reasons why they withhold thanks:

• No one thanks me
• Thank people and they’ll only expect more
• If you thank one you have to thank them all
• I thanked an employee one time and he said ‘put it in my paycheck, who needs that kind of guff'
• Thank people and they’ll get false confidence
• I can’t thank people who need to improve

To these managerial types we say get over it.  It isn’t about you.  If your people expect more appreciation give it to them, they will deliver more to others and your workplace will warm up.  You don’t have to thank them all, but once you start you will naturally just thank more and more and it will become a habit.  And forget about the snarky ones, those are often malcontents who are looking around the corner at the next job move.

By simply choosing your words carefully it doesn’t mean you have to rise to the level of praising them, and then formally recognizing them.  But it is does start that cycle, that will result in a more engaged and productive workforce.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.

Do You Have a Culture of Recognition?

Recognition has always been the heart of employee engagement.  In fact it might even be the soul as well.  Nothing does more for an employee in the short term that recognizing their performance, either formally or informally....with any kind of physical award (either large of small).

The Internet lists the Top Ten  Employee Recognition Systems.  To name just a few, companies with such cute names as Motivosity, Guusto, Fond and Nectar all have the bells and whistles that will be a sure fire way in recognizing your employees to improve their performance and increase their engagement.  And our guess is that they will all work in one way or another.  They all tout a new and better way to improve your culture.  

What they won't do is instill a culture of "Thank You" within your company that comes as natural as breathing.  That has to come from executives above, the managers in the middle and the employees themselves throughout.  We can all feel a company who has this culture.  It permeates all that they do, we feel it when we do business with them.  We keep going back.

Saying "thank you" doesn't come naturally to people, it is something that has to be coached, it has to be repeated over and over again, and something that has to be sincere and be measured.  Employees and managers alike need to know when they are doing it, how well, and when they are not.

Take the test, spend a day watching interactions between your management and your employees and just count the times when a sincere recognition of performance or "thank you" takes place,  At the end of the day you'll know if you do or don't have a culture of recognition and to what degree.

Create an Attitude of Gratitude

We have written about thanking employees many times over the years, simply because it is the easiest method we can all use to start the process of building and maintaining an engaged workforce.  When you are cognizant of all the things going on around you and observant for opportunities to thank someone for their efforts, it’s hard to be negative or critical or uncivil.  Our brains aren’t wired that way.

Earlier in the year we came across an article entitled “39 Employee Recognition & Appreciation Ideas" by SnackNation, a company that supplies healthy snacks to businesses as a benefit for their employees. I won’t list them all here, you can check the article out for yourself, but wanted to list a few of the ones that we have used or seen used by our clients…..ones that are easy to integrate into your company…ones that have had great effect and helped to build positive cultures:

• Initiate a peer to peer program encouraging your employees to recognize one another.  Get some “Thank You” note pads to use to reinforce it. 
• Personally ask your employees what kinds of recognition they’d like
• Do shout outs on social media
• Recognize your team or individuals by highlighting those performances that directly impact your company mission
• Dedicate a section of your website to your employees
• Encourage customers to thank employees for great customer service
• Celebrate more - highlight employees who have made a spectacular effort
• Try random acts of fun – hold company themed adventures
• Don’t always focus on group performance, make sure to recognize personal success or celebrate personal talent
• Take time to know your staff, learn something about them and their family
• Recognize the value of helping others – let staff select community service ideas
• Go visit – give your employees facetime with you

Creating an “Attitude of Gratitude” can be the most rewarding thing you can do as management.  It’s not necessarily costly, and can bring enormous dividends, but it should be a full time job.  If incivility, lack of respect or appreciation is an issue at your company, just remember that it is very hard to be negative or critical when you’re looking for ways to thank someone.

Test yourself and your own culture.  At the end of the workday ask yourself how many times you gave sincere thanks to someone in your organization, and conversely how many times it happened to you?

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services that can help you thank your employees, contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net

Make Employee Change Personal

In 2018 McKinsey developed a leader’s guide to help companies “Make Work Meaningful.” Its simple premise was that people who find meaning at their work are happier, more productive and more engaged.  Without a rehash of the entire guide, the outline shows four straightforward practices that can help create  an environment where organizational change is personal.  These four practices are:

Reduce Anonymity

Make sure employees know who their customers are (either internally or externally) and encourage them to connect with one.  Build face to face interactions into existing processes encouraging employees to know who is most affected by their work.  Studies show that just this interaction alone can boost customer satisfaction by as much as 14%

Help Employees Understand the Impact of Their Work

Invite customers who have had the best and the worst experiences with your products to talk with employees in person so your team can see how their work affects customers.

Notice, Recognize and Reward Good Work

Create systems where colleagues and customers alike can communicate satisfaction with a task.  Everyone wants to know that their work is noticed and valued. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive, but it does have to happen. “Thank you we appreciate your efforts” are simple words but they can be powerful when spoken with sincerity.

Connect Daily Work to a Higher Goal

Push people to think about their work in a high-level way by asking employees a series of “why” questions about 3 to 5 of their most important daily tasks.

As stated in the Leader’s Guide…

“it’s well understood that people who believe their job has meaning and a broader purpose are more likely to work harder, take on challenging or unpopular tasks, and collaborate effectively. Research repeatedly shows that people deliver their best effort and ideas when they feel they are part of something larger than the pursuit of a paycheck.”

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net

What Does Saying “Thank You” Really Do for Others?

While we’ve posted on ‘Thank You” before, we don’t think we say it enough.  And while many organizations do a good job of thanking their people we still see a wide variance between wanting to do and the actual act. It’s a shame, but true.

Being thankful and expressing your gratitude is an important part of employee engagement.  Finding the proper way to thank others for their performance and assistance or just remind them how much their efforts mean to you can be rewarding for them year round. Take a moment to reflect on why saying ‘thank you’ is important.

Remember what saying saying ‘thank you’ really does:

- shows how much you value another person
- brings out the best in others
- draws people closer together
- shows that you are part of a team or family

Here are some quotes from famous people and how they viewed the importance of ‘Thank You’ as a part of their life:

·        “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” -JFK

·        “You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

·        “Never let the things you want make you forget the things you have.” -Anonymous

·        “The real gift of gratitude is that the more grateful you are, the more present you become.” -Robert Holden

·        “A moment of gratitude makes a difference in your attitude.” -Bruce Wilkinson

·        “When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.” -Kristin Armstrong

·        “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” -Cicero

·        “It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”-David Steinall-Rast

·        “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” -William Arthur Ward

·        “Develop an attitude of gratitude and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” -Brian Tracy

·        “Gratitude is the open door to abundance.” -Anonymous

·        “Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” -Aesop

·        “Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.” -Randy Pausch

·            “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly 

              endless.” -Mother Teresa

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net

Formula for the #1 Best Employee Recognition System Ever

First:

Every day you go to work, find at least three of your employees whose performance is worthy of your praise.

Second:

Tell them sincerely that you appreciate their efforts

Third: 

Say thanks and hand them something tangible as an award

It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that!

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net

Psychology of Saying Thanks

We have been designing and implementing employee recognition programs for many years.  These programs run the gamut from very intricate and sophisticated online systems, with elaborate communications campaigns and significant multifaceted award schemes with rules and regulations for every nuance, to the traditional “Employee of the Month” campaign that came in at the turn of the century, and frankly should have already gone out that way. 

The absolute bottom line objective of all these programs is simply to recognize and reward employee performance.  In other words, Just Say Thanks!

That may be easy to say, but it is not always easy to do.  We don’t think that company management is necessarily stingy with saying thank you, the problem often is that good performance happens throughout your organization all the time, but you just don’t know about it.  Everybody’s different, not everyone is wired to look for times to notice terrific peer or department performance with an eye on thanking the employees. So great work happens but we just don’t see it. 

Why is Thank You Important?

According to behaviorists, the words ‘thank you‘ are no longer just good manners, they are also beneficial to the overall well being of the employees.  Studies show that showing

gratitude to your employees for their performance can improve and strengthen their social net worth, produce positive emotional states and help cope with stressful times in our lives and on the job.

We also say thank you because we want the other person to know we value what they’ve done for the company, and maybe, encourage them to help us again in the future.  Psychologists have studied what effect “thank you” has had on individual performance.  Does it motivate, make employees feel good, or is it more than that? 

In a report in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology experimenters found that people don’t just provide more help because they felt better for doing it, they did it because they appreciated being needed, and “felt more socially valued when they’d been thanked.”

And even more noteworthy, research shows that more employees leave their jobs not because of an unfair manager, heavy workload, or stale donuts in the breakroom.  They

leave because of a lack of appreciation and praise.  Something as simple as “You did a great job” or “Wow, we couldn’t have done it without you.”  When you give employees positive recognition, you reinforce the actions and behaviors you most want them to repeat.  Those behaviors lead to greater success and profitability for your company.

Its human nature to be reluctant to help others as we are unsure whether the help is really wanted or accepting the help of others can make someone feel like a failure.  The simple act of saying “Thank You” reassures that the help is valued and will motivate employees to provide more.

Further studies showed that the boost to a person’s social net worth can carry over from day to day and from person to person, creating a habit and a culture of acceptance in your organization.  For most of us, saying ‘thank you’ is an everyday occurrence engrained in us from childhood, and we think nothing of it.  But psychologically it plays a very important role for the person giving and the person receiving it.

Sincerity Counts

Everyone knows when they give or receive a ‘thank you’ whether it comes as a habit, or as a sincere appreciation for ones efforts.  We feel it, and sincerity can be deeply felt by the one we give it to.  We’ve all experienced that moment when someone says to us…”You’ve made my day!”  It makes you feel good, because you did…you affected that person and in some ways you’ll never how much.

It’s said that “it’s the little things that count.”  They do, and just saying thanks should be at the top of your list. 

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net