Appreciation
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I’d figured it would be appropriate to do this week’s post on being thankful.
There are many different schools of thought on employee appreciation. There’s the people who believe that everyone deserves a trophy for showing up, the people who do not acknowledge anyone and people who notice when someone is trying extra hard and acknowledges when people do a great job. I’ll say that I am the latter.
The way I see it is that it is hard to find good hard working people who care about their jobs. I’ve seen people who care only about the paycheck or the title and not about those they work with or what they do. I would never recognize someone for simply showing up, but when people around me treat others well, do their job with passion and achieve results I am intentional about making sure they feel appreciated.
Many of today’s employees are juggling raising a family, going to school and the other stressors of everyday life. They could come to work, distracted and focus on getting the bare minimum done. When these people give their all at work, they need to be recognized. Most people want their leaders to believe in them and see that they are doing a good job.
As leaders, it is important for us to get to know the people who we work with. It helps us understand them and help them when they most need it. When we encourage them, and appreciate them it motivates them to do even better. If you can publicly recognize them, it is even better. That can infuse a team with positive energy and can drive everyone to push a little harder. It can also reduce burnout and increase the team morale.
It is important for us not to get so caught up in everything we have going on that we forget to recognize, acknowledge and appreciate our employees.
My question to you: When is the last time you showed your appreciation to one of your employees? Do it today, and do it every day. Then sit back and watch amazing things happen with them.
Please feel free to engage by sharing thoughts, wisdom or stories. Thank you.