In my coaching practice, many individuals speak of not feeling valued in the workplace, mainly because they do not feel acknowledged for their efforts. Don’t be surprised that this also includes senior executive’s.
I certainly understand this sentiment, however I do believe that while we lament about not being acknowledged we often don’t acknowledge other people ourselves.
Organisations are often very good at acknowledging the “big things” like milestones, awards, and tenure. However, it is often the “little things” the personal genuine and small gestures that are the gold threads that make up the tapestry of being valued.
Often, we unknowingly commoditise acknowledgement. When the boss says to everyone at the end of every day, “good job”, it is not memorable, and it has little value.
When everyone gets a group email saying that everyone has done a” good job “again this also has little value.
If everyone is told they have done a “good job” two weeks after the event and they are already onto the next project, who cares. Timeliness is everything.
I agree it may be better than nothing, however, if the commoditisation of acknowledgement becomes the norm, and it isn’t personal, and it isn’t memorable; it does very little to motivate.
As people we cannot underestimate the importance of genuine thoughtful timely acknowledgments through the “little things” we do.
Can you remember when someone at work hand wrote you a special thankyou card, made the time to thank you personally, or did some “little thing” that made you feel really acknowledged? If you have had the experience, you really understand this, if you haven’t you may wish you had.
I remember when I was 15, a very long time ago now, I was learning to type at a technical college after school. There was one “old” lady in the class, who sat next to me; she must have been at least 35!!
I can never forget that when the term had finished, she came up to me and gave me a small brightly coloured pin cushion and told me how much she appreciated my help.
Although I lost the pincushion after many years, every time I see a coloured pin cushion, I remember her thoughtful acknowledgement and it makes me smile.
There was no expectation of reciprocity, it was personal and thoughtful.
I had a friend recently win a smart phone as a monthly award. It duly arrived by internal mail. She already had a smart phone so sold the new one on e-bay. It was her first journey onto e-bay and was delighted by the experience.
She never did tell me what she won the award for. Although I am sure she appreciated winning it, the question is: how could the experience have been more valuable to the employee-company relationship rather than e-bay?
The power of acknowledgment and the importance of the thoughtfulness of the “little things” are both important building blocks when building relationships and developing a healthy culture.
Of course, we don’t always get “the little things” right the first time. I remember having a conversation with a warehouse manager many years ago about the importance of making his staff feel valued and it was often the “little things” that contributed to a productive work environment.
The manager decided as a first step he would take my advice and put on a barbeque for his staff on Friday afternoon to thank them for their efforts. He had never done this before. Fantastic I thought until I heard the feedback from the barbeque. He had ordered 64 sausages, one for everyone. Yes, that is right one sausage no seconds. Through lack of forethought the manager turned something that could have been an enjoyable team building activity to a “snide remark” disaster.
On a lighter note, I will never forget an old colleague of mine who had joined a world-wide consulting company and travelled the world. As a way of trying to ensure the employee felt valued by the company, they organised a family photo to be loaded onto his screen saver when he landed. Although it was a worthwhile sentiment, due to lack of attention to detail they got the wrong wife. Detail is as important in the little things as the big things.
One client said to me recently, as we discussed the power of The Big A word, this is not rocket science Jenny. I couldn’t agree more but how often do we forget about the basics to be replaced by the shiny new thing? How often in our rush to get things done do we not pay attention to the little things. The things that make us feel acknowledged and special.
Can you imagine what impact you can have when building or leading a team when you combine the Big A Word with the thoughtful “little things”?
