MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors

Simple Ways to Show Appreciation at Work

Four takeaways:

Whether you are a manager or an individual contributor in a workplace, showing those around you that you appreciate them can have massive– and reciprocal– benefits. Here are techniques for doing so:

1. Show your appreciation for people’s presence: Sure, everyone is being paid to be there. Nonetheless, letting someone know their presence is having an impact on you or the organization can make a big difference. Greet them when they arrive, express regret if they are ill or forced to spend time out of the office. If they are staying late or going above and beyond, acknowledge that you value the effort.
2. Show your appreciation of peoples’s ideas and contributions: Managers and individual contributors alike should show colleagues that their input is valued. Managers should nurture a culture of sharing ideas by asking for employee input in each staff meeting, and championing those who contribute.
3. Show your appreciation of people’s lives outside of work: Work should never be the only thing in your life or the lives of those on your team. Take an interest in people’s interests and activities outside of the workplace, and then take pains to respect the boundaries between the two– avoid sending emails or requests after hours, and remember how the conditions of your coworker’s lives might make certain work commitments harder than they are for you.
4. Show your appreciation of people’s need for growth and development: One of the main reasons employees give for leaving jobs is a lack of development opportunities. Give peers and reports alike reasons to stay by taking an interest in their path forward– and then seek out or create chances to develop the key stills or have the experiences that advance them on their desired path.

You don’t have to incorporate all of these actions at once to make your direct reports and colleagues feel appreciated. Start small by weaving a few into your daily routine—over time, they’ll become second nature.

By Christoper Littlefield for The Harvard Business Review
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