The LETTER:
Official Report Of The L Group

Employee Appreciation: Take it Personally
by Lee J. Colan, Ph.D.

(This report is an excerpt from the book "7 Moments… That Define Excellent Leaders".)

William James, the father of psychology, stated that a fundamental human need is to be appreciated. This idea is supported by many studies that show the number one need expressed by employees is to feel fully appreciated for their work. The bottom line: We do more for those who appreciate us.

Although leaders widely recognize the need for employee appreciation, it tends to be a blind spot. We generally believe we are much more appreciative of our employees than our employees think we are.

When I was a leader in a corporate setting, I remember thinking I was really good at appreciating my team. One of my employees would always come through if an emergency came up on the weekend – I really appreciated him, and I could always bank on one particular employee to take on the big projects and make winners out of them – I really valued her.

However, in retrospect, I realize that I really only appreciated their contributions, not necessarily who they were as people. It took a whole new level of maturity for me to understand that appreciating my employees as people was a win-win. Employees feel appreciated and as a result are willing to give more discretionary effort, to go above and beyond.

We need to show our teams we care by staying plugged in. Today’s technology offers many options – Blackberries, pagers, cell phone text messages, instant messaging, voice mail, e-mail. Be cautious of overuse of these communication options. We work in a high-tech world, but leadership is still a high-touch job.

With all of these technology options, it’s easy to find ourselves too busy for face-to-face interaction, but that’s one of the best ways to charge up our teams. Showing appreciation is not a matter of time and intention. It’s a matter of priority and action.

Demonstrating our appreciation for employees and their efforts can put them on the fast track to excellence. There should be plenty of opportunities since a Harris poll found that 65 percent of the workers reported receiving no recognition for good work in the past year!

We should not worry about recognizing our teams too much. To date, there are no documented studies, none, nada, nill - of employees feeling over-appreciated.

Appreciation is certainly not a one-size-fits-all need. It should to be personalized to each employee.

Before I share some examples, click on the video below to watch this short video that illustrates what happens when we don’t personalize our appreciation.

Get the Flash Player to see this video.

For example, being recognized at an all-employee meeting might trigger more perspiration than inspiration for an introverted employee. Instead, use the information you learn about your employees to present an appropriate gift, token or sincere expression of appreciation. Invariably, the gift or expression will be less important than the obvious time and thoughtfulness that went into it.

Here are some simple ways to make recognition a defining moment for our employees:

Ø      Say “Thank You!” – an all-too-obvious, yet highly underused, form of appreciation.

Ø      Allow employees to present their work to your boss. This is a great way to engage employees, and it also shows your boss what kind of leader you are.

Ø      Offer team members a choice of projects to work on. When employees buy into a project, they will put their hearts into it.

Ø      Put a sincere acknowledgement in your company or department newsletter. This takes only a few minutes of your time but creates long-term “trophy value” for the employee.

Ø      Tell an employee’s story of accomplishment at a staff meeting. Detailed stories are perceived as more interesting, meaningful, thoughtful and memorable.

Ø      Take a team member to lunch to show your appreciation. Remember to do more listening than talking.