It’s so easy to fall in to the trap of accepting great work and effort from members of your team and forget to express your gratitude. Often, I hear people say – ‘I thank them through their salary’. A salary is simply an enabler for someone to be able to work for you. It enables their bills to be paid and for them to have the lifestyle they want to outside of working with you. They can get a salary from many places very easily if they wanted to. Just because you’re paying a wage and even a bonus does not negate the need to express genuine, sincere and specific gratitude.
When I say genuine and sincere, I mean don’t simply say to someone on a regular basis that they’re doing a good job and thank them as this is clearly paying lip service to the need to show gratitude. Make a conscious effort to look out for the great things that people do and then highlight these things to them. This is what I mean by specific gratitude.
For example: Laura, I’ve just heard that call you had with Mr Bloggs and I was reminded of how well you deal with those types of calls. The way that you listened intently and then considered your responses very carefully which meant that Mr Bloggs was incredibly happy as the call finished. Well done Laura and Thank you.
Obviously that was just an off-the-cuff example. What’s important is to show gratitude immediately, don’t save things up until the next time you meet them and reel off a load of thanks. Speed stuns. Go pat someone on the back as quickly as you can. This is important.
Most of us strive for gratitude and appreciation in some way. A small business owner will seek it from their customers, a team member will seek it from their employer.
When a team member isn’t receiving the level of gratitude and appreciation they want then they don’t go above and beyond. They begin to do the bare minimum, they begin to look online for alternative jobs that will bring them the salary they need to live and the gratitude they need to thrive.
If you’d like some clarity, help or guidance with this let me know via the comments box.
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Shane Lukas – Author of Amazon #1 best seller What’s Next for Accountants; How to make the biggest threat facing the profession your biggest opportunity.
Article Source: Shane Lukas
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