Appreciate With Tangible Gifts
Here are some things to remember about gifts:
- Get personal: Does the employee paint? Have a parrot? Have a sweet tooth? Use that information to blow them away with the perfect gift.
- Gamify using gifts and rewards: Tell everyone the rules in advance to motivate them to do a great job and get the rewards.
- Offer flexible gifts: Gift cards and vouchers enable employees to get what they want.
Make sure all of your employees are getting fair treatment. You dont want to cause friction by causing employees to feel you favor certain coworkers.
Gifts dont need to be expensive. But they have to be thoughtful and inclusive to send the right message.
Good Content Beware Heavy On Religion
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In keeping with the parable style, Patrick Lencioni begins by telling the fable of a woman who, as CEO of a struggling Silicon Valley firm, took control of a dysfunctional executive committee and helped its members succeed as a team. Story time over, Lencioni offers explicit instructions for overcoming the human behavioral tendencies that he says corrupt teams. Succinct yet sympathetic, this guide will be a boon for those struggling with the inherent difficulties of leading a group.
Language : Acts Of Service
22 % of the workforce feel especially appreciated when others reach out to help them or ask for their help, as this communicates the importance of their work.
Acts of service come in many forms, but the overall idea is simple: offer help with completing a piece of work, carry your spouses luggage, or unload the clean dishes from the office washing machine. When offering someone help, its wise to ensure that your own work and primary responsibilities are taken care of first. This also works the other way around: occasionally asking someone to help you can be a way of showing your appreciation to their skills and abilities.
Not all help is actually helping. When helping someone out, make sure that you work their way, rather than imposing your own style on them. Also, make sure youre able to complete what you start. If youre unsure whether youll be able to finish the job with them, then communicate that upfront.
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Like all relationships, the ones we have at work are subject to stressesmaybe even fractures that can really take a toll on the workplace. Productivity is lost. Time is wasted. Tension mounts. Cooperation is reduced. And the workplace becomes toxic. Whats the solution? In Making Things Right at Work, Dr. Gary Chapman is joined by business consultants Dr. Jennifer Thomas and Dr. Paul White to offer the strategies you need to restore harmony at work. Dont let broken relationships taint your work environment. Take the needed steps to make things right today.
The Five Languages Of Appreciation In The Workplace
Few things fascinate me as much as personality tests. You know the typical ones Myers-Briggs, CliftonStrengths, and becoming more and more popular, the Enneagram. However, one of my favorite tests is understanding peoples love languages and how they prefer to receive love and express their love for others. Its clear how this translates into your personal life, but I often bring up to my Bohlsen Group team how relevant love languages are in a workplace setting as well.
Recently, our team completed a test covering our five languages of appreciation in the workplace. These are similar in name to the original love languages: acts of service, quality time, words of affirmation, gifts and physical touch. Hearing our results gave me new perspective on how I can best help my teammates and how to be a better manager. And, learning these insights about your team members is crucial, with a third of all U.S. workers feeling undervalued and unappreciated at work. Below, I touch on the different languages of appreciation in the workplace and how to best apply those in a way thats meaningful and effective.
1. Words of Affirmation
Its also important to note that words of affirmation dont need to only come from your manager or the president of a company. To foster a healthy workplace environment, compliment and acknowledge the hard work of everyone on your team, even if youre not the manager, encouraging peer-to-peer appreciation.
2. Quality Time
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Appreciation Isnt Just A Top
While manager-driven employee recognition is powerful and necessary, itâs also important to acknowledge that itâs everyoneâs responsibility to create a culture of appreciation at work. Rather relying solely on your company leaders to power employee appreciation, your organization should create opportunities for peer-to-peer appreciation.
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Higher Motivation To Excel At Work
Studies show that praise raises intrinsic motivation in children when its accurate and based on controllable factors like strategy or effort.
Adults arent much different.
Praising your employees accomplishments will build their confidence and motivate them to do even better.
And praise works even if its not related to a huge and obvious milestone.
Noticing the amount of work employees put in, how determined they were to overcome an obstacle, or ways in which they improved in a short period and giving them credit for it goes a long way.
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Language : Quality Time
Spending quality time together is another way of communicating appreciation, and chosen as the primary language by 26% of the workforce.
Quality time can take many forms. It can mean one-on-one conversations in a meeting room, over lunch or after work. It can also mean engaging in shared experiences, such as barbecues, team lunch or office parties, inviting someone to join in small group dialogues, or even just expressing a desire to work with the other person. Keep in mind that individual preferences vary even between these types of quality time, and not everyone is thrilled about spending the evening hours with colleagues.
Appreciate With Appropriate Physical Touch
Touch isnt in the toolbelt for remote worker appreciation at work. But even in the office, it can be tricky, and you must be careful:
- Be sure touch is welcome
- Respect boundaries
- Stick to high fives, pats on the back, and fist bumps
- Create a personal handshake as an inside joke if youre feeling it
You can express appreciation with a fist bump as a spontaneous celebration or do a long-distance high five like Jim and Pam in The Office.
But always check in with the person to ensure theyre comfortable with it.
Read Also: What Are The 5 Languages Of Love
Use The 5 Languages Of Appreciation To Give Your Team A Boost
We all want a pat on the back sometimes, right? Well, apparently not. It turns out there are 5 languages of appreciation in the workplace.
The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People is a best-selling book, written by Gary Chapman and Paul White. It has sold over 450,000 copies and has been translated into 16 languages.
The reason for its popularity? Showing appreciation is an important part of your role as a manager. The research highlights the importance of appreciation in engaging and motivating employees.
What the book provides is a simple framework, the 5 languages, that helps ensure appreciation hits the mark and has the desired impact.
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Appreciation At Work Certified Facilitator Course
Learn how to effectively lead teams in applying 5 Languages of Appreciation to their work setting. This online course is designed to give leaders, trainers and HR professionals the resources necessary to effectively train individuals and groups in the proven principles of The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.
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Language : Words Of Affirmation
The authors note that 46 % of employees prefer words of affirmation as their primary language of appreciation, making it the most frequently preferred appreciation language. However, its important to note that there are many ways to use words of affirmation.
The most simple way is to take notice and voice out your appreciation with something the other person did or said. Your presentation was very smooth today. I noticed you had changed the beginning, and it made it even more interesting. Good job! or You had a very well-thought answer to the customers question. Can you repeat it so I can learn it too?
Affirming positive character or personality traits such as courage, honesty, or perseverance can create an even longer-lasting impact. This is because personality traits arent dependent on success or failure, but are more permanent.
You can communicate words of affirmation privately, which some researchers have found to be the most valued and effective method, or publicly, which some people prefer .
Words of affirmation can be told in a written format, which also allows the recipient to better remember what was said. Teamspectives praise-feature is a testament to this many people re-read the praise they received earlier.
Language : Tangible Gifts
A 6 % minority of the workforce have tangible or physical gifts as their primary appreciation language, so this simple gesture can go a long way towards making them feel appreciated. If you choose to go this route, then ensure that your gift is meaningful to the recipient. Try to understand what kind of things they are interested in and align your gift with their preferences. This may require quite a bit of background work. I.e. a bouquet of flowers can seem completely ridiculous to some, while others feel genuinely appreciated when receiving one.Tangible gifts don’t necessarily need to be expensive. Sometimes a sentimental gift can be even more effective. Sometimes gifts arent physical or tangible in nature. A great gift might be some time off to spend a special occasion with family or friends. Whatever means the most to that person will make the best gift.
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The Importance Of Workplace Appreciation
Job satisfaction, in turn, is greatly affected by whether we feel our work is valued and appreciated. Most employees also want to express and receive appreciation with their coworkers, and have an encouraging work environment and good relationships with their colleagues. Thus, effective expression of appreciation is not just for supervisors and managers, but for any level in the organization.
In short, organizations are increasingly budget-strapped, and are unable to rely on financial rewards as a key form of encouragement or reward. Appreciation can greatly improve workplace satisfaction without large amounts of financial resources, to: Reduce employee turnover Improve attendance, productivity and commitment and Increase customer satisfaction
What Are The Languages Of Appreciation In The Workplace
The five languages of appreciation in the workplace are distinct categories of gestures you can use to show your coworkers that you value them in a professional setting.
The theory comes from Gary Chapman and Paul White, who created a workplace-appropriate framework based on Chapmans New York Times bestseller The 5 Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate.
We can summarize this theory in three main points:
| 5 languages of appreciation in the workplace key points | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 1. Positive work culture and appreciation go a long way | Employee appreciation benefits businesses in terms of employees job satisfaction, loyalty, productivity, and work performance. |
| 2. People receive and show appreciation in different ways | What you consider a meaningful gesture might not translate to your employees feeling valued. |
| 3. You can improve your ability to show appreciation by knowing your options | Knowing how to express the five appreciation languages and identifying who in your workplace responds well to what can help you tailor your approach and reap the rewards. |
The second point is particularly important because your default way of showing appreciation might involve giving frequent and meaningful compliments.
One person could respond well to that and feel valued.
It helps to be aware of this possibility and explore all five appreciation languages.
So, lets look at your options.
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Words Of Affirmation = Feedback
The first love language slots perfectly into the workplace for the most part anyway. Dishing out praise in the workplace should only be given when its genuinely deserved. It can also translate into mentoring and offering all that youve learned to those in a more junior role. Alternatively, words of affirmation can relate to critical feedback. Whether its hard to hear or not well-meaning advice is crucial to learning and doing better at your job.
If you think this could be your teammates workplace love language, you may also want to offer verbal acknowledgments of their good work. Alternatively, if it sounds more like yours, you may want to discuss setting up more 1-to-1s with your manager to let them know your desire to strengthen your skills and aspirations of progressing into a leadership role.
Other ways of executing words of affirmation would be to tell someone what a great job theyre doing, share positive feedback publicly during meetings or in a group email or create an email folder for yourself of all the positive feedback youve received.
The 5 Languages Of Appreciation In The Workplace
Keep in mind that these are only general suggestions.
Most people will likely have more than just one language of appreciation, so you dont have to assign them to your employees strictly.
That said, you should always try to personalize your approach and be specific and inclusive to show that you pay attention to what matters to your employees, no matter which language of appreciation you choose.
You dont want to look like youre just doing it to tick a box that could easily backfire and make employees think youre being insincere or manipulative.
With that in mind, well give you some examples you can adapt to your situation.
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Putting The Concepts To Work
The book ends off with many tips on how to put the 5 languages to work. Heres a synopsis of some of the key ideas :
Start by identifying your language of appreciation and those of your colleagues.
Know your important appreciation language, which is usually meaningless to you and those of your colleagues, to avoid using the wrong mode of appreciation.
Be aware of the shifts in your primary appreciation language over time, context or during critical life events .
The book also addresses several challenges that must be overcome for effective workplace appreciation .
First Identify Your Employees Languages
Pay attention and be sure to weave meaningful questions into your conversations people generally like being asked about themselves.
Notice how employees behave around other people, and you may see some patterns:
- Is an employee touched by a coworker staying late to help them finish work?
- Do they show a lot of enthusiasm about planning a birthday and talking about the perfect gift to buy?
- Does an employee like taking the time to get to know others and spending some time together?
- Does a coworker prefer talking in private or in front of others?
- Is an employee particularly appreciative when receiving gifts?
- Do you know of any specific preferences staff have, like not eating meat or avoiding loud places?
Take notes, and dont forget to be attentive to employees interests, wishes, and hobbies so that you can personalize your gestures further.
Finally, never assume you know everything about employees and forget to offer a plan B in case your gift doesnt fit them or your help isnt wanted.
Once youve found the right language matches, you can try the following
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Motivating By Appreciation Inventory
The Motivating by Appreciation Inventory identifies each individuals language of appreciation and provides a report with details with specific action items preferred by each person. Eliminate wasted time and energy by hitting-the-mark for team members in contrast to guessing or doing the same action for everyone.
Physical Touch = Encouragement
Finally, the last of the five love languages on the list is physical touch the least to categorically apply at work. The language of physical touch should definitely NOT be explored here. At the very most, a fist bump, nod or handshake will do.
And so this has been replaced with the work appreciation language of encouraging touchpoints. We can sometimes gloss over accomplishments, especially when work gets busy, but its essential for boosting morale.
Make sure you inspire and motivate employees with words of advice or praise
If youve noticed that an employee responds well to encouragement, make sure you inspire and motivate them with words of advice or praise. Other ways of demonstrating this approach involve acknowledging people with eye contact or a smile, sending a virtual high-five over Zoom, setting up regular 1-to-1s, and cheering on your team as you approach milestones.
Is your language of appreciation in the workplace employee gifting? Say no more. These customizable gifts say thank you like no other.
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The Importance Of Showing Appreciation In The Workplace
Intuitively, we understand the value of giving appreciation to others, because we value it ourselves when we receive appreciation. Though of course, most of us do not receive enough appreciation at work!
This PsychCentral article suggestions 5 reasons that appreciation has an impact:
Its fair to say that receiving appreciation, when its authentic, has significant benefits for individuals! Thats the opportunity you have as a manager, to give that to your team members.
And theres commercial value too.
In a Gallup meta-analysis of 263 research studies, employers with the most engaged employees were 22% more profitable than those with the least engaged employees.
Take a look at Gallups 12 questions for more insights .