Episode 63: Appreciate Your Collogues

Hello my friends, welcome to episode 63. Today let’s discuss appreciation.

As individual contributors when we can recognize that each other are doing an amazing job.

It boosts people so much.

We have a different ability to thank people and recognize contributions because we are in it with them.

If you are in one of those dirty jobs – you are in the dirt with them.

So when you say thank you for helping me – it has real meaning.

When you say you were amazing, you did that so well – they know, you know what is really like.

So in the cow world, you are in the manure pile with them.

So when you say, you manage a shovel like no one’s business. You are doing an amazing job and I see that.

When you do this you have more power than any manager has, in truly acknowledging people

And don’t hesitate to do it in your own voice.

You don’t have to do it in a very formal flowery way.

Do it in a way that tells the whole truth.

You can see the little things.

You can even know that they may be struggling in other areas and yet they have done one thing great today and you can acknowledge them for that.

You can be struggling and doing an amazing job.

We think that we don’t have the power.

We think that our voice won’t matter.

I think that the acknowledgments that I have received from my coworkers have been the ones that have meant the most to me.

I keep a folder in my email titled read on the bad days.

And there I keep the special thankyou’s and notes of appreciation that coworkers have written me and I go back to them on the bad days and they give me that little boost to keep going, and striving.

These are not big amazing things that I have done.

They are little tasks, little moments, where something I had done helped a co-worker out.

They felt strong enough about it to share it with me.

And those little acknowledgments have meant the most.

They have pulled me out of the pits of despair. That may sound dramatic but those hard days or those moments that you think no one cares. These little notes have meant the most and have been the encouragement I needed to keep going and to try again.

Every employee has the power to acknowledge and praise the good in others.

So look for ways you can acknowledge others.

Now there are going to be some things that will likely get in your way when you start this journey. I have experienced a few of these as I have tried to do this work more intentionally

1.      You will feel so vulnerable

It is odd but you feel a bit like you are exposing your soul, your soft spots when you start telling others how much you admire them.

You think you are saying it wrong.

You worry about what they will think or what others will think if it is in a public forum.

And I want you to anticipate this discomfort if you are not in the habit of offering this kind of praise.

This isn’t the kind of discomfort that means you should stop.

This is the kind of discomfort that means you are on the right road.

Yes, we will likely say things a little wrong or in an awkward way. And that is ok. We are just doing our best to see and voice the good in others and honestly, these words are most sincere when they are in our own unique way. They will be better received and mean more if they just come from your heart.

2.      Now the next part of this is they will not know how to respond. Seriously! If you have worked with someone for years and have never told them you think they did an amazing job. They are probably going to think who are you and what have you done with my co-worker the first time you do it. They may even think you are joking but you aren’t and you do admire their work. So leave room for them to have any response that they do. They may say nothing. That’s ok. They may mirror back the praise and that is ok too. Just recognize this isn’t about you – it is about thanking or acknowledging them.

The more you do it the more it will become natural and you start genuinely looking and seeing the good that they do and you start voicing it out to them.

You don’t know the boost that you can give to people.

For many of us, our work can become mundane. We do the same thing over and over again. In the beginning, you may get a lot of feedback – especially when you get it right for the first time. But then the longer you do it the less feedback you may get. It becomes expected. And people need continual support and recognition.

People need continual recognition. Recognition is not a one-time deal.

Our managers can’t keep up with the recognition that each individual needs. Wages can only be increased so much. Recognition parties only go so far. Swag is great but again it can’t be given out in the amount that people need and honestly, the data on this shows that recognition doesn’t have to have a dollar value behind it to be just as meaningful. People need more recognition than our managers can give. It comes down to us as individual contributors that fill that need.

I may have said thank you for this thing every month. But you keep doing it every month and I see you and I am so impressed and grateful you are consistently there helping.

So if you haven’t said thank you to a co-worker and if you haven’t called them out on their amazingness. Then I encourage you to do it.

We can make a difference for each other.

Our managers can’t do it all.

They can’t even do it as well as us.

So find something that a co-worker did well this week and tell them.

It will be fun.

Have a wonderful week.