A Blast from the Past – Appreciation Isn’t a New Idea
While looking through my collection of books, I rediscovered a classic with surprising ties to appreciation! Read on to learn more.

While looking through my collection of books, I rediscovered a classic with surprising ties to appreciation! Read on to learn more.
Help Us Answer an Ongoing Question about Appreciation To date, more than 425,000 people have taken the Motivating By Appreciation Inventory (MBAI) to discover their language of appreciation! Our goal in creating the MBAI has always been to provide relevant, practical and easily applied resources to help team members communicate appreciation effectively to one another. But over time, some relevant questions have come up. What if my supervisor changes? Or team roles and responsibilities have changed? Or if I work for a different organization? How stable are our desired ways of being shown appreciation over life stages and other changes... Continue reading...
Vibrant workplaces draw people to them – quality, talented employees want to work in a healthy place. But what is a vibrant workplace, how do you create one, and why are they more important than ever? Learn more in this week's blog.
Most of us don’t need new goals for the year. Really, we don’t. But we do need to continue to progress toward our current goals (and, hopefully reach some of them). We also need to make some adjustments from the feedback we are receiving from “real life.”
Office holiday gift-giving can be difficult to navigate. We address some of these issues and give tips in this week's blog.
Many organizations only want to use resources or processes that have been demonstrated to be effective as supported by research. In fact, “evidence-based resources” has become a catch phrase in many circles. And understandably so – leaders and administrators don’t want to invest time, money and energy implementing a course of action to improve their workplace culture based on slick advertising or unfounded claims. That is why we at Appreciation at Work have been committed to verifying the practical utility and success achieved by using our resources through ongoing research. Let me summarize the foundation we have built over the past decade: To... Continue reading...
Appreciation is a powerful intrinsic motivator without which few people can sustainably perform at top levels. Unfortunately, the concept often gets caught up in the long list of platitudes about employee motivation and confused with recognition.
Feeling awkward about communicating appreciation among team members is normal. When teams are first introduced to the 5 languages of appreciation and begin to implement the concepts, this “weirdness factor” is a common reaction.
At Appreciation at Work, we want to create thriving and healthy workplace cultures. But all the work we do comes from the foundation laid by our best-selling book, The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.
By nature, we all tend to speak our own language of appreciation. If Quality Time makes me feel appreciated, then I may go out of my way to stop by a teammate’s office and check in to see how they are doing. If Acts of Service make me feel appreciated, then I tend to pitch in and help my colleagues. If Words of Affirmation make me feel appreciated, then you can expect that I will give verbal praise to those with whom I work. But if I only do what comes naturally, the language of appreciation that is least valued... Continue reading...
The new school year is starting and, being honest, a lot of people are not real excited about that prospect (even if we exclude those students who want summer to extend a bit longer). If you work in a school (preschool, K-12, public or private) or have a family member or friend who does, there is a high likelihood that some feelings of dread are present. Why am I predicting negative expectations? Because, currently, schools are one of the most difficult workplaces in our culture to be employed. Consider the following factors: Low prestige. In past decades, teachers and... Continue reading...
When I started speaking about the 5 languages of appreciation in the workplace, an interesting pattern developed. During breaks, people would frequently relay stories about how nasty their workplace was or what a jerk their boss was. This happened so frequently that I became curious and concerned enough to start researching toxic workplaces (which resulted in our book, Rising Above a Toxic Workplace, and our associated video series). I started keeping track of the types of workplaces that were most frequently referred to as toxic, and five categories rose to the top: colleges and universities, hospitals, government social service agencies,... Continue reading...
As I work with organizations across the country, the issue of understanding, leading, and working with employees from different generations continues to be one of the most common challenges leaders mention to me. As Baby Boomers retire and cycle out and Gen Z employees enter in, understanding the differences across generations in the workplace has become a huge focus for supervisors, managers, and HR professionals. Members of Gen Z’s are generally considered to be 25 years old or younger and are just now starting to impact the workforce. While they are still developing their adult identities and workplace values, some... Continue reading...
As a larger proportion of the workforce has moved to remote and hybrid work, it is reasonable to ask whether employees who work remotely have different preferences for being shown appreciation than those who work onsite. To find out, we conducted a research study with almost 90,000 individuals who had taken our online assessment, the Motivating By Appreciation Inventory. We found that Words of Affirmation continues to be the most desired appreciation language, but remote employees chose Quality Time as their primary language of appreciation more frequently (35% of employees) than workers on-site (25%). This finding seems logical – those off-site desire more... Continue reading...
Take a step back from what “needs to get done” for a moment and reflect: What is a core aspect of human life that permeates our life experience and which isn’t going well for many adults today? One answer is – living life with others. From the moment of our birth and until we die – we are connected to others. The same is true for our work lives – we work in the context of relationships which includes some combination of an employer, supervisor, customers or clients, colleagues, suppliers, and the general milieu of daily life (dealing with... Continue reading...
Have you ever run out of gas on a trip? From personal experience, I can tell you it’s not a fun experience. Similarly, experiencing burnout in life or at work is painful. The two experiences are quite similar and are ones you want to avoid. When your car runs out of gas, the event itself isn’t that bad – the vehicle just stops and you can’t go anywhere, but you can’t get restarted. The consequences that follow are what creates the disruptions in your life. First, you have to recognize what the problem is: you used up all of your... Continue reading...
Change in the workplace is inevitable. Previously, change largely stemmed from response to external circumstances, like marketplace forces, or they were part of a larger institutional plan to create growth and improvement. But since the advent of the COVID pandemic, change seems to be the only constant in the workplace. Changes in the foundations of how we work and where we work are ever evolving and lead to uncertainty, anxiety, resistance, low morale and more, all of which can take their toll on employees. The good news is, managing reactions to change can be made easier if the change occurs... Continue reading...
Over the past several years, much attention has been given to differences across generations, including in the workplace. Why has this been such a focus? Because of the huge sociological shift in our culture, moving from one very large generation (Boomers), who have had significant influence on cultural values and norms, to the next generations (Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z) who have now become the primary cultural influencers. Do Generational Differences Really Exist? And, if so, why? As has been demonstrated by thousands of research studies, many differences exist across generations – in preferences, values, lifestyle choices, beliefs, spending habits,... Continue reading...
Our best-selling book, The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, has been revised and updated. Originally published as a hardback version in 2011, it was revised and released as a paperback in 2014. We then updated the content and research in 2019. Obviously, a lot has changed in the workplace since 2019. And new research, including our own, continues to be done in the areas of workplace culture, recognition and rewards, employee engagement – and appreciation. As a result, we worked this past year to update the book to reflect current trends and issues, and to cite the most... Continue reading...
Yes, we are still in the midst of the end-of-year holiday season and all of the busyness that entails. But many leaders are also reflecting on this past year and asking themselves: “How can we make this next year better? What can we do to improve our culture – connecting people, making them feel valued?” The issues and challenges we encountered in this last year are not going away anytime soon. Helping people stay connected while working fully or partially remote. Less interaction with colleagues. Feeling alone and out there on your own. And it is clear – both from... Continue reading...
Employees are returning to the office, but with more remote work flexibility than ever before. While it’s clear that remote and hybrid work is here to stay, it can be hard to navigate the continually evolving territory while also ensuring employees stay connected and feel appreciated. We wanted to highlight recent research about remote and hybrid workers and company hybrid policy from Gallup and McKinsey & Company that address some of the successes and challenges of these new work arrangements. Gallup – The Good and Bad of Hybrid Work In August, Gallup released the podcast The Great ‘Global Work-from-Home Experiment’... Continue reading...
Let’s be honest, sometimes we have a hard time appreciating some of our colleagues. The reality is, some people are more difficult to work with than others. There are weird people, angry, irritable colleagues, people with a lousy work ethic and poor communication skills, and those that aren’t friendly or have negative attitudes. And there are others we just don’t understand or click with. What can you do? Here are a few tips: Don’t try to fake it. Whatever you do, don’t try to act like you appreciate someone if you really don’t. Most people have very sensitive radar for when others... Continue reading...
You may be surrounded by co-workers that need to be encouraged and feel appreciated, and you may not know it. While some people ‘wear signs’ on their faces or in their body language that show they are getting discouraged or nearing burnout, many people are harder to read. They may not say much or have non-demonstrative facial expressions. Additionally, some of us are not especially talented at picking up clues sent out by others. Here are some clues that you can watch for to help you know when your coworkers may need a message of appreciation or encouragement: Irritability and... Continue reading...
Not all conflicts look the same. And sometimes we don’t even realize there is tension in the air until someone points it out to us (“Have you noticed how standoffish Julie has been to us since that disagreement in the last team meeting?”). On the other hand, some individuals perceive friction when it doesn’t really exist in the other person’s mind. For example, you may think someone is upset with you because they have been “cool” toward you, when, in actuality, they are not very interactive because they are concerned about their mother who is in the hospital. Let’s lay... Continue reading...
Busyness seems to have risen to the level of addiction in our culture, and is even considered a badge of honor to some. When, for example, have you heard anyone report: “I’m doing great. I’ve got lots of extra time and energy to do what I want?” But how do we break this unhealthy cycle when it encouraged by many in our society? What is Busyness? To reduce busyness in our lives, we have to first understand what busyness is. Is it a set of behaviors? Is it an attitude? Or a perspective on life? Most people respond: “All three.”... Continue reading...
Words of Affirmation is just one of the five ways employees like to be shown appreciation. And business and organizational leaders are constantly reminded how important it is to communicate appreciation to their staff — and it is. But sometimes a simple ‘thank you’ isn’t said often enough. When employees feel truly valued and appreciated, good things follow. Team members are less likely to leave for another job, complain and grumble, steal from the organization, or get hurt on the job. Conversely, they are more likely to show up for work (and on time), follow established policies and procedures, and... Continue reading...
Conflict at work happens – a lot. And it is a major source of stress for both employees and supervisors. It’s easy for most of us to recall a tense moment in our workplace — to remember the discomfort of watching a not-so-friendly disagreement in a meeting. Or to relive the sting of a critical comment made in front of your colleagues. One study found that, on average, each employee spends 2.1 hours every week (or one day per month) dealing with conflict in some way. Either being directly involved in a disagreement, or managing an issue between coworkers. The... Continue reading...
A disturbing long-term trend has been documented by research – that a vast majority (up to 87%) of the workforce is either not engaged (read: they are present physically but not mentally or emotionally), or are totally disengaged (they actually undermine the success of an organization). This is in spite of the fact that over 85% of organizations have an employee recognition program (which obviously aren’t working). Don’t Focus So Much on Top & Low Performers A basic challenge in working together with others is that not everyone performs at the same level with regard to the quality and amount... Continue reading...
Peer-to-peer recognition programs have become quite the rage in the past few years. Unfortunately, they are not the panacea of positive workplace culture they are often purported to be by those selling them to companies. Within the context of employee recognition programs, peer-to-peer recognition generally refers to a tool within a technology platform which allows colleagues to send electronic messages to one another, primarily to recognize work well done. The message may be as simple as “Good job!”, “Way to go!” or slightly more specific, like “Thanks for getting that report to me.” They may often be accompanied by a... Continue reading...