Making People Feel Good ISN’T the Goal of Appreciation: An Effective, Functional Organization Is the Goal
When some leaders hear the suggestion that it is good to show appreciation to their employees they respond, “I don’t care how they feel about their work. I’m not a cheerleader and it’s not my responsibility to make them happy — I’m here to make sure things get done.” Others are less direct, but the message is similar – why should I care how my team members feel (about work or themselves)?
APPRECIATION IMPACTS THE FINANCIAL STATUS OF AN ORGANIZATION
While communicating appreciation to team members does increase positive feelings across the workforce, ultimately, running a business, professional practice or non-profit organization is about serving your clients / patients / constituents well and doing so effectively. Whether you work for a for-profit or not-for-profit organization, there are budgetary constraints and goals to achieve. That is the goal of communicating appreciation effectively – to utilize your resources efficiently and to accomplish the mission of the organization.
Helping organizations function well takes forethought, planning, astute implementation, monitoring results, and making necessary adjustments along the way. Like a mechanical engine, you have to have the right parts do their job, the parts need to work together efficiently, and you have to be able to deal with the friction that comes from parts working together closely. Friction creates tension, heat, resistance, sparks (sometimes) – and more energy is required to complete the desired action. Sometimes the resistance becomes so great that a part breaks or the engine gets stuck and doesn’t move. Then the goal isn’t achieved. (See this infographic for a visual representation.)
We know, however, that when team members truly feel valued and appreciated, good things happen:
- Tardiness decreases
- People call in sick less often
- Less conflict occurs over petty issues
- Policies and procedures are followed more regularly
- People are less irritable
- Customer complaints decrease
- Turnover decreases (the #1 non-productive cost to any business)
- Productivity improves
- Profitability rises
Now do you see importance of your staff feeling appreciated?
KEYS FOR COMMUNICATING AUTHENTIC APPRECIATION
A key concept to understand is that not everyone feels appreciated in the same way. Not everyone values a verbal compliment. From our work with over 400,000 employees who have taken our Motivating By Appreciation Inventory, less than 50% choose words of affirmation as their primary appreciation language. Some people feel valued when you spend individual time with them. Others appreciate working together on tasks or getting practical help. In fact, we’ve identified five languages of appreciation important in the workplace.
Additionally, in working with employees from thousands of companies and organizations across the world, we’ve found four key factors necessary for employees to feel truly valued. Our published research shows that when groups apply the concept of authentic appreciation, team members report a significant increase in feeling more appreciated.
Employees feel truly valued when appreciation is:
1. communicated regularly (not just one or twice a year at a performance review);
2. shared in the language and actions most important to the recipient (not what makes you feel appreciated);
3. delivered individually and personally (not in a group blast email and not through your assistant);
4. perceived as authentic (not obligatory).
Your employees are your organization’s most valuable asset – they are the ones that help you achieve your goals. To be a successful leader of a well-functioning organization, you need to make sure you know how to communicate appreciation in ways that are meaningful to each of your team members. If you don’t, they won’t work together well, unnecessary obstacles will interfere, and your goals won’t be reached. Forget the belief that appreciation is primarily about making people feel happy – appreciation is a necessary tool for you to keep your team members and have a successful organization.
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Categories 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, Appreciation, Business/Leadership, Leadership, Managing By Appreciation, Workplace Culture
