{"id":21147,"date":"2020-02-24T09:00:27","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/?p=21147"},"modified":"2020-02-20T10:02:22","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T16:02:22","slug":"dealing-with-the-weirdness-factor-in-appreciation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/dealing-with-the-weirdness-factor-in-appreciation\/","title":{"rendered":"Dealing with the \u201cWeirdness Factor\u201d in Appreciation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Learning<\/a><\/p>\n

Feeling \u201cweird\u201d about communicating appreciation among team members is normal (especially if the group has just gone through training together on the 5 languages of appreciation). This \u201cweirdness factor\u201d is a common reaction when the appreciation languages are first introduced and teams begin to implement the concepts.<\/p>\n

What are common signs of people feeling \u201cweird\u201d about the appreciation process?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fear. <\/em>Fear that others will think you are communicating appreciation \u201cjust because we are supposed to.\u201d Fear that people will think your communication is not authentic or genuine. Fear that your encouragement won\u2019t go well or be received positively.<\/p>\n

Awkwardness. <\/em>We are asking individuals to try something new, and people almost always feel unnatural when trying a new behavior. The problem is: we don\u2019t feel less awkward by waiting (or not doing anything at all).<\/p>\n

Why does it occur?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Almost all of us want to be viewed positively by others. We don\u2019t like others to question our motives, so we will tend to wait to do something until we believe others will think we are doing it for the right reason. Secondly, we don\u2019t want to embarrass ourselves by doing something we feel uncomfortable doing. So, we wait until it \u201cfeels more natural\u201d \u2013 which rarely occurs without practice.<\/p>\n

What can be done to reduce the weirdness people may experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, acknowledge it \u2013 both personally, and as a group. \u201cOkay, we\u2019re all feeling a bit weird about this.\u201d Then, dive in anyway \u2013 waiting doesn\u2019t make the weirdness go away. Often, we encourage people to use lead-in phrases like, \u201cI know you may think I\u2019m just doing this because of the training we just did, but I really do value it when you\u2026\u201d After a while, people are aware that everyone in the training is trying new actions in relating to others, and it becomes the norm.<\/p>\n

Is there anything else we should know about the weirdness factor and what to do about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Relax and don\u2019t worry about it. Go ahead and act \u2013 do something to show appreciation to a coworker. Practicing the model on a daily basis actually makes the weirdness go away more quickly (it is repetition, not time, that diminishes our fears).<\/p>\n

Finally, give your colleagues the benefit of the doubt \u2013 assume they mean well and are sincere. It takes some courage to communicate appreciation in a work setting where that hasn\u2019t been the standard practice. And if you question their motivation, wait before you judge them. Give them some space (and grace) to try a new way of interacting. Then tell them \u201cThanks\u201d for the effort!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feeling \u201cweird\u201d about communicating appreciation among team members is normal (especially if the group has just gone through training together on the 5 languages of appreciation). This \u201cweirdness factor\u201d is a common reaction when the appreciation languages are first introduced and teams begin to implement the concepts. What are common signs of people feeling \u201cweird\u201d… Continue reading…<\/a>","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,133,198,21,118,2223],"tags":[2256,2255],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nDealing with the \u201cWeirdness Factor\u201d in Appreciation - Appreciation at Work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Feeling weird about communicating appreciation among team members is normal but learning how to push through it will improve your workplace culture.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/dealing-with-the-weirdness-factor-in-appreciation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dealing with the \u201cWeirdness Factor\u201d in Appreciation - Appreciation at Work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Feeling weird about communicating appreciation among team members is normal but learning how to push through it will improve your workplace culture.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/dealing-with-the-weirdness-factor-in-appreciation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Appreciation at Work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/appreciationatwork\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/appreciationatwork\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-24T15:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-20T16:02:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/awkwardness.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drpaulwhite\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@drpaulwhite\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul White\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/dealing-with-the-weirdness-factor-in-appreciation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/dealing-with-the-weirdness-factor-in-appreciation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Paul White\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/#\/schema\/person\/695df42d67dbe288b5b2db6cd2ff58ac\"},\"headline\":\"Dealing with the \u201cWeirdness Factor\u201d in Appreciation\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-24T15:00:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-20T16:02:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/dealing-with-the-weirdness-factor-in-appreciation\/\"},\"wordCount\":443,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"awkwardness\",\"weirdness factor\"],\"articleSection\":[\"5 Languages of Appreciation\",\"Appreciation\",\"Authenticity\",\"Communication\",\"Managing By Appreciation\",\"Workplace Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/dealing-with-the-weirdness-factor-in-appreciation\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/dealing-with-the-weirdness-factor-in-appreciation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/dealing-with-the-weirdness-factor-in-appreciation\/\",\"name\":\"Dealing with the \u201cWeirdness Factor\u201d in Appreciation - 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