Hope you had a wonderful Canadian Thanksgiving weekend! As a follow-up to our Thanksgiving blog, I wanted to share 3 ways how NOT to show appreciation (adapted from “ What Not to Do When You’re Trying to Motivate Your Team ” on Harvard Business Review):
Vous connaissez l’archétype de « l’abeille occupée » qui passe la tête dans les bureaux des gens sur le chemin d’autres réunions et dit des choses comme « Hé, bon travail ce matin à l’examen du pipeline. » et se précipite pour être occupé ailleurs. Ou ils envoient un texto précipité « Allo! Désolé, je n’ai pas pu vous rattraper avant de partir, mais lisez simplement le rapport mis à jour et il a l’air génial. Merci! «
On the surface, these efforts seem innocuous, positive even. But if this is the only way the Busy Bee acknowledge others’ contributions – it suggests that their work weren’t important enough for the Busy Bee to make the time to properly thank you. Over time, these efforts end up feeling inadequate and impersonal.
You may have seen situations where leaders or co-workers asked for a sacrificial effort to meet a deadline, and they may have said things like, “You have no idea how much I appreciate this. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t gotten this to me today. I owe you!” Or if their guilt is particularly heightened, the Theatre Major will do this in public, which feels especially manipulative as they check off their “public recognition” box. Such performative Over-The-Top expressions of appreciation is particularly awkward on the receiving end especially when it’s also quite clear that this makes the Theatre Major come off looking good to others in the company.
Pendant une pause lors d’une réunion de l’équipe de direction, un executif a déclaré à son subordonné direct : « Pour votre information, je disais au big boss et à son équipe ce matin quel travail vous faites. faire », puis lui faire ce qui semblait être un clin d’œil « Je te soutiens ». Le seul problème est que cela n’est jamais arrivé. Et à première vue, le sourire feint de l’employé – « Wow, tu as fait ça pour moi? » – a suggéré qu’il ne l’avait pas acheté non plus.
JUST. NO. Employees know when their managers are being insincere or outright lying. Not only does it erode the employee’s trust in the manager, it comes around to bite where the sun don’t shine (much) as word spreads about the disingenuity, damaging the person’s reputation.
The common shortfall among the above approaches is that they all serve the person who’s giving the praise, not the recipient
The next time you feel compelled to give a compliment. Pause for a minute and reflect on the following before you share your gratitude:
Using this checklist over time, giving and receiving compliments will be a breeze – You’ll feel good, your co-workers will feel good. Win-Win!
Now go forth and spread the love.
From Everyone on the TALTEK team
PS: Check out our previous Thanksgiving blog: Your Thanksgiving Guide To Showing Gratitude In The Workplace on how to level-up your » Compliment « game with a POWER THANK YOU! !
REFERENCES
Goulston, Mark. (2013 February 20). How to Give a Meaningful “Thank You”. HBR
Carucci, Ron. (2018 July 16). What Not to Do When You’re Trying to Motivate Your Team. HBR
Littlefield, Christopher. (2019 October 12). How to Give and Receive Compliments at Work. HBR
Locklear, Lauren R; Taylor, Shannon G; Ambrose, Maureen L. (2019 October 12). Building a Better Workplace Starts with Saying “Thanks”. HBR
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