I've Been Thinking...

About the holidays - and that the real purpose of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays is to remind us to thank and celebrate those who are important to us. Though this should be a daily event, sometimes the pace of life can be so distracting that we forget. This holiday season is a great reminder to get back to basics - to thank and celebrate those who make life great for us.

In the workplace, our employees are critically important, though most rarely hear any thanks or praise. Many managers feel that it is the employee’s role is to significantly contribute - it is expected. Though this may be true, all employees need to be regularly thanked, appreciated and celebrated; it is core to hour human needs to be included, valued and respected.

As you start the holiday season, review my Five Ways to Thank and Celebrate Employees in the Take Action section below. Do you make the effort to thank your employees? Do you find reasons to celebrate and connect to your employees? Remember, your people are your profits. And these people need and want to be appreciated and celebrated. It encourages their performance and loyalty; these are two things you need in today’s workplace.

We work with managers who want to be more successful at activating and inspiring exceptional employee performance, to significantly drive customer loyalty and improve company profitability.

Take Action

Five Ways to Thank and Celebrate Employees

Employees perform at their best when they work in roles and organizations that openly and honestly respect, include, thank, and celebrate them. In a workplace that relies on employees’ thinking, commitment, and engagement for success, employees who are celebrated and regularly thanked for their contributions, consistently outperform and remain longer than those who are not. Besides being the right thing to do, it is also great for business. In this holiday period, invest in the habit of thanking and celebrating your employees with the following five ideas:

Take the time to talk to, and get to know, your employees. The most significant way to thank and celebrate an employee is to get to know him/her. Take the employee to lunch or schedule time to ask about his/her values, hobbies, and interests. Understand the employee; use what you now know about the employee to build a customized skills-improvement performance plan. Discuss future career opportunities that make sense for the employee and the organization. Spend time with, and become interested in, each of your employees. The one-on-one attention is a significant way to celebrate all employees’ talents and contributions.
Ask employees what they think. The best way to feel appreciated is to be included; to feel that your perspectives matter. In today’s intellectual age, we need input from all of our employees; managers alone do not have all the answers. Including employees in company issues, challenges, and opportunities empowers them, engages them, and connects them to something important. One of the most significant ways to celebrate employees is to help them feel important; do this by respecting, valuing and including them in all aspects of the business.
Say thank you, and mean it. Most managers actually do not say thank you to employees who do great work. Employees work for more than money; they work for the praise and acknowledgement of their managers. A sincere thank you, said at the time of a specific event that warranted the applause, is one of the most effective ways to appreciate employees. Remember the phrase, “What gets rewarded, gets repeated.” Start to say “thank you” or “I appreciate what you do” when it is deserved and it will inspire the behaviors to continue. It costs nothing and has the highest impact factor of any recognition method. Make it personal and sincere. Catch employees doing great things and respond; it empowers them, appreciates them, and celebrates their performance.
Spend a nickel to get a dollar. Employees are impressed with a small “thank you” gift or prize, when the prize is customized and personal. A $10 Starbucks card, certificate for a movie rental, coupon for a sandwich, or ice cream award can be great ways to customize a thank you. Employees are not impacted by the size of the gift, but by its appropriateness. A manager, who understands his team will know the right, small, and meaningful incentive for each employee. The gift does not have to be significant, just appropriate. The small thank you gift, $10. The impact on the employee, priceless.
Give the gift of time. Most of us are “overscheduled”; we occupy every moment of each day and never seem to get to all that we need to do. As a thank you, or to show your appreciating to those employees who do outstanding work, offer a 1-hour (2-hour, half-day) coupon. This coupon allows the employee the choice to come in an hour late, take an extra hour at lunch, or leave an hour early. This allows a little holiday shopping, a little more sleep, or the ability to spend more time with family and friends. Modify the time based on the degree of thank you needed.

Thanking and celebrating employees should not be limited to the holidays; they are critical components of managing an intellectual-age workforce. Appreciation and celebration activate emotions; strong positive emotions have been proven to activate both customer and employee loyalty. Use this season to say “thank you,” and to celebrate, the people who matter to you - at work AND at home.

I bet you never knew... “Christmas Trees”

Christmas trees first appeared in Germany in 1531.
For every Christmas tree harvested, 2 to 3 seedings are planted in its place.
Artificial Christmas trees have outsold real ones since 1991.
Oregon is the leading producer of Christmas trees - over 10 million.
Christmas trees are edible; many parts of pines, spruces and firs can be eaten.
In 1856, President Franklin Pierce decorated the first White House Christmas tree.
The idea for using electric Christmas lights came from an American named Ralph E. Morris in 1895. The new lights proved safer than the traditional candles, which often started fires by falling in the dry Christmas trees.

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Recommended and Featured Resources:

Each week, the Humanetrics website will continue to feature a recommended resource in the areas of employee performance, management and women’s role in leadership. These resources are encouraged to be part of your suggested reading list or management library. Go to our Resources section to see our weekly featured resource.

Due out in February 2009!

Fire Up Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition; How to Invite, Incite and Ignite Employee Performance by Jay Forte

This new resource for managers introduces “how to” activate extraordinary performance from today’s intellectual-age employees. Learn how to implement the complete and proven Fire Up! Process^SM that shows managers, through practical exercises and activities, how to attract, hire, and retain high performing employees. Watch for more information and how to download free chapters, or to order your copy, on FireUpYourEmployees.com.

Contact Humanetrics to help accelerate your understanding of how to create a passionate workforce that drives your success or how to help advance the role of women in leadership. We not only know what to do, we specialize in helping you learn HOW to do it. Results are always our focus.

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