Thanks and Celebrate Idea Center
Review these ideas to encourage the ways you can thank and celebrate the important people in your life – at work and at home.
We constantly add ideas so check back often.
1. When thanking or celebrating anyone, be sure you do it in a way that makes sense for that person. One-size-fits-all gratitude or celebrate is ineffective and insincere.
2. Spend time. Employees and family members feel important when you spend time with them. At work, spend time working on skills or discussing performance. At home, do something the other person loves to do (skate, walk, go for coffee, etc). This shows interests and celebrates the other person.
3. Catch them doing something great, and then comment on it. Most of our employees and kids seem to think we are trying to catch them doing something they should not be doing. When they do something great, stop and thank them sincerely. Remember, what gets rewarded, gets repeated. Not only will it encourage them to repeat the behavior, but they will feel more connected to you because of your effort.
4. Put a small piece of paper with the name of each of your employees (or kids) in your right pocket. During the day, find a reason to thank or appreciate something that each one does. As you do, move the name to the left pocket. By the end of the day, you must have found a (legitimate) reason to thank an employee or kid. You will see a significant change in your relationship with them.
5. Include others. One of the best ways to show your gratitude and to celebrate others is to include them. At work, ask what they think and why, allow them to take over a project, or to lead an event. At home, bring your kids to work, take them on errands with you, ask for their input in daily family living.
6. To help an employee develop confidence and to feel appreciated, sit with the employee and create a skills development plan. Determine what education is needed and insure the employee has the ability to complete the education. The attention and customized focus shows the employee he/she is appreciated in the workplace. The education helps the employee feel competent in his/her role.
7. As employees complete projects or education that develops their skills, host an appreciation lunch or other celebratory event. Draw attention to the employee’s hard work and the benefits of new skills in the workplace.
8. Spend time with an employee with a resource like Strengthsfinder 2.0 by Tom Rath. This helps define the employee’s strengths and talents. These are the areas in which the employee has the greatest potential to perform. Help the employee feel competent by realigning his/her role to accommodate his/her talents. Your attention to the employee is a form of appreciation.
9. Have each employee specialize in one aspect of something that matches the employee’s interests and a need in the business. Have the employee share this information or skill with the rest of the team. This openly appreciates and respects each employee for what he/she knows.
10. Establish performance expectations with each employee. Select one of their job description components, tie it to a financial metric, and then let the employee create a plan to achieve it. Track the employee’s progress on both the plan and the results. Celebrate progress and employee success.
11. A hand-written thank you note on a card that matches the interest of the employee (sports, music, movies, etc) is still one of the most powerful ways to say thank you. Try it with your employees, try it with you family.
12. Leave a note with a small gift (favorite candy bar, coffee certificate, etc) on the counter in the morning for your spouse or children. It shows them you care and appreciate them. Leave a comment in the note about something they do that matters to you.
13. Create one day a week (month) where the entire family or has a celebration meal. It could be a lunch at work or a dinner with the family. Use the time to applaud the successes that have happened, share stories how they happened and develop the tradition of noticing great things when they happen.
14. Start the habit of leaving a note, small gift or other thought at random times throughout the month for an employee or family member. Realize that celebrating does not need to be limited to specific days. An attitude of ongoing celebration and awareness encourages similar behavior from others and works to help all those who receive it, feel great.
15. When new employees first start work, have each one complete a worksheet that identifies their talents, interests, hobbies and values. This will provide the information needed to understand the employee well enough to offer meaningful ways to thank and appreciate him/her.
16. Have a Day of Thanks and Appreciation – close the business and have an information (training) session followed by a barbecue, volleyball game, neck and shoulder massages, guest entertainers, etc.
17. Hold frequent employee performance reviews and development discussions. Use the time to keep employees actively participating in their development and learning process. This improves communication and helps the manager to understand the employee better (helping the manager develop a better response for each employee). This committed time together ensures that employees who do great work can be thanked and appreciated.
18. Start all team meetings off with a recognition moment. Comment on the successes and extra effort – those not receiving it will quickly change their approach so that they become included as well.
19. Print business cards that say “Thanks�, “Good Job� or “Keep it Going� and hand them out when you see exceptional effort. Collect them back at the end of the month for special gifts, long lunch, delayed starting or early dismissal.
20. No Cost Idea: give each employee 1 hour of your time this week. Allow the employee to create the agenda on how the time will be used; it could be for education, coaching, ideas sharing or career development. Give it as your holiday gift to your employees.
21. No Cost Idea: create several teams of employees; assemble one team each Friday morning for a 30-minute brainstorming session. Allow the team to define the topic or issue for brainstorming. Summarize the ideas and share the ones selected for implementation. A different team meets each week. This shows all employees that their perspectives are valued and appreciated.
22. No Cost Idea: Spend 10 minutes with each employee to define the employee’s talents, values, interests, favorite and least favorite parts of his/her role. Use the information to make changes to the employee’s role to help the employee feel more connected to his/her work. The attention and customization will make the employee feel appreciated.
23. Low Cost Idea: Take pictures of employees at work. Print the pictures and create award winning captions under each to celebrate their performance. Use titles like, “Customer Connection Expert� or “Retail Ruler.� Post the pictures in a break room or common area.
24. No Cost Idea: Download a powerful, funny or meaningful quote or cartoon from the Internet; print and send out each week with a handwritten note to thank, inspire or appreciate your team. Create a tradition of sharing entertaining things to encourage the workplace to be more fun.
25. Celebrate by giving. Have each employee select their favorite charity or community need. When employees achieve specific results, donate in the employee’s name to the charity or need. Consider matching the donation from the organization.
26. Celebrate an employee by learning about him or her and writing up his/her story to share with other employees. All employees have exciting things that have happened to them in life; this celebrates the humanity and interests of an employee and shares it with others.
27. Helping an employee develop a clear, meaningful and customized career path shows the employee that he/she is appreciated and valued. Spend time with employees to help them develop their long-term road; be sure they have input in the process.
28. Commit to a culture of appreciation – one that shows that management appreciates its employees, and that employees appreciate each other. Create a team of volunteers to work together to define the things that should be added or changed in the culture to create a more appreciative workplace. Present the ideas to management for implementation.
More ideas are added all the time!