Kept and Re-read Thank You's

You probably have them too.

Thank you cards and notes from people in drawers, on bulletin boards or special places. You just can’t make yourself chuck them or recycle them, can you? And have you also noticed if you’ve kept a card you are likely to re-read it at different points of your life.

Why is that?

We conducted research to answer this question and discovered the highest ranked reason recipients gave for re-reading cards was simply to recall the feelings they had when they were first acknowledged.

We thought we should dig deeper and ask what factors contributed to a thank you card actually being kept.

We gave them a bunch of factors to choose from. Let’s see how these factors stacked up against your first impressions. Here are the top 5 items given:

1. Top of the list with 84 percent of respondents was the sender writing the card versus having their assistant or someone else writing it.
2. Second, was ensuring the card or note was handwritten and not typed.
3. Next, was the specific wording used in the content of the card.
4. Obviously the relationship between the writer and the recipient was important.
5. And finally the timeliness of the card being received after the action or event being acknowledged.

Now go write a keeper!

ACTION: Share your reasons for why you keep certain thank you cards or notes and toss out others.

Giving Recognition - An Inside Job

Okay. So I understand Gallup research stated 65 percent of employees hadn’t received a smidgen of recognition the previous year to being surveyed.

That’s a lot of people. Hopefully you were in the 35 percent crowd!!

Consultants and trainers then race to the rescue and teach managers and supervisors all the tricks and techniques of the trade for making things better and training how to give more meaningful and effective recognition to these poor employees.

Suggestions like saying, writing and giving:

· More specific feedback
· Giving recognition in a timely manner
· Respecting preferences for private versus public acknowledgment
· Making it positive...and so forth.

The problem is we are mostly focused on the deprived and overdue recipients of recognition – and we attempt Band-Aid® solutions of quick and easy recognition training to “fix” the managers.

But what about these givers of recognition (and that probably includes you and I)?

People give lots of reasons for not giving recognition:

* No time
* Don’t know how
* Not received any recognition themselves
* Concern for what others will think, etc.

In reality, many of these reasons are surface in nature. We rarely address the real needs of the givers.

Reasons like:

* Never was shown love and respect at home
* Have a hard time listening and taking another person’s point of view
* Did not excel at school as a kid and still struggle with low self-esteem and self-concept
* Have difficulty knowing what and when to say the right things to people

This kind of inner development goes beyond tricks and techniques. It goes right to the heart of a person. We have to concentrate on the inside of a person.

Being able to give real recognition requires becoming and being real oneself. It means going deeper with recognition. Learning what motivates us as givers and dealing with the fears and anxieties that prevent us from being long-term givers of Real Recognition.

Real change on recognition giving requires working on the inside of the givers. As I have always said, recognition giving improves when people improve giving recognition.

It's an inside job.