Workplace Appreciation Pitfalls And How To Avoid Them

Participating in company recognition programs is a great place to start showing your gratitude to your fellow team members, but let’s face it, winning company swag for a job well done can get old.  How many sets of luggage tags does one person need, anyway?

While we may not all be able to influence the programs that our companies put into place, we can definitely impact our teams on an individual level. This week, we’re talking about the ins and outs of showing your colleagues a token of your appreciation.

Speak The Right Language

Everyone has different preferences and biases for what types of recognition they prefer – you might even call them languages. According to authors Paul White and Gary Chapman, there are five languages of appreciation: 

• Tangible Gifts
• Words of Affirmation
• Quality Time
• Acts of Service
• Physical Touch

Be Aware Of Your Blind Spot

With the best of intentions, we appreciate others in the way we, ourselves, would like to be appreciated. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, right? If your primary language just happens to be your team member’s least valued language, you might be wasting your time. They key here is to appreciate someone in the language of appreciation THEY prefer.

Chart Your Course

If you want to avoid the pitfalls of personal bias, start with getting to know your own language first before diagnosing others. Reading the book and a little self-reflection is all that’s needed here. Everyone has a language preference. Before reading the book, I guessed my language incorrectly and Rebecca didn’t think she had one (she does), so we both learned something this week!

Stuff We Talked About

• The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, by Paul White and Gary Chapman
• More information about the languages of appreciation and an online test can be found at http://www.appreciationatwork.com
• Pitbull (the artist)
• More on acts of service here
• Practicing Daily Gratitude

Favorite Things

• I’m really into a new Photoshop retouching class by Lisa Carney
• Rebecca just wanted to take a moment to shout out a little appreciation to the people in her life who love and support her. We all need people in our lives to lift us up!