Acknowledging People Makes the Hard Stuff Easier
Read time: 3.5 minutes
It’s no secret that happy employees perform better and stay longer. People are emotional creatures. We’re hard wired with the need to feel seen and acknowledged in order to be content.
But if you’re like most small business owners, you have high expectations and are focused on constant forward motion. Which means acknowledging your team and customers often falls to the wayside.
As a result, you’ve probably had to deal with staff dissatisfied by compensation, disconnected customers, or may be wondering how to evaluate employee performance.
I’m going to share with you a system to consistently communicate appreciation to build a stronger team that will help move everything forward.
From key objectives, to measurement, to tools that can help, I hope this gives you a practical way to build a more dedicated team and deeper client relationships.
Let’s get started.
Everyone’s the same, but different.
As far as appreciation goes, everyone needs it, but there’s no “one size fits all” approach.
Some people love public acknowledgment and the spotlight that comes with it.
Others can barely stomach a simple “Thank you.”
For others it’s employee appreciation gifts.
Over time, we can try out different methods of appreciation and see what works best.
Tanks fill and lower at different rates.
In the movie “Tick, Tick, Boom” Jonathan Larson (the writer of the Broadway play “Rent”) tells a story of how one compliment from an award winning playwright fueled his writing for two years.
My wife will tell you one acknowledgment per day is the sweet spot.
We need to know how often acknowledging someone will make a difference. That means it helps to keep track of it.
Acknowledgment is intentional.
Sometimes there’s an obvious opportunity to have someone feel seen for their contribution.
Most times, it takes concentrated effort and might not feel easy.
This might mean deliberately creating acknowledgements ahead of time.
According to Gallup's analysis, only one in three workers in the U.S. strongly agree that they received recognition or praise for doing good work in the past seven days. Their research shows that employees who do not feel adequately recognized are twice as likely to say they'll quit in the next year.
How will you know it’s working?
For all of your people you have a game plan. You know how often to acknowledge them. You know what method works best, or at least your latest trial. You know when you last did it.
So, then you know it’s working if you actually do it.
The System
For a low-tech approach, grab your favorite spreadsheet tool and make these columns:
Name
Relationship (Employee, Customer)
Acknowledgement Style (Public, Private…)
Acknowledgement Frequency (Weekly, Monthly, Every 2 Months…)
Last Acknowledgement Date
Next Acknowledgement Date
Then set a reminder in your calendar to check the sheet frequently enough to do it. It’s not perfect, but it’s probably a lot better than you’ve got right now. Nothing wrong with a quick tool to get started fast.
For a more thorough approach you can use Notion, Smartsheets, or your favorite CRM tool. The initial information is the same, but with these tools you can relate information more easily. So you’d expand it to add more detail on your acknowledgements:
Draft Acknowledgment with some starter prompts
When did it happen?
Some reminders to alert you when you need to get in action
A report of how you’re doing
How much can you automate?
If you’re thinking about ChatGPT for this one to save you time, stay away.
There’s a time and place for generative AI.
This isn’t one of them.
Acknowledgements are deeply personal and only you (or your team members) have a true understanding of the contribution each person is making.
If someone sniffs out that you use a robot to do it, you’re worse off than you started.
You also don’t get the personal benefit of taking a minute to appreciate another human being.
You can automate or delegate tracking and reminders.
You also don’t have to hide the fact that you’ve systematized this.
For me it’s pretty straightforward - “I suck at sharing my appreciation for each of you often enough. And, it’s really important to me, so I’ve set up a system to help me out.”
Conclusion
Acknowledgement takes practice. It probably won’t take long for you to see results.
You’ll see them in how employees engage with you, in their effort, and their performance. In customers you’ll see higher meeting acceptance rates and deeper partnership.
You’ll see side benefits, like when it comes to having a library of good things that happened to talk about during performance reviews.
If this doesn’t come naturally, this system is for you.
From me personally and on behalf of the people on your journey with you — Thank you for reading all the way through and considering giving it a shot. It will make a real difference in people’s lives.
Thanks for reading all the way through and considering giving it a shot. It will make a real difference in people’s lives.
If you’re ready to get out of the daily grind to grow your small business, let’s talk. Schedule a call.
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