Do you need more information about generation-Y as employees? Eric Chester has written a book called “Getting them to give a Damm”. This blog post came from his website and was a gentle reminder of how we should thank employees. Everyone likes to be recognized for doing a good job, but it is very important if you are the business owner or manager to always take the time to thank staff individually for a good job done and to mention what exactly it is that you are thanking them for, a general thank you really does not go far at all with employees. So if you want your staff to continue trying to do their best you must watch and listen to what they are doing so you can catch them doing things right and then praise them for it. Eric’s site is linked below, he has a lot of good resources on it that are worth taking a look especially if you have employees under the age of 25.
Gratuitous Gratuities and Blanketed Thank You’s
We all loved to be thanked and praised for our efforts and our thoughtful gestures. The more personal it is, the more it means to us, and the more likely we are to repeat the behavior that led to that acknowledgement.
However, can anyone take any pride or feel good about being thanked/praised for something they really didn’t do?
Take for example when a performer says “you’re a great audience, give yourself a hand!” Are ‘you’ really a great audience, or do they just want to hear more applause? It’s gratuitous. It means nothing. It’s air spam.
(Just once, I’d like to hear a performer say, “you’re a horrible audience, boo yourself loudly!”)
When a team pulls together and does something special, the leader/coach/manager can and should thank them as a unit, i.e..“I love the way you guys came together to get this project done under budget.” But if they want to see their team pull together again the next time, they shouldn’t be fooled into believing their blanket ‘thanks’ was enough.
A team is comprised of individuals, and individuals require personal connection.
My wife’s regional manager frequently sends out email blasts and/or voice messages to his dozen direct reports that praise them for meeting goals, or scolds them for not reaching goals. But the people on the receiving end of these messages are each independent sales reps, and even though he is personally rewarded or admonished for the overall performance of his region, the 12 individuals in his region are each only responsible for their own performance. So, while some are doing great and may be worthy of praise, others are doing poorly and need critiquing. Not only are this regional manager’s emails and voice mails not taken seriously, he is actually the butt of a lot of behind-the-back jokes by his direct reports.
Don’t ever fall under the illusion that group acknowledgment (or for that matter, group criticism) will accomplish anything meaningful or productive.
If you want your words to be taken seriously, there is no substitute for the one-to-one.
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