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.
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:
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.
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!
