Thank a coworker email

Two Words Can Make a Huge Difference

April 8, 2016 by Wilma Jones

Two Words Can Make a Huge Difference

The workplace is the place you’re least likely to hear the words, “Thank you.” A 2012 study documents that 90% of workers do not show gratitude to their colleagues on a daily basis. And the results are even worse for bosses. Only 7% of workers thank their bosses for anything regularly. That is a pretty sad state of gratitude in American companies.

Statistics document that a workplace environment where people feel gratitude from management and are encouraged to show thankfulness to one another, reduces employee turnover and increases profit. Why then, is it so hard to accomplish? One of the biggest issues is management. As many of us have heard in our careers, the company shows their thankfulness for our efforts in the form of a paycheck. But obviously, that is not enough to motivate people over the longer term. That’s why so many of us think to ourselves at the end of the weekend, “Is it Monday already?”

The best way to begin to change this course is to ask your employees what way they would like to be recognized when management wants to thank them for their efforts. People are not the same and what one person enjoys in terms of thanks may not be accepted the same way by another employee. For example, some people want to be acknowledged in front of other staff, maybe in a team meeting. Others would prefer comp time off to enjoy with their family outside the office. Find out what is important to your staff and figure a way to show gratitude in a way they will really appreciate.

I remember when I started out in my first sales gig. I so craved to be on the top of the stack ranking board. I wanted to earn the glamorous trips the top performers were awarded every year. When I won a trip to London in my second year of sales, I was over the moon with pride and happiness! However, after more than 25 years and hundreds of thousands of miles in travel, the thought of taking a trip with a few hundred of my (not) closest coworker-friends is not something I am thankful for. There are other ways to motivate me as a seasoned sales management person.

Your next best move if you manage a team is to start gradually. If you haven’t been a “thanker’, you can’t just walk in and start showing gratitude to everyone. It will be received as insincere. You need to take baby steps toward gratitude. Start with simple conversations with your team. Or maybe even launch a survey asking your team what they value in terms of recognition and thanks for their efforts.

Be sincere and be realistic. Remember that the most important relationship a person has at work is with their immediate supervisor. Make sure your team knows you care and you appreciate their work. That is the biggest indicator of work happiness. Reduced turnover and increased productivity are the by-products of building a great team based on showing gratitude to one another.

What are your thoughts about showing gratitude at work?

What is the ROI of Kindness at Work?

April 6, 2016 by Wilma Jones

What is the ROI of Kindness at Work?

I am a firm believer that kindness is a good business practice. At a recent event I watched a business owner be pretty unkind to an employee in front of customers. I felt uncomfortable and also a little sad for both the boss and her staff member. Of course, I was sad for the employee because it’s embarrassing and so ego deflating to be put down, especially in front of others. I was sad for the owner because she was hurting her business by behaving in this manner.

Anyone managing human beings needs to understand that the culture of the work environment makes a huge difference in the performance of your staff. Negative, unpleasant workplaces are not as productive as environments where people are kind and gracious toward one another. No one wants to go to work at an unfriendly job.

Some business owners and management personnel need to be persuaded a little more to foster kindness at the job. The ultimate reason is the fact that people prefer to work for people who are kind and respect them. Those workers feel better about their jobs and as a result they exhibit more creativity and collaboration than people who work in negative spaces.

The data on creating and sustaining kindness is clear. It helps people like their jobs better and it helps the business make more money because their workers are more creative, collaborative and productive.

Would a kinder office environment spur you to be more productive?

10 Email Best Practices. Number is 7 is Critical.

March 25, 2016 by Wilma Jones

10 Email Best Practices. Number is 7 is Critical.

One of the things that creates inefficiencies at the workplace is email. So many people don’t understand there are best practices to sending emails. Yes, there are.

Stop sending those emails that have ambiguous subject lines. Ones that you have to read pages of forwarded messages to figure out what the sender wants you to know. Or people that respond but don’t really answer the question. And then there’s the email that shouldn’t be sent at all. I mean, sometimes you’ve got to know when to pick up the telephone.

Here are the top 10 email best practices to improve office communication:

1. Use the SUBJECT line to indicate if the recipient needs to take action or if the email provides information. For example, if you want your manager’s approval prior to taking action on an issue, you might write a subject line of: “Please Approve Request for XXXXXX.”

2. Double check emails before hitting send, including a spell check. How you communicate speaks volumes about your work habits.

3. If you receive an email sent to a large corporate distribution list, never reply to all.

4. Keep people’s email addresses private. When sending a message to a large distribution of people who do not know one another, put your own email address in the TO field. Then populate the BCC field with the recipient’s email addresses. This prevents you from exposing other people’s email addresses.

5. When forwarding an email, write a comment or explanation to explain why you’re forwarding the message to them. And check to see if the SUBJECT line needs to be modified for your receipient. (See number 1.)

6. Make sure your email content is clear and to the point. Watch your tone and choice of words. Remember, someone may forward your message.

7. Never try to joke in a business email. They are rarely received well, and usually make you sound like a cornball.

8. Don’t write in all CAPS. The one exception that doesn’t seem offensive is if you’re responding to a list of questions and you want to make sure your responses are easy to discern. Or if you want to virtually shout at someone.

9. Ask yourself whether an email is really necessary. Sometimes it’s better to communicate with someone in person, if they are in the same location, or via the telephone if not. Many issues are easier to resolve when your can speak rather than write. A lot of communication happens in your body language and voice tone that is missed in an email.

10. It is perfectly OK to email a ‘thank you’ message. Think of a coworker you should thank and send them an email today.

Implementing these email best practices can help to create more effective office communication. It also improves teamwork and make the office run more productively because staff wastes less time. It also makes for a kinder work environment.

Can you think of other email best practices? Please share in the comments.

Two Words Can Make a Huge Difference

Two Words Can Make a Huge Difference

What is the ROI of Kindness at Work?

What is the ROI of Kindness at Work?

10 Email Best Practices. Number is 7 is Critical.

10 Email Best Practices. Number is 7 is Critical.

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