We all like to feel appreciated. And whether or not we\u2019re willing to admit it, almost all of us feel warm when somebody tells us \u201cthanks, you did a really great job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Appreciation is one of the most powerful drivers of action, and therefore one of the most powerful forms of motivation within the workplace. When you show somebody you\u2019re grateful for their hard work, they want to work harder in future. Of course, if an employee doesn\u2019t feel appreciated, they\u2019re likely to start looking for a job elsewhere \u2013 a lack of appreciation is a huge driver of employee turnover!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the importance of appreciation extends way beyond the workplace. It spills into all elements of life. From recognizing a random act of kindness, to being grateful when a friend does you a massive favor \u2013 appreciation is what makes people feel good, and is what gives people the motivation to keep doing nice things for other people. It\u2019s a positive spiral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s more, appreciation isn\u2019t just about the impact we have on others \u2013 it can have a positive impact on ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we\u2019d like to take a look at this in a little more detail, and not just from a workplace perspective, either. We\u2019re going to explore the impact we can have, on ourselves and others, when we aim to live our lives with a little more appreciation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So why does appreciation make a person feel so good? We can break this down into five individual components, according to John Amodeo, PhD<\/a>, writing for Psych Central:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As humans, we crave validation, and we love to be loved. What better way to create that feeling, than by telling somebody that they\u2019re doing a good thing, and that we like them for it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Appreciation is such a powerful tool for making other people feel happy, there is no wonder so many people seek ways to tap into it. In particular, when it comes to driving performance in the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Harvard Business Review, appreciation in the workplace is the single highest driver of employee engagement<\/a>. Researcher Marcial Losada found that in high-performing teams, the ratio of positive feedback to negative feedback, is 5.6 to 1. In low-performing teams, the ratio is 0.36 to 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s some pretty mad science right there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So yes, showing your colleagues appreciation is super, super important, if you want them to perform well. But if you see \u201cappreciation\u201d as just another formula or tool that you can use to squeeze extra productivity out of your workers, then we think that maybe you\u2019re setting yourself up for failure. You see, in order for appreciation to have an impact, it needs to be sincere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more: The 20 benefits of peer-to-peer recognition<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re giving out appreciation on auto-pilot, you actually run the risk of it having the opposite effect. Imagine bumping into a colleague after work, and saying \u201cthanks for your hard work today\u201d, only for them to reply with: \u201cUh, I wasn\u2019t at work today?\u201d From that moment on, the next time you thank that colleague for doing something good, they are not going to believe a word you say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So instead of looking for opportunities to say \u201cthank you\u201d, change your mindset slightly. Look for the events that actually deserve a \u201cthank you\u201d, instead of the opportunities where you could speak those words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By doing it this way, you might not always manage to show appreciation for every event you witness. But the times you do will be sincere. And when you\u2019re sincere with your appreciation, you\u2019ll notice that appreciation can have a big, positive impact \u2013 both in the workplace, and out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When lockdown first hit, many countries quickly began to put the power of appreciation to work, by clapping for key workers in what became a megatrend that spread across Europe<\/a>. Indeed, in the United Kingdom, the \u201cClap For Carers\u201d movement became a weekly national effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you happened to find yourself in London on a Thursday evening during lockdown, then you might have had to cover your ears. At 8pm sharp, UK residents would come to their windows, doorways, balconies and gardens, to give a huge, national round of applause for doctors, nurses and other key workers who were keeping the country moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It soon moved beyond clapping, and began to incorporate the banging of pots and pans, fireworks, and large banners and posters flying from people\u2019s windows. All of this in an effort to show appreciation for front-line workers, who were risking their own health to care for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And while there were some naysayers who complained that the noise was pointless and unnecessary, most key workers seemed to agree that this really helped them through a very difficult time. For example, one grateful worker Tweeted<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI finished work at 8:00 last night, and as I walked home people were thanking me as they clapped. It was a surreal but touching moment which really made me feel appreciated. #ThankYou for the #support\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n For your appreciation to be sincere and really have an impact, you need to stop seeing it as a cynical tool you can use, and start making it a part of your own personal culture. This means making it a part of your life both inside and outside the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Psychology Today says it takes us around 66 days to turn a daily action into a habit<\/a>. That\u2019s not that long, when you think about it \u2013 if you start making an effort to appreciate things daily, you might just have formed a healthy new habit in only a little over two months!<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s plenty you can do to start making appreciation an instinctive reflex. For example, you could:<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Recognize small acts of kindness, like somebody holding a door for you By putting appreciation into your very biological fabric, you\u2019re setting yourself up to have a positive influence on the lives of the people around you. And even though the point of appreciation should not be to make things better for yourself, you\u2019ll probably still find that this is the natural result over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve talked a lot about how appreciation can help the people we interact with, but it\u2019s worth noting that showing appreciation can actually make you a happier person as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Psychology Today<\/a> describes the act of appreciation as the \u201cmost powerful constituent of well-being\u201d, and Harvard Medical School<\/a> has even published a load of science that helps to prove this. In a study on 411 people, psychologist Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman tested the impact of various positive interventions. He found that when subjects were asked to write and deliver a letter of gratitude, they immediately exhibited a huge increase in happiness scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAppreciation in the workplace is important, but it must be sincere<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How appreciation helped Europe get through lockdown<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Appreciation beyond the workplace \u2013 make it your personal culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
– Take time to appreciate members of your family
– Leave a 5-star review on TripAdvisor when you visit somewhere nice
– Thank your server when you eat out at a restaurant
– Thank the bus driver (in real life \u2013 not just on Fortnite)
– Write a glowing review when an online seller goes above and beyond
– Thank friends and family for spending time with you<\/p>\n\n\n\nShowing appreciation can make you a happier person<\/h2>\n\n\n\n