Appreciate & Acknowledge
“No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.” -Alfred North Whitehead
This week’s fundamental is Appreciate and Acknowledge. This is one of my personal favorites because it happens to be my number one Love Language, which is “words of affirmation”.
In Gary Chapman’s book, The 5 Love Languages, he talks about how we give and receive love. Chapman identifies these languages to be quality time, physical touch, gift giving, acts of service, and words of affirmation.
We all have a primary and secondary love language that is important to us. It’s how we build relationships with others and it’s also how we want others to build a relationship with us.This goes beyond our personal relationships and impacts our professional relationships too.
Our brains can’t discern the difference between professional and personal relationships when it comes to our core needs.
While we may behave differently in each setting, we are always unconsciously looking for how our love language and core values are fulfilled. You can identify your Love Language by paying attention to how you give it to others.
In leadership, whether you value words of affirmation or not, it’s important to practice acknowledgment consistently. While that may seem obvious, I have found it’s one of the most frequent complaints I hear when coaching executives and their teams.
We are all living in such a fast-paced culture that we are spending less time appreciating our wins because we quickly move on to the next thing. It seems as if the bar keeps getting raised and we hold our acknowledgments until we get the biggest result.
Most employees want to please their boss as their number one goal in their job.
Even above getting a raise.
Acknowledgment and appreciation are free and effective. Let people know they are on track consistently and you will find an increase in productivity and response. Acknowledge them for the job you hired them to do and let them know what you appreciate about the value and qualities they possess.
“Appreciation is the highest form of prayer, for it acknowledges the presence of good wherever you shine the light of your thankful thoughts.” –Alan Cohen
Shine your light on your team, your boss, your family, and friends! They will appreciate you.
Always in gratitude,
Fundamental #20 | Appreciate & Acknowledge
Let people know your appreciation for the qualities that they possess. Being acknowledged for a task well done is important, being acknowledged for a character quality is lasting.
