Things are hard for your entire team and organization.
There’s a lot going on right now.
People are being stretched from left to right.
They’re dealing with so much.
You, as a leader, need to find a way to appreciate your team.
If you don’t find a way to appreciate your team, people are going to feel like you don’t care about them.
They’ll feel like you don’t value the contribution they make to the organization.
They’ll feel like you’re not invested in them.
When they start to feel like this, they’ll become uninvested in you and the organization.
This is why many people resign from the workplace today; because of a lack of appreciation.
It’s not about the salary you pay or the bonuses you give.
Those things don’t matter to them.
What they want more than anything else is to be appreciated.
If you don’t appreciate your team, they will leave and then you’ll have a turnover problem.
You’ll get backed up with more challenges and unable to meet the needs of all the people who are demanding your expertise.
You must avoid this at all costs.
Here are three simple things that you should be doing to show your team that you appreciate them.
1. Know your team.
Of course, you need to know the names of every person that reports to you.
But when I say know who your team, I mean actually know your team.
Do you know the birthday of everyone on your team?
Are you prepared to bring them a nice gift to acknowledge their birthday?
Do you know where they grew up?
Do you know their children’s names and what grade they’re in?
Do you know their spouse’s name?
Do you know things they may be currently dealing with?
Knowing people is an important way to start showing appreciation to your team.
When you don’t try to understand their life, you’re telling them that you don’t care about what’s important to them.
You only care about their job and that’s not a trait of an admired executive.
2. Say thank you.
You need to master the two most important words in the English language.
That is thank you.
People show up to work every day and do a job that is hard.
It can be exhausting.
Especially when dealing with patients or customers.
Sometimes they never hear thank you.
They need to hear it from you.
How often are you telling your team that you appreciate the work they do to help you to be a successful leader?
Sometimes words of appreciation may not suffice.
Sometimes it may be helping them with a project.
Other times it may be gifts of appreciation.
These are all small things, but they can add up to be the big bang.
Learn how to say thank you.
3. Pay more.
You need to pay them more.
You’re competing against the entire world for talent.
There’s been a war on talent.
Talent has won the war.
People are making choices to work at organizations that value them and pay them what they deserve.
Frontline team members that you depend on and were paying $10-$14 an hour, can just go to Target or UPS and get paid more.
But they have volunteered to pay back their college education.
If your team doesn’t feel appreciated, you’ve got to find a way to appreciate them.
But remember, appreciation is just the basics.
It’s not enough to build a successful team and for you to be the most admired executive.
