Saying "thank you" to someone honors them and their efforts. Those two words can convey gratitude, appreciation, and respect. Receiving thanks is almost always desired and welcome by recipients, so why do we give thanks so infrequently?
You might think you say "thank you" often, but research indicates that we express gratitude less than we think we do. According to a study, English speakers say "thank you" 1 out of 7 times when someone does something they ask, and it's even more uncommon in other languages. While culturally there are different perceptions around the importance of expressing gratitude, in American workplaces, sincerely appreciating employees for their efforts has a large impact on retention and engagement.
Thinking more on engagement, one of its key drivers in the workplace is impact - employees need to feel that their efforts are having a positive impact in some way. Actively and individually thanking employees for their unique efforts communicates that they are making an impact and can help them be happier, healthier, and more productive at work!
Another incredible thing is that expressing appreciation to a person not only impacts that person but also impacts those who witness it! You can make your whole team a little bit happier but publicly thanking one person!
Equally important to expressing to someone that they matter is expressing how they matter. Here are some tips from Great Place to Work to ensure your "thank you"s are as powerful as they can be:
- Be specific. There is a big difference between "thank you for your hard work" and "thank you for catching all of our typos and ensuring high-quality content for our website". Recognition is more meaningful when tied to a specific accomplishment, goal, or experience. A more specific message of gratitude can communicate what exactly they did or how they acted that was appreciated, which is inherently more personal and helpful for the employee.
- Be timely. Gratitude expressed immediately or shortly after an experience with someone is more helpful and meaningful to the recipient.
- Express gratitude in different ways. There are a lot of ways to say thank you, and some ways may be more appropriate than others depending on the situation! Saying thank you verbally is extremely effective, but you can also give a treat, extend a bonus or a gift, give an award such as a SAERA, or even write a small note or email.
- Recognize the little things. While it is of course important to recognize significant or publicly visible contributions like creating a highly innovative process that totally changes how your team functions or breaking a record and other things of that nature, it's also important to recognize the little day-to-day things like kindness and reliability and taking on small tasks to help others on the team. For example, "I want to thank you for summarizing our discussion earlier and sending me some action items from what we talked about- no one asked you to do this, but this will help me stay accountable for the things I committed to!"
- Connect to the bigger picture. A way to communicate appreciation effectively is to share how someone's actions impact the success of the team, the department, the division, the university, etc. For example, "Thank you for consistently being a pleasant individual to work with. Because you are the first person people see when they enter our office, you help make people feel comfortable utilizing our services and returning to our office, which helps our office meet our annual goal to increase the number of people who come in for return visits."
Something that every person wants to feel is like they matter. And at BYU, employees all over campus are making a difference in the lives of students and the lives of their colleagues but they probably don't know it!
Make sure to tell your colleagues, your friends, your families how they are making an impact in your life or how you can see them making an impact in others' lives. Saying thank you to others is so powerful: it makes you, the recipient, and those that witness the gratitude happier!
Click here to watch a TED talk about the power of expressing gratitude.