How to Create a Thanking Culture
April 6th, 2011 | 
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Something on a PowerPoint slide at a presentation recently captured my attention and fancy. The point on the slide was about the “thinking culture” of a particular company, but the word “thinking” was misspelled to “thanking”. Hmm (I thought)….a “thanking culture”. What might that look like? We so often hear that a paycheck is thanks enough for employees. For many, this just isn’t true; people are hungry to know that they are appreciated. Thanking them not only makes people feel good, but it could make you and your organization more effective. As a leader, you set the tone – if you start appreciating others, it just may catch on.
When you create a culture of appreciation, it’s good for your followers, for you, and for your organization because:
Employees feel valued for the work they do and chances are that when employees feel valued, they will be more engaged and willing to go the extra mile when it’s needed.
Clarity of direction becomes evident because as you reinforce the right work through thanking others, you also spread the word about what is valued and important.
Employees take personal responsibility to be their best because when you thank them, you reinforce their desire to get even better at what they do.
Your organization will develop a habit of expressing their gratitude because you are modeling it. Others will follow, spreading a culture of thanks throughout your organization.
Appreciation is scarce in so many organizations. As a leader, you can change that. Start by noticing what people are doing right. Thank them for it. Then notice what people are doing exceptionally well. Thank them for it. Public recognition, a note, a small token of appreciation go so much further than a paycheck will.
Who needs your appreciation? When will you give it to them?
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13 Responses to “How to Create a Thanking Culture”
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I LOVE this post–a “Thanking” Culture. We do take people for granted so much of the time. I think that appreciation means so much to people; I hear it from my clients all the time that they don’t feel noticed or recognized by their boss, in particular. Sure, praise can be overdone, but our collective culture has a long way to go before that would be a problem.
I even try to be mindful of thanking my teenagers (which some times is a challenge to notice the things they are doing right).
Creating a “Thanking” culture is a great idea. I think it touches one of the basic human need to feel valued and useful.
I always felt great whenever my bosses expressed gratitude and I never miss a chance to extend that feeling to people in my circle of influence. I have seen companies that use events like “all hands” meetings to express their gratitude to individuals and teams who are doing remarkable work in the organization.
Great post and great ideas!
Best,
Tanmay
Hi Chris, I hear similar sentiments from my clients. And I hear it from their stakeholders. And I experienced it myself. We all need to be thanked and appreciated more.
Hi Tanmay, Yes, all hands meetings are a great way to thank people publicly. I actually encourage my clients to ask their direct reports how they would like to be thanked when possible. This allows for different types (i.e. introverts vs. extraverts) to express their preference. I generally find that introverts prefer to be thanked 1:1 where extraverts prefer a more public venue.
Great post. A little goes a long way in this case. Constructive criticism is good for correcting errors, thanking is good for letting people know that they did it right and it was appreciated! I agree very much with the engagement part. Thanking can be a good way to show people that they aren’t robots and don’t work for robots, but real caring people are on both sides.
This is a great post and very meaningful. I recently read an evidenced-based management book that said nearly the same thing. In the employee’s eyes, financial rewards and incentives rank lower than feeling valued, appreciated and productive. Saying thank you and showing appreciation is so simple, and so powerful. Not to mention it makes you feel good as well.
Great point, equally important in how it affects outsiders’ impressions of you + your firm. For instance, in B2B sales, our clients find the simple act of opening every post-conversation, follow-up email with a ‘thanks for your time’ and ‘why I appreciated it’ sets the stage for a continued, authentic, conversation with interested buyers. Simple, important, stuff.
Peter, thanks.
Erik, glad to hear that others are writing about the importance of thanking.
John, something I hadn’t thought of in the B2B world – the importance of letting our client and customers know we appreciate them. Thanks!
Our grandparents would have not had an issue with the sentiments in this post. However, in today’s society, when people believe they are owed everything, to be thankful for what we have, and what we do, and to receive the appropriate appreciation from our peers etc., is an exception to the rule. Why has it come to this?
Maybe we can bring about a culture change by starting to thank, and appreciate. Wouldn’t that be something?
Kate, your point is sad but true. However, as individuals, there isn’t any reason for us to follow the entitlement trend. If we are intentional about being grateful, if we are determined to look for what others are doing that makes us appreciate them – perhaps we’ll be part of a small revolution to change the way things are. That would be something. Thanks for your comment.
Great post. Thanking people with whom you work is one of the highest-leverage things you can do in the workplace.
Mary,
Very interesting point and post. In fact, I have an outstanding supervisor in the university. He is really strict fellow, but I enjoy working under his supervision always. Do you know why? Because he knows to thank his students after doing their jobs. Saying “thank you” has powerful effects on any organizations.
Thank you!
I like this post. Creating a thanking working environment is important to everyone in the team. I noticed that this effect will also depends on the characteristics of the leader. As an international students, I found that there is big difference between asian and american people in terms of expressing their feelings to others since I came here. American people are likely to express their feeling easily and loudly to others, while asians are more shy when they expressing feelings, even when deliver their gratitude to others. I think that is a factor why american companies have a more friendly working environment compared with some asian companies. Correct me if I was wrong.
Simple – Thank you!
Ebrahim – nice to hear that any perceived shortcomings in your manager seem to be made up by his simple act of saying “thank you”.
Meng- I wonder if “expressing feelings” and saying “thank you” are somewhat different? I certainly feel that there is not enough “thank you’s” in our American workplaces. What have you noticed?