Tip Tuesday 

Being thankful should not only happen during the Thanksgiving season. Today’s tip revolves around showing appreciation throughout the year.  As a leader, showing appreciation for those around you is a critical aspect of the role. And here’s the gotcha…” a little goes a long way.”  

Sure, grand gestures are great. But so are seemingly small things as well. I personally prefer small gestures because they don’t require a great deal of planning. Let’s face it, you have enough on your plate to create these “Oprah-like” surprises for your team on a regular basis.  Plus, you don’t want to create an environment where these grand gestures are expected.  In reality, “tiny wows”, like leaving a post-it note at someone’s desk thanking them for a great idea they offered will be so meaningful and give you lots of leader points with your team! 

Tiny “Wow’s”

Below are a few of my favorite “tiny wows”:

• Handwritten thank you cards

• Candy/snack on the desk

• Free half-day off coupon

• Movie/food voucher

• Paid car service home

• Breakfast/lunch on me

• Impromptu happy hour 

Try a mix of these gratitude approaches with your team and drop a note in the comments to let me know how it went.  If you have other approaches that have worked for you, share those too!!  We’re always looking to build our gratitude library.

Be sure to share this post with someone who may be grateful to see some new approaches to gratitude.