First things first. What is a culture of appreciation? As easy as it may seem to understand, adopting a culture of appreciation goes above and beyond saying “thank you”. A culture of appreciation means that every employee feels appreciated, heard, recognised, valued and part of the growth of the company.
In this article, you will learn the tools to create and appreciation culture.
- The productive effects of an appreciation culture
- Top 5 ways to incorporate a culture of appreciation
- The meaning of appreciation in the team context
The result of a culture of appreciation? An engaged, happy, productive employee that leads to less turnover and a cooperative work environment. A study by the World Economic Forum (2021) found that 75% of employees believe their co-workers would be more productive if their managers relied on moral power over formal authority.
Happy employees = Happy boss = Happy company.
There are countless ways to show appreciation and to be grateful towards your workforce, but we have come up with our top 5 tips to set a culture of appreciation.
1. Recognise, Appreciate and Celebrate!
Celebrate, recognise and appreciate! Celebrate as a team any milestones that have been accomplished, big or small! Remember, thank your employees with intention and specifically to what you most admired of their efforts.
Aside from celebrating a goal being reached, remember to celebrate thoughts, intentions, and efforts that employees have done to improve their work quality and productivity.
Celebrating as a team comes in many forms, from a team activity, happy hour, or even an online theme party!
2. Thank you
Two simple words that carry so much value. Thank you. Actively showing appreciation to your employees by vocalising how grateful you are for their work. Say it, mean it, and show it.
Saying a simple ‘thank you’ makes your employees feel recognised and valued. To be specific, a study by Gallup (2021) found that 74% of employees who receive praise feel that their work is valuable and is part of the company’s success. For your appreciation to be welcomed and communicated effectively, look for how your employee prefers receiving appreciation.
There are many forms of saying ‘thank you’. Personalised videos for remote workers, a hand written note, a ticket to see their favourite team, or even sending their favourite cupcakes over while they work remotely.
3. Socialise
Building appreciation in a workforce inherently means you need to build enough trust for there to be open communication between employees and managers.
How to accomplish open communication? To summarise, socialise and form bonds as humans of course! Use activities to build team trust and communication. These activities can range from anything like virtual team yoga, quiz nights, Slack channels to share funny animal videos, book clubs, anything and everything! There is no limit, a company works by human capital, this is your sign to build a relationship with your team.
Social events are the perfect opportunity for employees to get to know one another through their ‘work persona’ and really understand their personality and interests. As result, this social effect brings the team together, and builds appreciation for one another. Shift your focus to the people behind your company, the real value of your success, and appreciate them.
4. Track, measure and see a performance increase.
To share appreciation comes hand in hand with being able to show progress and provide feedback reports. As a result, this enables employees to see progress, as well as where they can improve. Additionally, it shows how their performance has an overall effect on the company’s state of growth.
As a manager, it is important to maintain routine checkups and feedback meetings to measure progress.
5. Use technology to leverage appreciation culture into the workplace.
Appreciation should always be instant and personal. In our current work situation, all processes and methods of communication have become digital, and can now be delivered instantly and location-independent through different mediums.
Lean into tools that help you give personal appreciation that can be store appraisals, goals and progress. As a result, you will understand the trends of employee health in your company and react accordingly.
Do you want to learn how to make appreciation instant and personal? See how Nais Kudos can help you.
Are you interested in finding out what kind of manager you are vs. what kind of manager your team needs? As well as have applicable exercises to practice with your company to understand the current health of your workplace? Then…
Read Nais free Appreciation Playbook. There you will find over 16 practical exercises, the psychology behind appreciation and how to incorporate a healthy culture at your workplace.
Want to share the goodness? Share with your team and use #WeAreNais
