What are effective ways to show gratitude and appreciation towards your professional contacts?

Being timely and sincere is often more important than the thank you itself, but if you are able to, including a small token of appreciation goes a long way. I love to give virtual contacts a digital gift card to get a cup of coffee. It's not a huge expense, but it goes a long way.

Expressing gratitude towards your professional contacts is key to nurturing valuable relationships. Simple gestures like sending a heartfelt thank-you email after a fruitful collaboration can go a long way. For instance, I recently sent a note to a colleague who provided critical insights for a project, emphasizing how their contribution positively impacted our results. Another effective way is to acknowledge their efforts publicly. Share their accomplishments on social media or during team meetings to show genuine appreciation. Recently, I recognized a team member's exceptional work in front of our entire department, boosting morale and fostering a culture of recognition.

Kindness is free, they say. Using positive words and showing gratitude right after the project is done costs a minute but means a lot for the partner. Giving recommendations on LinkedIn is an underestimated tool to show gratitude. Use it ;)

You don't want to be known as the person who only reaches out when they need a favor—so make sure you're dropping a line now and then just to check in, say hello, ask how someone else is doing. Putting in the time to care goes a long way to showing appreciation and your value of the relationship.

Networking is not about clients or services, it's about genuine human relationships. If you know how to be a good friend, you know how to be a good networker: listen, help, cheer up. It's so easy and human :)

I had a colleague that people were avoiding because of his communication style. I gave him feedback that I found myself being dismissive of his requests because he frustrated me with his wordy and demanding emails. We connected live to remove any unwritten tone or assumptions. When feedback comes from a place of seeking to understand and resolve what's coming up, it's a gift. Anything else is not supportive.

Gratitude is a way of living. Most of the problems in communication are provoked by the miss of fulfillment. If you acknowledge your strengths and achievements, if you are grateful for all you have, you will be happy to uplift others too

Give more than you take. Shift your mindset from a "get" mentality to one of giving. Consider what your life would be like if in life you gave more than you took. If you lived your life contributing to others instead of focusing on what you can "get" out of the relationship. A networking event turns into an opportunity to make deep connections with people instead of looking at what you can get from them. Work meetings shift into contributions instead of focusing on what you need to get from the meeting. When we live this way we open ourselves up to a higher level of thinking. Gratitude, appreciation and abundance all have similar energies. When we open ourselves up to those higher energies we receive as much, or more, than we give.