How to make work more meaningful

The past few months have brought great reflection for me after the passing of a childhood friend, and again this week when my family said goodbye to my dear Aunt Peggy, who passed away after eighty days in hospice care.

While hospice does provide a unique opportunity and gift of saying goodbye before a loved one passes, it does not make their passing any easier.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about all the times we don't get to say our "final goodbyes" to those in our lives.

Why should we wait until after someone is gone to say out loud what they mean to us?

This idea has transcended beyond just my personal life and really applies to work as well. After all, don't we spend just as much time with our coworkers as we do some of our own family throughout the year?

As I thought about how I can make sure those around me, whether at home or work, know how I feel and the impact they have on my life, two actions stood out as being critical to making the world (and work) a more meaningful place.

Action 1: Tell them the impact they make

Many times, we get caught up in our day-to-day operations and status meetings that we don't take time to recognize the accomplishments, impact, and value of our own work and of those we work with.

What if we made it a point to thank our colleagues regularly and tell them just what they mean to us? This could look like...

1. Sending an email to a colleague or manager on what you admire about them
2. Creating a #ThankfulThursday post on your team's slack channel or on LinkedIn
3. Speaking up on a team call to share the value your team members brought to a client or on a project
4. Letting someone know what their work meant to you or the business

Example: A wonderful woman Sharon, who I work with, created some great dashboards for me recently that allows our Senior Vice President to see the impact her team is having on the company's revenue pipeline and growth.

After Sharon made an update for me this week, I wanted to make sure that she understood exactly how we were using her dashboards. This allowed her to see the impact her work was making for others and for our company.

Making it a regular practice to let people know not just "good job," but specifically what you admire about them, or how much you value their work and them as a person, can be an extremely powerful motivator and relationship builder. And helps them see purpose and meaning in their work.

Action 2: Go above and beyond to make someone's day

They say "Be kind because you never know what someone else is going through." This is true, but do we really need someone to be going through something hard to treat them with kindness?

What if we became obsessed with delighting our clients and colleagues in every single interaction? This might look like...

1. Sending a deliverable a day earlier than you promised
2. Checking in on someone who you know has relatives in effected areas of Hurricane Helene
3. After helping someone prep for a client meeting, following up to see how it went
4. If you know someone is looking for a job, leaving them a review on LinkedIn

None of these actions or advice are new ideas or groundbreaking thoughts, but sometimes we need a little reminder to tell those around us just how much we appreciate them.

If anything these past few months have taught me, it's that when I feel compelled to say something, but hesitate for fear of being vulnerable... those are usually the times that what I have to say will mean the most.

In my aunt's memory, I'd love to see in the comments what kind gestures or words you will share with those who matter in your life.