The power of “thank you”

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what makes a good leader stand out from an ordinary people manager. Over the years and through various conversations, I have observed both good and not-so-good behaviours demonstrated by my bosses and other leaders in the business — and both types of behaviours have taught me invaluable lessons.

The first of these is that good leaders say “thank you” — often and in public.

A “thank you” is a small gesture. It costs no money and usually involves little extra effort. But it has a huge upside. Firstly, it motivates your people. It tells them you care enough to acknowledge their hard work and the value they contribute to the team and business. People want to feel that they matter. It signals that you are unselfish — because you give credit where it is due, rather than hoarding it for yourself. It creates a happy memory for the person being thanked — and such happy memories can help people get through the crunch times. It spins positive energy and I am convinced that people do way better when they are operating in a positive environment rather than one that is recriminatory.

A couple of don’ts:

1. Don’t hold an arbitrary high bar to acknowledge people’s efforts and output. There’s no advantage to it.
2. Be mindful of who you call out — oftentimes, there’s a tendency to call out favourites. This totally defeats the purpose and leads to avoidable friction.

So, whether you are a people manager or not, seek out every opportunity to acknowledge someone and thank them generously. There’s nothing to lose with this approach and whole lot of goodwill, motivation and followership to be gained.

Cross-posted on my Medium blog.