Taking the Time To Say Thank You

After reading the most recent HBR article on Employee Recognition and Appreciation I was inspired to write my first article on LinkedIn. As someone who has been in Enterprise Sales for over 15 years, striving for validation and recognition has been hard-wired in me ever since I made the decision to go into sales all those years ago.

For me, working in an office environment (my only office environment experience post-graduate), was eye-opening in so many ways. Everyone seated around me reported to someone different and it was impossible if you were not in the same reporting structure to identify who was a "top performer" vs. who did the bare minimum at their position. As someone who would come into work early and leave late, it dawned on me that no one was there to witness and/or acknowledge this extra effort (at least in that current entry-level position). At one point I did my work next to an elaborate 30 minute conversation in the middle of the workday where my colleagues in the same role as me vigorously argued about the best way to get dressed in the morning for work (this was back in the time of the show Punked with Ashton Kutcher and I truly felt like I was on that show that day). No one noticed the conversation that was in addition to a long lunch, and in addition to leaving work early that these colleagues had taken that same day. The strive to show how I was different and get that recognition over those around me drew me into sales and I have not looked back since.

It wasn't until I became a manager that I fully realized what appreciative and empathetic leadership truly meant. I always was able to develop close and trusted relationships with many of my team-members and colleagues, but being able to appropriately say thank you and show that appreciation in many ways, at all points of the year vs just at the end, was one of the best lessons I have learned so far in my experience.

Right now is the time of year to stop, reflect, and say thank you - not just for the big things and successes, but the many little things that sometimes go unnoticed. If you have an internal forum like Chatter and/or internal badging that you can give out - these little touches can mean so much to show your team-members that they are appreciated. For me, I like to give out gifts at the end of year to many of the key team members that have helped me all year. When I asked a colleague one time what they would give a member of our team at the end of the year, I was surprised when they stated what that team member had made YTD in sales, as justification as to why they didn't need a gift that year. Appreciation is not about what your salary or earnings may already be, but showing that you are grateful for what your colleagues bring day in and day out, and their help, support, and guidance to you all year long.

If I had to give one piece of advice to my younger self it would have been to realize this lesson sooner. While this HBR article is about your employer recognizing you - I believe the bigger benefit is how we can all be more appreciative to each other. Especially in sales, many times the employer recognition is given only to the top of the leaderboard (ironic for me to say as I know as it is the goal I aspire to each year). Each of us in sales have been in companies where those at the top are sometimes not necessary always the best in the company. Territories get rearranged, new account executives walk into deals that were laid up for them, new leaders move to companies where they already have an understanding and awareness of the tools you represent which greatly accelerates the deal cycle, these are all parts of the business that we can understand occurs and sometimes skews where recognition should be applied for those that have truly earned and worked for that level of recognition.

While I always aspire to those top performer accolades, I encourage you to look at your teams for more areas of recognition for all those other components that do not always show up on the leaderboard. Who on your team does the most open sharing of new ideas and/or strategies for others to learn from, who has given you an introduction that paid off down the line (internally or externally), who has helped you strategize on a deal or situation that did not benefit themselves at all? These are the moments of recognition in addition to the metrics towards your individual goal we should all strive to incorporate into end of year celebrations.

I would love to hear your thoughts and in what ways you send recognition and appreciation at this time of year.