Please and Thank-you…such simple every day words that growing numbers of individuals discount as important because they are “so very pedestrian,” “so very elementary.”
It is because those terms are so elementary that they remain so important to team members. While one has the prerogative as a supervisor to “order” anything and everything work-related to be done, contexting those requests with respectful words ensures that team members will give their best. After all, in many situations, it is all about respect.
In like manner, expressing appreciation for work done (even though that work is being compensated by wages and benefits) ensures team members know their worth to the organization and further, know that they count toward the organization’s success. Saying thank-you is so very easy to do yet so often not done. One has to muse as to why.
Recently at a local business, there was tremendous push-back against a proposed change to an activity that many units had been engaged in for years. (Many posts could be written about how the “new directions” initiative was announced and initially handled.) The major driver for the push-back (besides the reality that change is typically challenging)? Those who had been engaged in the rather productive, customer-centric activity received no meaningful thanks for their dedicated work–work that had been done without management assistance, support, or direction. A direct but simple “Thank you–your work has set the table for some for some great things” would have gone a long way.
Of course, sincerity with please and thank-you helps too…
