Rick has advised leaders from many countries on ways to apply this new tool successfully.
A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of presenting along with Dr. Paul White at the CPH Change Conference. Paul is a speaker, international business consultant and licensed psychologist, as well as a bestselling author including his book, Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace and newly released book The Vibrant Workplace. Paul joined me for an Energy Bar Podcast to talk about The Vibrant Workplace and how to get past the common obstacles to building a culture of appreciation in the workplace.
In The Vibrant Workplace, Paul highlights a statistic that 51% of managers believe they are doing a good job of recognizing good work. However, only 17% of their employees agree. He explains that often there is a disconnection of what recognition or appreciation is for most managers or supervisors. It takes more than a note of thanks to get the message across. In a podcast last year, Paul shared about the five languages of appreciation and how not everyone likes to be appreciated in the same way.
While it’s common to recognize a star employee for an accomplishment, there is the middle group of core employees who are all doing their job but don’t receive enough recognition.
Paul said, "There is a big middle group - solid workers - who hardly ever get much recognition because they're not the stars, but they are the people you don't want to lose. If you have turnover in your middle group, it’s tough to have a winning team and a successful organization."
Interestingly, another alarming statistic is that 79% of people who leave a position voluntarily cite ‘not feeling appreciated’ as a key reason for leaving. Much research has been conducted around the high cost of turnover. So, seeing this statistic really drives home the importance of implementing an appreciation strategy for organizational success.
Paul also points out that it doesn’t have to always be work related, for example, maybe an employee is preparing for a 5K race or a single parent is continuing their education and recently graduated. Personal accomplishments are worthy of recognition too.
During our discussion, Paul gives simple easy-to-implement tips for getting started right away. His book dives into this much deeper and is a resourceful guide to creating a vibrant culture. You can learn more about Paul, his books and gain access to many helpful tools at appreciationatwork.com I hope you take a few minutes to listen to the podcast.
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