Operationalise gratitude

One of the simplest yet most effective performance-enhancing techniques I've seen in years of building winning teams is the power of the thank-you. It's a tool that is often used poorly or arbitrarily but can be powerful once systemised.

A small "thank you for going the extra mile" delivered within a day of the event can significantly impact a person's outlook, mood and morale. Even in a high-performance team that is used to delivering excellence, the sheer fact of acknowledgement can be enough to make a person's day. We like to be noticed for doing good stuff, and these little flashes of attention, chained together, can enable us to reach even bigger milestones. Encouragement from the side of the road helps us, like the tired marathoner, stay the pace and keep going.

The corollary applies here, too - when we are not thanked for the work we do or when giving more than we would ever expect becomes our new performance floor, our performance can suffer. We find it hard to deliver at the same level, to find the inner motivation to surmount tough obstacles, and to lose the will to try.

If we can't get that energy back, and if our managers and team leaders can't find us exciting stretch projects to awaken us, we quit - by the side of the road as it were - and look for a new job elsewhere. Some studies suggest up to 60% of underappreciated workers are looking for new jobs at any time (side note, these are almost always the top performers).

Little thanks don't pay the bills, but they make us feel good, seen, and valued. That "made my day" feeling is real and is a powerful agent for excellent performance. The thanks doesn't have to be big, doesn't need to be public and doesn't need to be monetary (though can be all three) but it does need to be authentic

How to thank people properly

Don't waste thanking opportunities by making off the cuff remarks whilst passing in a corridor. If the work has been impressive, beyond or innovative enough to deserve sincere thanks then thanks itself should take effort.

Send an email expressing gratitude: If the person is a direct report this has the added benefit of being a written record of outstanding performance when it comes time for appraisals. If the person is not a direct report, copy their line manager into the conversation. Put some context around what they did, how it exemplified the company values and how the actions made wider commercial impact. By detailing the achievement we help them relive it and bring the work to light.

In a public meeting, thanking out loud can also be extremely powerful. It calls the attention of a wider group to the individual performance and to an example of what exemplary work looks like. Be sure to describe in full the work and impact as above. These public announcements raise the individual's profile within the business and demonstrate to the wider group that excellence does not go unnoticed. Encouragement from the side of the road helps us, like the tired marathoner, stay the pace and keep going.

Whichever you choose, be sure to back this up with documentation. A leader or manager who is able to demonstrate examples of outstanding performance in their team members, having taken the time to recognise and document those achievements themselves (not having to be reminded come appraisal time), is likely to inspire a fiercely loyal and effective team.

The value or otherwise of monetary reward

Adding a commercial reward to a thank you is certainly compelling in the short term - who doesn't appreciate a bonus from a grateful boss or delighted team mates? The problem becomes the monetising and value assessment of different extra-ordinary commitments. Once a reward is paid for extra work then the kinds of meaningful thank yous' mentioned above can become less meaningful. A problem arises: "Why did his work get a bonus or a £150 gift card, and mine didn't, especially since mine was bigger work?". The problem comes in where to draw the line. Is a piece of work directly impacting the business's bottom line worth more than a piece of work around automating a frustrating process? Even if that automation has more impact on the daily work of dozens or hundreds of colleagues?

Businesses have experimented with thresholds for financial reward - a cash bonus for accruing a certain number of key achievements, for example. These can be nominations from colleagues for outstanding work. However, the problem of rewarding individual and variable contributions still exists, as do the personal misincentives that act on behaviour. When extra performance becomes rewardable, standard performance can decline. Finally, the administration of a legitimate scoring and reimbursement system can be incredibly complex.

Far better then to avoid direct financial reward entirely and to focus instead on collecting evidence of impactful work and using this as justification when salary review or promotion season rolls around. As mentioned earlier, the real value of gratitude comes when it is acknowledged at the time and revisited after the fact. It is an exceptional boss that records and remembers every time you went the extra mile and deliberately brings these achievements up at times that are beneficial to you.

Thanking creates meaning

Organisations with the kind of exceptional bosses mentioned here retain talent for longer, develop stronger capabilities and outcompete their peers. People like to be challenged, to rise to that challenge, and to have others notice how they did. This is what meaningful work is all about.

Meaningful work attracts high-performance staff, and high-performance staff attract further high performers. Cultures that formally recognise achievement develop loyalty and commitment.

Summary

Developing a gratitude system has extreme value. Take simple thank-yous and build an operational framework around their deployment. Combining public, written, and minuted thanks can genuinely catalyse extraordinary performance growth within an organisation.