Little Things You Can Do in your Workplace to Appreciate People

I was deeply touched to receive this letter yesterday from Shirley Weigand from Elmira Savings Bank in Elmira, New York:

Barbara:

I have just finished reading your book, “CARE Packages for the Workplace,” and am happy to note that some of what you talk about are things that we already do here. In fact, you inspired me so much that this morning before work, I baked peanut butter cookies and brought them in and left them in our break room with a note saying, “I just felt like baking this morning, so please enjoy some cookies!” And every time someone called or emailed me to thank me for the cookies, I thanked them for what they do for me every day. It felt so good!”

Workplace

What a wonderful, simple way to show your co-workers how much you appreciate them! (And if you do not like to bake, you could even bring cookies from the store or the bakery…;-) Thank you, Shirley, for sharing this idea with us.

What ideas do you have to make YOUR workplace more joyful and caring?

To order a copy of Barbara’s book and get even more ideas, go to www.barbaraglanz.com/products/books/.

Video Q & A with Barbara Glanz

Question: What do employees really want in today’s workplace?

Barbara answers: To hear Barbara answer this question click here

For more questions and answers with Barbara, visit Barbara’s Video Q&A

Quick Appreciation Ideas

This idea is excerpted from Barbara’s book “Handle with CARE — Motivating and Retaining Employees” (McGraw-Hill). To order this book, go to the Online Store section of Barbara’s website by clicking on the book cover.

*Give an employee a surprise day off.

*Write and perform a song about your employees.

*Have a surprise “Queen/King for the Day” celebration for someone who is always there to support others.

*Send flowers to an employee’s spouse, parents, or significant other, thanking them for the great work that employee is doing.

*Use candy names as ways to appreciate employees. When they have met a sales or other goal, give them a SKOR bar. If they have gone the extra mile, how about a package of EXTRA gum? If they have done something really valuable for the team, choose a $100,000 Bar. If they always make everyone laugh or keep their spirits high, give them a “Snickers.” If you go to a good candy store, you can personalize something for each person on your team.

*Find a key employee on your staff who enjoys and is good at making employees feel good and make employee recognition a formal part of his or her job description.

*Ask each employee to write down at least 8 things they would like for rewards or recognition—at least two that cost no money, two that cost from $5 to $50, two that cost from $50 to $200 and two dream things.

*Have a senior manager wash an employee’s car.

*Take out an ad in the local paper celebrating an employee.

*Give an employee a pair of painter’s gloves with the fingers dipped in red paint as the “I work my fingers to the bone award.”

*Send each employee a glass container. Then give them a different kind of candy to fill it every month.

*On the employee’s birthday let them choose from five different envelopes, each with something they have suggested they would like for a reward.

*Keep an “Appreciation Box” on your desk so employees can let you know what others have done for them.

*Help one of your star employees run for an office in a trade association, If they win, take away some of their responsibilities so they can handle the extra work they’ve taken on.

*Have an “Achievements Box” in your work area where employees can write down whenever something positive happens. At the end of the week, read each entry to employees.

We would love to hear how your company shows appreciation to your employees. Share your ideas in the “Leave a reply” section below!

Appreciation Affects the Bottom Line!

I recently received this letter from a regional manager who had purchased my book on Appreciation. Her experience serves to affirm how just a small bit of appreciation and recognition can change lives, relationships, and organizations. In the book I say,”Appreciation is a FREE GIFT that you can give to anyone you encounter– it is completely your choice. And each time you choose to thank someone for a job well done, you are making the world a better place.” Thank you, Shannon, for making your world a better place!

Barbara,

I recently read your book “The Simple Truths of Appreciation”. It really
moved me, and helped me to see that I have been lacking in that area as a
manager. Although I try to recognize employees that have made great
achievements with the bank, after reading your book, I realized I was
missing other more promising opportunities. I realized that some of my
associates that need the most encouragement are getting it the least.

I decided to start scheduling time to show my appreciation and have been
doing so in the form of thank you letters, phone calls, group recognition
and one on one communication. I have made a special effort to commend my
employees that are struggling on some of their smaller successes. The
response has been wonderful. Some of my more timid employees are starting
to come out of their shells and show leadership potential…something I
didn’t see in them before. Some of my employees who were under performing
and whose light seemed to have gone out are now high performers again.

Today I had a meeting with my head tellers. At the end of the meeting, one
of them (who had put in her two weeks notice last Friday) announced to the
group that she had changed her mind about leaving. She said that when she
came to work Friday, her mind was made up. Our Human Resources Department
offered her more money so that we might retain her. She told them she’d
think about it, but that she really wanted the shorter hours she was being
offered to be a bookkeeper part time. We were convinced that we would be
unable to change her mind. But she told us today, that Friday afternoon,
she received a thank you card from me in the mail. I had sent it several
days before (before I knew that she was considering leaving). In the card,
I thanked her for doing a great job on the presentation that she prepared
for our last meeting. I also told her how much potential she has and how
proud I am of how she has grown as a leader. She said that reading that
card and realizing that she is appreciated and that she is making a
difference completely changed her mind.

I cannot express how happy this makes me. Not only am I keeping a valuable
employee, but her comments made me feel that I am making a difference too.
Now my light is shining even brighter. All of this I owe to you. I cannot
thank you enough! You are an inspiration, and I will never again allow
appreciation to become an after thought. It is now at the top of my
priorities…right where it should be.

Shannon M. Brown
Regional Operations Manager

To learn more about Barbara’s work or to order this book, go to www.barbaraglanz.com

Proven Ways for You and your Employees to Feel Better in 2013!

According to a recent study from the Cleveland Clinic, there are seven unusual tips for you and your employees to be happier and healthier in 2013. These are simple things each of you can do to improve morale almost immediately:

1. EAT MORE CHOCOLATE. Eating chocolate, just 6.7 grams a day, can decrease the impact of heart disease, increase blood flow to the brain, and even fight depression. According to research, a small square 2 or 3 times a day can have great health benefits, and who does not like chocolate? Make sure you have chocolate available in your cafeteria or vending machines, especially 70% dark which is the healthiest. Some companies are even scheduling a daily “chocolate break!”

2. DANCE. Dancing burns calories, strengthens muscles and bones, brings the benefits of music and rhythm, and is fun. A great way to build relationships in the workplace is to have special times each week to learn and practice line dancing, salsa, other ethnic dances, and even the old standby of Rock ‘n Roll!

3. GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE. Try anything new, like learning a new dance, working on a puzzle, taking a class or learning a foreign language. This can even be as simple as taking a new way to work one day each week or reading a new magazine or experimenting with a new computer program. Every workplace has amazing resources in its employees, so find out what people love to do in their free time and what special skills they have and set up internal learning workshops.

4. TAKE A MENTAL TIME OUT. When the stress is too great, take a personal or vacation day and do something JUST FOR YOU! Even taking an extra hour at lunch and walking in a park or meeting a friend from outside work or going to the gym can boost endorphins and morale.

5. DRINK COFFEE. Surprise! New research shows that drinking 2 or 3 eight ounce cups of coffee can reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease by as much as 40%. Just be wise about overdoing it. I know Starbucks will LOVE this one!

6. GO SHOE SHOPPING. OK, Guys, this is for you, too. How your feet feel is directly related to your mood. Women, replace those terribly high heels with thicker ones 2 1/4 inches or lower and go for square toes rather than pointy. You can save the pretty ones for evening!

7. LAUGH. This is my favorite! Laughter has positive effects on so many aspects of our lives — mood, blood flow, and sleep, to name a few. In fact, research has shown that 10 minutes of belly laughing is as beneficial for your system as ONE HOUR of rowing! Why not have a “Laughter break” at the same time every day and challenge people to make those around them laugh. I suggest every workplace reception area should have a large, clear glass bowl filled with cartoons and jokes so that when you are having a bad day, you can find something quick to make you smile.

AS I travel around the world speaking on how to achieve greater employee engagement, over and over again I realize it is the SIMPLE things that make the most difference. These seven things can help you to create a happier, healthier workplace with little or no cost, and you will have fun doing it!

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Life is All About Relationships

Life is All About Relationships
Barbara A. Glanz, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame

As I was speaking to Bank of America managers in Dallas, I talked a lot about building relationships—relationships with employees, relationships with colleagues, and relationships with customers. These folks were each going to manage their own banking centers, and they were at the very end of a three month training session. They had been in class since early morning, there had been an open bar and dinner, and then I was scheduled to speak, certainly not the professional speaker’s favorite venue!

What happened that night was absolutely amazing as these precious people opened their minds and hearts to fully realize the awesome opportunity they would each have to create workplaces where both employees and customers would feel valued and respected, places where people could be their very best selves. Not only did I receive a spontaneous standing ovation when I finished, but people lined up across the room to give me a hug, and many waited for nearly an hour to have me sign their books. Later that evening as I was pondering the tremendous impact my words had on the audience, the connection that occurred between us, and the deep spirit of caring that was created in that room, the following thought occurred:

LIFE IS ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS! Some last a lifetime, others are precious gifts of the moment, but some, even though short-lived in the eternity of time, will change our lives forever.

These are the relationships that imprint themselves onto our very being and stretch us in ways that can bring both intense joy and excruciating pain. And yet most of us would never wish them out of our experience because these deep soul connections teach us more about our real selves than we could learn in any other way. And even though life may force us to move on to other paths, we are grateful.

“Life is made up of many partings welded together.”
– Charles Dickens, Great Expectations –

“I am a part of all I have met.”
– Tennyson’s Ulysses –

……. I would like to think of our friendship as being like two rivers, which one day, within the fleeting moments of time, met and suffused – two rivers that arose from different valleys to flow together toward the sea. As time would have it – our lives – like rivers, stir and break to carve our separate courses toward destiny’s distant uncharted waters. No longer will the rivers together flow – no longer will they laugh at rain together. Time and space will be between them. But as friends who together flowed through the valleys of knowledge, each will retain a part of the other. Each, several years hence, will look back upon moments past with a smile.

Sometimes rivers meet again – if only for a span – so perhaps somewhere within the eternity of time our lives will again converge. But …..if not even for a moment can we relive the friendship we have had – I will cherish until death the mere fact that I have known you.

How blessed I feel to have loved and been loved in a wide variety of relationships throughout my lifetime. We may lose our health, our possessions, and even the physical presence of those we love, but NEVER will we lose the memory, however fleeting the relationship, of connecting heart to heart and soul to soul.

For each friend I’ve met on my journey — from seat mates on airplanes, to members of my audiences, to friends who have walked beside me for over 50 years — I say from the depths of my being, “Thank you for touching my life.”

When I think of a life filled with purpose and meaning, it is all about building relationships. What kind of relationships are you building each day?

Blessings and love,
Barbara

BARBARA GLANZ BIO
For free articles you can use in your company newsletters and an archive of dozens of immediately applicable “Ideas of the Month,” go to www.barbaraglanz.com.
Internationally known speaker, author and a member of the prestigious Speaker Hall of Fame, Barbara Glanz, CSP, CPAE, works with organizations that want to improve morale, retention, and service and with people who want to rediscover the joy in their work and in their lives. Barbara was voted “best keynote presenter you have heard or used” by Meetings & Conventions Magazine, July 2010. She is the author of 11 best-selling books, including The Simple Truths of Service Inspired By Johnny the Bagger; The Simple Truths of Appreciation; Handle with CARE—Motivating and Retaining Employees; CARE Packages for the Workplace–Dozens of Little Things You Can Do to Regenerate Spirit at Work; Building Customer Loyalty and CARE Packages for Your Customers. Using her Master’s degree in Adult Education, Barbara lives and breathes her personal motto: “Spreading Contagious Enthusiasm™.” She is the first speaker on record to have presented on all seven continents and in all 50 states. For more information, she can be reached directly at 941-312-9169; www.barbaraglanz.com; bglanz@barbaraglanz.com.
You can learn more about her work at www.barbaraglanz.com

SPONTANEOUS TREATS–The Key to Employees’ Hearts!

SPONTANEOUS TREATS–The Key to Employees’ Hearts!
By Barbara A. Glanz

Employees need to feel appreciated. They need to be managed on both the Human and the Business levels. We also know that happy employees are more productive employees. One of the most special ways a manager can fulfill all of these needs is to surprise his or her employees with a treat.

Read More…

Tips to Rebuild Employee Morale

SPREAD CONTAGIOUS ENTHUSIASM–Tips to Rebuild Employee Morale
By Barbara A. Glanz

Today’s workplace is enveloped by the fear of downsizing, loss of job security, overwhelming changes in technology, and the stress of having to do more with less. According to a recent Roper poll, employee morale and job satisfaction are at the lowest point they have been since Roper first began doing the poll decades ago. Managers must recognize this phenomenon and do their best to counteract it if their organizations are going to survive.

Read More…

Make a Thanksgiving Tree

Make a Thanksgiving Tree

The Idea:
It doesn’t just have to be the month of Thanksgiving that we share our gratitude and appreciation for blessings in our lives. One of the ways to keep “an attitude of gratitude” in our homes or workplace is to make a Thanksgiving tree.

The Idea In Action:
Many years ago I created a Thanksgiving tree for our home. I took a large manzanita branch, sprayed it gold, and secured it in a base of plaster of Paris. Beside it I kept a basket of small plain cards with holes punched in them, another basket of pieces of colored yarn, and a pen. The tradition in our family is that the month before Thanksgiving, the tree is placed on a table in our living room, and each family member writes down things for which he or she is thankful and hangs them on the tree. We also encourage guests in our home to participate. At the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day we read the cards from the tree as an affirmation of our blessings. Then we save the cards from the year before, and we read those as well. It is a wonderful way to remind us of all the goodness in our lives and reinforces the importance of sharing our appreciation.

Tips:
This could be used year round in a family to focus on the good things happening each day. We found that guests in our home for the month of Thanksgiving would almost always take time to read at least some of the cards on the tree. Many from the children brought smiles to their faces and added a special sunshine to their day. If the tree is kept up all year long, it will be important to remove the cards on a regular basis to make room for others and to encourage continual appreciation.

This idea is excerpted from Barbara’s book, “CARE Packages for the Workplace –Dozens of Little Things You Can Do to Regenerate Spirit at Work,” McGraw-Hill.

To learn more about Barbara’s work, her books, and to subscribe to her free email newsletter, go to www.barbaraglanz.com.