At Administrative Professionals Day in Green Bay, Wisconsin on April 24, the subject of appreciation in the workplace came up during my presentation. A woman from my hometown happened to be in attendance.
After the program, she approached me privately saying, “Terra, I wanted to share a story about the value of appreciation, but I thought it too personal to share during the discussion. I have an email from you that I save in my inbox. I look at it every day to remind me that some people do appreciate me because no one ever says thank you. You wrote to say that you appreciated how I treated your grandmother with kindness and respect.”
I cried. Grandma’s been gone for nearly five years, but the grief is just under the surface. I loved my grandma dearly, but chances are I wrote this note because I was embarrassed by her behavior. At the end, grandma was sometimes short on patience and because of her age she didn’t think she needed to filter her thoughts before they came out as words. I don’t remember writing this email but I’m sure I wrote it because I thought Grandma behaved poorly.
This administrative professional has a very difficult job. I won’t give away her identity but let’s say that 90% of the people who come see her are NOT happy to be in her office. I imagine it is more challenging than your average customer service job. That being said, my email must be five years old! How is it possible that I’m the only one who ever said thank you?! We can do better.
My challenge to you this week is to say thank you to someone every day.
You may also wish to read 6 Easy Secrets to Professional and Impactful Handwritten Notes.
