Leadership Attributes: Leaders are Appreciative

As we continue our series on leadership attributes, we now turn to appreciation. Several years ago, I asked a group of leaders and co-workers in the organization I worked what attributes of a leader were important to them. I received a wide variety of responses. One of the attributes that was mentioned was appreciative. To be a leader others want to follow you need to be appreciative.
In my experience, most employees in whatever area – business, church, non-profit, etc. – work hard and want to do a good job. They take pride in their work. At the same time, they want to feel appreciated. They want to know that their leader notices the work they do.

In his book Leadership Gold, leadership expert John Maxwell writes that people quit people, not companies. Employees often leave companies not because they dislike the company or their job, but rather because they want to escape a particular person, usually their boss. Working for a leader who doesn’t appreciate them or their work will negatively impact job satisfaction.

Here are a few ways that I have seen leaders others want to follow show appreciation:

• One leader I worked for would keep a box of greeting cards (“Thank You”, “Congratulations”, etc.) in their desk. When they became aware that a member of their function did something well – received positive feedback from a customer, achieved an educational achievement, etc. – they would hand write out a card, put it in an envelope and place it on the person’s desk. That sign of appreciation, meant a great deal to those who received one of those cards. I would often see the cards proudly displayed on their desks as I walked through the work area.
• There are many reasons to celebrate in the workplace. I often saw project teams celebrate after working very hard to achieve project milestones. A common celebration would be a pizza party with a senior leader attending to say a few words of thanks for the hard work that was necessary to achieve the milestone. Such a celebration cost little and took a minimal amount of time, but meant a good deal to those who received the appreciation.
• Some organizations offer monetary awards for special achievements. While I would hear some leaders say that they would never recommend their team members for these awards because it was their expectation that team members would work hard, leaders others want to follow knew the work that their team members were doing and the extra effort that was required to achieve results and would take joy in recognizing the extra effort.

It is important for leaders to show their appreciation of their team members and the work they are doing. In what ways have you seen leaders show appreciation?