You belong where you are appreciated

There is a current Nationwide Insurance television commercial which says in part “where ever you belong, you belong where you are appreciated"   

  

Feeling appreciated, or some variant thereof, usually ranks higher than money in making a job satisfying.  Study after study over the past many years has concluded that money typically ranks third to fifth in what makes the job "good".

Many people like to say that they are leaving a job for more money, but in reality, for most of them, it was NOT more money that made them first start seeking another job.

Once the decision is made to look elsewhere, it is often possible to find a job that pays more money.  Then upon leaving the person can tell management that they are leaving for money.  That is safer than telling the truth and usually does not burn bridges.  Note:  There are other reasons in addition to money and not being appreciated that cause people to choose to leave a job.  You can control some, but not all, of them.

There are lots of ways of demonstrating to people that they are appreciated.   And there are lots of ways to signal to people that they are NOT appreciated. 

I noted in an earlier post about the person who said no one came onto the floor just to talk to people ----and the owner who looked the other way.  These actions certainly did not make  people feel appreciated.

The culture and atmosphere which we worked to build and maintain demonstrated our appreciation for the people we had on the team.

Here is just one tiny example:  When taking outside visitors on plant tours I always tried to introduce them to people as we went through an area.  (often  along with a short vignette about the person)  I appreciated our staff members and I wanted our visitors to know it.  It also gave our visitors a chance to better understand our company, because they could interact with Richway people.  Our people knew they were appreciated because I would take the time to let them know our visitor.  I wanted our visitors to know that we were a team ---- not just me or me and a couple of management staff.

I could write a book about how to let  people know you appreciate them --- and how we did it.  As you continue to follow this blog, you will continue to learn some of the things that went into our culture.  Not everything worked, of course.  Some flopped miserably.  But we just kept on trying and doing.  Among other things, I did a lot of MBWA, a term made popular by Tom Peters, and attributed to management methods at Hewlett Packard.  [See comment at "Two kinds of engineers" post.]



Here is the takeaway-----  if you don't  genuinely appreciate your team members and don't let them know it, even your best people will be looking elsewhere.   (And your best people will have the easiest time finding another position)


 Learn more about MBWA here. 


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