The Awesome Power of Showing Appreciation

I am mostly offline, attending a business conference. I have asked several bloggers to post in my absence. This is a guest post by Tracy Letzerich, a stay-at-home mom and former strategy-consultant-turned-algebra-teacher. She blogs at Time With Tracy. You can also follow her on Twitter. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

It doesn’t matter whether your office is a boardroom, classroom, or laundry room. There are people who do things for you every day. Employees, colleagues, and family are expected to do their part. Do they know that you appreciate them?

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/aiseeit

It was a typical Monday, and I was about to churn out a business-like email to my husband. Have you heard back from the tax guy? Don’t forget the teacher-parent conference on Thursday. Oh, and the neighbors are irritated because you put the recycle bin out on the wrong day.

In the middle of composing this gem of gentle reminders, a terrible realization came over me: I send a similar email to my husband every Monday. Imagine his excitement when my name appears in his inbox! I began to wonder. Does he know how much I appreciate him?

Four Things Your People Need in Tough Times

Tough times present great opportunities to grow our leadership and shape our legacy. The current recession is no exception. The problem is that many leaders I have spoken with have grown weary of trying to keep things moving forward with fewer resources.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/peterandersons, Image #6307944

In times like these, it is tempting for us to stay in our offices and become introspective. But we absolutely must not do that. It’s time to suck it up and lead. Our leadership will make a difference—for us, for them, and for our organization’s mission.

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