I make it a rule in my programs and live it myself every day: focus on the positive, acknowledge and tell people what you liked and found wonderful. There is a science behind why this is beneficial for everyone, which is often completely ignored, pushing the reasons for it on religion or spiritual choices instead.
Here are a few lines out of a book. Forgot which book … which does not matter at this point. You will immediately get it when you read the following paragraphs. Enjoy!
— start of book quote —
Your frustrations feed a lot of families. In America alone, there are about 2,7 millon call-center employees who are standing by, ready to soothe you. That´s roughly the population of Kansas. But what if you`ve got joy in your heart? Good luck finding someone who cares. In essence, there`s a state full of people who exist to handle our complaints and, at best, a canoe full of people to handle our compliments.
Why do companies make it so hard for us to say thank you?
Imagine you`re in a Tex-Mex restaurant, eating an awe-inspiring quesadilla. You may rave about it to the waiter, but chances are, your praise will never make it to the person who counts: the cook. Or maybe you appreciate the extra-deep cup holder in your Toyota, which holds your latte snugly. Where do you send the thank-you note? If you send it to Toyota, then if you are lucky, it will be read by someone in corporate communications, who will write back a soulless acknowledgment. But the engineer who designed it – and the product manager who fought for it – will never know how you feel.
That is a tragedy on multiple levels, starting with the employees who never receive your warm fuzzies. Pick any non-customer-service employee at random from your company. When was the last time that person received positive feedback directly from a customer? If the answer is “never”, that is as cruel as an unwatered plant. Or an ignored Lady Gaga.
This is an economic issue as well as an emotional one. In a survey of 10.000 employees from the largest 1.000 companies, 40% of workers cited “lack of recognition” as a key reason for leaving a job.
This thank-you scarcity is, just as important, a tragedy for your customers. Because when a customer says thanks, they make you happy, but they make themselves even happier.
In her book The How of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor at the University of California, Riverside, describes a dozen scientifically proven strategies to make yourself happier. The first? Expressing gratitude.
In one study, researchers asked a group of people to make a list, once a week for ten weeks, of five things they were thankful for. Other groups in the study wrote diffferent kind of weekly lists, such as “five major events” or “five hassles”. The “thankful” group felt more happiness, excitement and joy than the other groups. They even reported better physical health: fewer headaches and less coughing.
Another study found that making a “gratitude visit” – writing and delivering a letter to someone who was kind to you but whome you had never thanked, such a friend who suggested it was time to ditch the legwarmers – caused people`s happiness to spike for a full month afterward.
A thank-you from a customer, then, creates a radiating halo of happiness – employees feel recognized, customers feel joyful, and there´s less coughing.
What is your company doing to let gratitude blossom?
Yes, we know, you have surveys, but they are impersonal, and no one ever sees the results except the marketing department. And no, it doesn´t count to say that your customers could call up your support hotline and offer some praise. That´s like complimenting your wife´s new haircut by leaving her uncle a voice mail.
— end of book quote —
Happy to hear which thoughts this inspired in you …
