Why is appreciation a new story?

I have to say I don’t think I noticed more articles being released in a single week, then this week alone...about how organizations need to treat its employees in order to retain them.

"Do you know what unappreciated people do? They walk."  (Why Your Employees Are Leaving)

Hello!  Appreciating your employees is not new!  

This all continues to validate a message for those employers who have terminated programs that helped appreciate their employees.  If you haven’t taken care of your employees during the recession, your in for a huge surprise as the job market begins to recover!  Employees will jump ship, and so goes their skills and talent that has helped your company stay afloat the past few years.  

A manager’s use of appreciation doesn’t cost anything to give out, but provides them with unlimited positives returns.  Managers need to use appreciation to help drive performance and productivity.

"Ultimately, delivering strategy is about hiring the right people and motivating them to deliver results."  (Engage Employees and Boost Performance)

Here are 4 keys to appreciation that managers should use immediately!

1. Take a oath, "Above all else, I’ll do no harm."  The costs of bringing down others is so great that we need to spend far more time thinking about how to hold people's value, even in situations where they've fallen short and our goal is get them to change their behavior for the better.

2. Start appreciation by practicing with yourself. Take a few moments at the end of the day to ask yourself this simple question: "What can I rightly feel proud of today?" If you are committed to constant self-improvement, you can also ask yourself, "What could I do better tomorrow?" Both questions hold your value.

3. Make it a priority, notice what others are doing right. The more you work at it, the better you'll get at it, and the more natural it will become. Start by thinking about what positive qualities, behaviors and contributions you currently take for granted across your employees. Then ask yourself, what is it that each of them uniquely brings to the table?

4. Be appreciative. The more specific you can be about what you value — and the more you notice what's most meaningful to that person — the more positive your impact on that person is likely to be. A handwritten note makes a bigger impression than an email or a passing comment, but better any one of them than nothing at all.

“A company is only as good as the people it keeps.” 

Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics