Admit it, you have one. It may be tucked away or kept on display. I’m talking about The Note.
It’s a message of appreciation — from a boss, a co-worker or an employee. It might be typed or hand-written. Could be memo-formal, Hallmark-personal or Post-It®-casual.
The words in The Note were so meaningful to you that the message became a keepsake.
The holiday time of year provides a perfect moment to remind managers of the power of The Note, and to encourage you to craft a few of your own. Writing words of thanks comes quite naturally to some bosses. For others, it’s a chore. They’re busy. They’re not wordsmiths. They don’t want to seem sappy.
Moreover, some supervisors believe written recognition should be reserved for extraordinary performance. Why make an extra effort to acknowledge employees for simply doing what they’re supposed to do?
Here’s why: It reminds people that what they do matters — even the small things we too easily take for granted. When bosses restrict their written praise to heroic acts only, they miss opportunities to reinforce the quality that shines in everyday actions. And those everyday actions are the building blocks of excellence.
I’ll prove it.
Let me offer a dozen examples — 12 messages you could put in writing to the right employees today:
- Thanks for coming to me with problems — always coupled with suggested solutions.
- Thanks for keeping current on industry issues and trends.
- Thanks for treating company equipment as if it were your own.
- Thanks for seeing beyond your own cubicle and looking out for colleagues.
- Thanks for your curiosity and interest in learning.
- Thanks for being relentlessly reliable.
- Thanks for keeping family photos in plain view, a reminder that work alone never defines us.
- Thanks for the gentle heat you send my way when my ideas are half-baked.
- Thanks for making our meetings productive, not ponderous.
- Thanks for the trust you inspire with your integrity.
- Thanks for your calm in the occasional crisis — and for never causing one.
- Thanks for making it so easy to write this note of thanks.
I hope my list got you thinking about the people on your staff who deserve The Note. Most of all, I hope you’ll write and deliver a few this holiday season.
Happy Thanksgiving.
In today’s podcast, I share the story of a surprise note, its unlikely writer, and the power of its message. Give a listen to “What Great Bosses Know about The Note”:
Poynter’s “What Great Bosses Know” podcast is sponsored by The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. You can download a complete series of these podcasts free on iTunes U. Poynter’s leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares practical information on leadership and management that’s valuable for bosses in newsrooms and all walks of life.
