Appreciate People And Lift Them Up!
Make people feel important and valued and you'll have a huge advantage in life and your career.
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Hi this is John with this week’s Developing Skills - Skills for Developers looking to develop their careers.
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Tip of The Week: Appreciate People, Lift Them Up And Make Them Feel Important!
“Hey, John!” my boss called over to me as I walked back from the kitchen with a fresh coffee. “IT just came by to install some software for you, apparently you asked for it this morning?”
“Yes”, I replied, wondering if I was in trouble somehow.
“How come your request that you put in this morning got done? I asked them to sort my stuff out two weeks ago?”, demanded my boss.
I said nothing and put down my coffee. He went back to work. I then wandered down the corridor and into the next building to visit IT. When I got there I was warmly greeted by the team. I asked who has handled my request and said thank you, chatted to them for a few minutes and returned to my desk.
On the way I passed my boss, he was on the phone demanding IT handle his request right now!
Can you see the difference in our approach?
I took the time to go talk to the IT people in person. I got to know who they were, what they cared about and what they were interested in. I also went over to them to ask nicely for what I wanted (I also put in the correct formal request too, so there was the ticket in the system that they needed, then I shared the ticket ID with them).
I also went around to see them in person to say thank you for what they did for me after it was done.
Saying thank you is surprisingly effective. People are chronically under-appreciated. As a result, those of us who take it upon ourselves to really appreciate people have a huge advantage.
However it’s easy to forget as we get busy, so here are four tips to be better at appreciating people:
First do no harm! Before you focus on appreciating people, make sure you’re not devaluing them. Don’t knock people down when they fall short of your expectations, instead focus on positive ways to improve their performance.
Appreciate yourself. If you’re failing to appreciate others, you might also be failing to appreciate yourself. Take a few moments at the end of the day to ask yourself : “What am I proud of today?” Consider how you can improve by asking yourself, “What could I do better tomorrow?”. After this becomes a habit, apply it to others.
Make it a priority to 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 for you. For example, start by thinking about what positive qualities, behaviours and contributions you take for granted from other people.
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.
If you’ve got a story that illustrates when appreciation has helped you succeed, please share it in the comment for this post.
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