The Power of Appreciation

It’s no secret that showing appreciation accelerates growth. In fact, in the US we have a March holiday specifically for employee appreciation (who knew?). Philosophically, we don’t agree with this annual holiday, because quite simply, we believe employee appreciation is not a one day event.

Because employees play a critical role in all types of businesses, it is our belief that appreciation should be an on-going effort, if for no other reason than it impacts the bottom line. Decades of Gallup research has consistently proven that the more satisfied employees are, the more likely it will correlate with customer satisfaction and shareholder returns. This is particularly true in service companies, where employees ARE the product – they produce the revenue through their individual and collective work.

At Share On Purpose, our cultural foundation includes what we call “acts of appreciation.” Acts of appreciation include: gratitude texts (messages), appreciation emails, private “thank you” conversations, financial rewards (Share Bucks™) and totems such as The Giving Keys which memorialize key cultural accomplishments. Our entire executive team role models frequent appreciation for staff members in order to ensure that we are consistently focused on the importance of every team member.

In addition to “acts of appreciation,” we eliminated the annual review system and instead opted for frequent mentoring, on-the-spot-coaching, and leadership development programs. This is extremely effective in our culture because of an ingenious system called The Career Matrix™ (created by Talent On Purpose) which gives employees a clear, predominantly self-directed, development path. The Career Matrix encourages each associate to seek feedback as part of their development path, rather than as an annual process. In essence, they seek the continuous feedback to advance through the matrix, and then focus their training efforts around the leadership skills needed to advance to the next level.

This process enables our executive team to spend their energy developing leaders rather than filling out annual review documents. Developmental coaching, as well as frequent feedback, is a key form of appreciation especially when it’s guided toward the career aspirations of employees, rather than an annual requirement.

These various forms of appreciation have attracted high performers in every segment of our portfolio, which in turn has accelerated our financial performance and growth. Additionally, it has created a culture that endures difficulty, embraces progress, and focuses on individual, team and brand development in a positive manner.

So, if your current company doesn’t appreciate you frequently, for example, they do not invest in your development, maybe it’s time to appreciate yourself and make a change. Start now by learning more about our open positions. Make every day appreciation day!