4 Keys: 1st Key--Acknowledge Your Employees

     As promised, the four keys to successful leadership are very simple. Starting with the first key—acknowledge all of your employees no matter what! Take a moment and think back on ALL of your interactions with your staff. Has there been a time where you knew one of your employees has walked past you in the hallway, or entered the same room you were in, and you didn’t acknowledge them? Has that ever happened to you with your boss? How did you feel? Did you enjoy the moment of not being acknowledged?
     The simple fact is all of us appreciate being acknowledged. It’s an internal mechanism that is consistently monitoring the environment to determine if we provide value. When someone acknowledges us we tend to feel valued, cared for, and ultimately that we provide value. When the opposite occurs we tend to feel unappreciated and when we experience this feeling it usually stays with us throughout the day. For the strong individuals, we have the ability to justify why our boss did not acknowledge us so we can feel better about the situation—and we typically do. We understand that our boss can’t always say hello, or ask how we’re doing. And we go about our day.
     But how would we feel whether confident or not in who we are if our boss acknowledged us each and every time? Not by chance, but deliberately went out of their way to say hello and possibly even thank you. What would it be like if our boss broke away from a conversation with their boss, or an investor, or even just a colleague to look you in the eye, shake your hand, and say thank you? You have to admit, it would feel great!
     The bottom line is that each and every one of us wants to be cared for at work. We desire to be valued and know that we mean something to our department or organization. We want to know that our boss knows who we are and there is nothing more important than us—his team members in the overall objective of getting things done.
     I assure you, if you commit to acknowledging each and every one of your employee every time you come into contact with them, even with a simple hello—you will make tremendous strides in your success. Your team will respond differently to you. They will become more productive. Employee morale will increase. The entire environment will change simply because you take the time to let them know they exist and that you appreciate them. They will become motivated to support you and follow you in whatever you do or wherever you go…and isn’t that what leadership is? In his book The Leadership Wisdom of Solomon Pat Williams quotes John Baldoni, a leadership consultant who said, “Motivation is purely and simply a leadership behavior. It stems from wanting to do what is right for people as well as for the organization.” So my final question to leave you with is—is acknowledging each of your employees each time you see them not the right thing to do?