Showing appreciation for your colleagues

Ice cream for everyone!

It’s 9.30am on a Monday and the smell of cakes is already wafting towards your desk. The nocturnal colleague, who usually does a spot of baking over the weekend, has been up all night making cupcakes and a Slack message has just dropped into the local channel, offering out the goodies.

Later that day, another Slack message appears — there’s still some cakes left and some sweets and popcorn have been added to the mix. Someone has even been to M&S and bought a Colin the Caterpillar cake. Sound familiar? I’m sure it does. I’ve personally experienced this in multiple teams.

Fortunately we’re a little more healthy here at BGL! Our treat table actually contains a well-stocked fruit bowl and a variety of cereal bars. Yes cupcakes and sweets do appear occasionally, however during a recent team meeting — in which we drafted our ‘team charter’ — we agreed that while cakes and sweets are good (homemade is better), it’s not the only way to show appreciation and gratitude.

We concluded that these other options are just as good and we’ve since made a commitment to do these things too:

1. Say thank you. Credit where credit’s due. Social niceties do belong at work, so it’s always worth showing appreciation for each other’s hard work and contribution.
2. Utilise Kudos cards. In our office, we have themed Kudos cards. We write something nice on them and stick them up on a designated wall for everyone to see what a collaborative, caring, helpful bunch of people we are.
3. Recognising birthdays. Acknowledging someone’s birthday during the stand-up, presenting them with a card signed by the team and a promise to celebrate over a team lunch is a great way to show appreciation and deepen relationships. You might even get to know someone’s age!
4. Learn each others interests. Questions and acknowledgments about your colleague’s family, their hobby, their weekend or a special event on their calendar are always welcome. Your genuine interest (as opposed to being nosey) causes people to feel valued and cared about.
5. Gift incentives. At BGL, everyone has the option to gift any colleague who has demonstrated one of the company values a variety of things, including free meals, a high street voucher, half day annual leave, or a desk massage — to name a few.
6. Listen to each other. If you’re lucky enough to work with a talented team, gleaning their insights about what works can be worthwhile all on its own. Asking someone how they achieved their latest feat not only provides you with an opportunity to learn something new, but also shows genuine interest which in turn makes people feel valued.

Just think, when a co-worker has shown appreciation for something you’ve done to help them, you’ve felt a great deal of recognition, right? You’re probably also more likely to help that person again.

At BGL, we recognise that a bit of gratitude can go a long way. People tend to be happier when they feel valued, which can have a positive effect on moral, networking and your interactions at work in general.