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The Conscious Entrepreneur | Leadership, Self-Awareness & Mindset
EP 115: A Better Way to Say Thanks: Authentic Employee Appreciation and Corporate Gifting
00:09:11
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There's an art to showing appreciation for your team. When it's done right, it builds trust, loyalty, and a genuine sense of connection. People feel seen not just for what they do, but who they are and how they show up every day. And when it really works, it even reflects your culture. It says, this is who we are and what we value here. But when it's done wrong, it can actually chip away at the connection. A generic gift card that everyone gets, or a corporate email that sounds all at once like it was written for everyone and no one at all. Even a well intentioned gesture can land flat or make people feel like a number. And it's so sad because it's such a big missed opportunity. Especially this time of year when a thoughtful moment of recognition can say so much more than just, hey, thanks for all your hard work. So today we're going to talk about how to thank your team in a way that feels genuine, personal, and reflects your company's values. Something that's achievable whether you're dealing with a team of five or 500.
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You're listening to the Conscious Entrepreneur and I'm Sarah Lockwood. This is the only podcast completely dedicated to the well being of entrepreneurs. It's where we do the inner work.
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To become the leaders our businesses truly need.
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A thriving business starts with a thriving you.
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Let's get into it. So we've hit that point in the year again. The season of, hey, what are we going to do for the team for the holidays? And all of a sudden, sudden people are making suggestions like a tower of treats, branded water bottles, company hoodies. And all of these ideas come from a good place, but they don't always feel great when you're receiving those gifts. They don't feel thoughtful or personal or even really that big of a gesture of appreciation. So if you haven't thought about how you want to show appreciation to your team yet, there's still time to do it well. And I actually think this is the perfect time to do it. Thanksgiving is the sweet spot. It's early enough that your message doesn't get lost in the holiday noise. And people are in a reflective and receptive headspace around what went right this year, who they appreciate. And it just cuts through the noise in a really authentic way. And I would also note that even if your team is international and not celebrating Thanksgiving in the US the sentiment still translates. They understand that this is about appreciation and reflection and connection. And it's the season in that everyone understands. So today we're going to Talk about how to do this well, how to do it better than maybe you've done it in the past. And I have a couple of ideas that can help Your thank yous actually mean something and a tool that might make it easy to put it into place. So the first idea I want to share is just saying it like you mean it. It sounds really obvious, but this is where a lot of people fall short. You can feel when somebody is just ticking a box. We've all gotten that thank you for your hard work note from your boss and it could have been sent to anyone. And in fact, it probably was. The same message went to everybody on their team. And that doesn't make people feel noticed or appreciated instead of just the standard lines. I really think it's worth the time and the care to write something genuine or to recognize someone authentically with something like, hey, our meetings feel so much calmer when you're in the room. You're a steady force that everyone relies on or oh my gosh, you've taken so much off of my plate this year. I don't say it enough, but thank you or wow, you've caught details that the rest of us would have missed. Your care and attention makes all the difference. Thank you for being on the team. It doesn't have to be long or perfect. It just has to sound like you. And you can do that in a lot of different ways. It can be handwritten note, it could be a slack message. It could even be a voice memo if that's your thing. It's really about something that's personal and specific that makes people remember and be touched by what you're saying. I have an experience where on my team that I was leading, we hit a really huge quarterly rock. Everyone had been working on it and it was a heavy lift. And the next morning when I came in, somebody had left a little note and a little bag of candy on my desk. It was this mango Tajin treats that I was having like an addiction to for a little while. And somebody just said, hey, now that you have time to relax, here's something sweet. Thank so much I had been seen. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't expensive, but somebody knew what I like. They were paying attention to maybe what was going on with my vibe. And it was very thoughtful and it built a warm sense of community for me with that person and it made me feel good about the work I had been doing. So it was a really successful gesture of appreciation. And that is really what gratitude does. It really makes you Feel seen and appreciated. The other thing I would mention about gifting is that it really should reflect your culture. Every gift sends a message, whether you mean it to or not. Like if you're a wellness company and you give everybody an extra paid day of time off, it says, we really mean it. We want you to be rested and be well. A creative team that gives everybody like a learning budget says we value curiosity. So before you send any gift at all, just think what does this gift say about who we are and what we value? When it feels out of sync with your values, people feel that disconnection. But when it matches your values or it reinforces your culture, it actually builds alignment and belonging and sort of proves puts your money where your mouth is. Also, when you're thinking about corporate gifting for appreciation, there's some logistical challenges that can come with this. I mean, if you only have a very small group, you could go and do something, you know, super individual and put the time and attention into that. But that might not be possible if you have a larger team or you're just time constrained. So it really can turn into a logistical nightmare to try to do this with shipping addresses and sizes and preferences and even people's personal issues that if you don't pay attention to them, they can feel even more unseen. Like if somebody doesn't drink alcohol and you're sending an alcohol related gift that actually can do more harm than good, or if somebody is gluten free or has some sort of a food issue and you're sending a gift that includes that, it can kind of make them feel unappreciated. So you have to be super conscientious of keeping it human and keeping it individual. And so I think if you can find a gifting provider that lets people be flexible and choose their own gift, that's great. Especially when you can still include a short personal message that ties back to the appreciation that we talked about earlier. So there is a good platform that I've used before called Goody and you send everyone an email and they get a link and they can choose their own gift. And then you can actually even like create a gift assortment or you can kind of curate their choices. But what I like about it is you can still include that short personal message and tie it back to something that's unique to them. So it's a really great choice that makes a practical, simple gifting experience still mean a lot. And they can choose something they like. The other thing that's good is that platform lets you send gifts globally. So it works as well for people in the US as it does for more of a a global team. And then the last thing I just wanted to mention is that even though this is the time of year when gratitude is on everybody's mind, recognition and appreciation obviously shouldn't happen just once a year. Just those little moments of recognition. The short note that says, hey, you made a difference, or hey, I heard about your dog and I was thinking of you. Those are the kinds of touch points that can build trust on a team. So maybe this is the time to just take a little recognition reset and remember how powerful consistent appreciation can be, not just at this time of year, but every day of the year. So before you move on to your next meeting, maybe just think about one person on your team who you could give a genuine thank you to, something really specific that you've noticed and just shoot off a little slack message of recognition. But this year and around the holidays, I hope that you will block a couple of hours on your calendar and make this year's employee appreciation a little bit more personal and a little bit more special. And make that something that says, I see what you've done and I'm grateful.
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Thanks for listening to the Conscious Entrepreneur. Every episode here is meant to sharpen.
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How you lead and how you live.
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If something landed for you, please share it. Founder to founder, I'll meet you here next week.