One of the most important things a manager can do for the employees is to say thank you. It shows the employees that the manager has noticed that the job is completed or that there is confidence that the job will be completed. It also indicates appreciation for the employee. This is a simple expression that employees should hear at least from time to time. This is also true when speaking about a team. You’ll also notice that I talk about individuals as well as the team. However there is a funny thing about saying thank you. A manager needs to mean it. It can have a negative connotation if it is being said and the job is not completed. In other words it became a habit to say thank you.
Saying thank you cannot be the only thing that is done for an individual or a team. . Though the employees will appreciate this if there is no other communication going on in regards to their work, it will become commonplace. When a team is involved it should be remembered that most of the time thank you is going to the individual in the course of a day. So how is a team made to feel like a team and noted for its accomplishments?
The members of a team need to know that each person relates to the other and to the whole. If someone is absent it is a good time to show how it affected the team for the day. I am not saying pound the person for being absent but simply show that it was more difficult to get the job done without the person. Here the person’s importance can also be shown. It can be explained that many activities need to get accomplished throughout the day, and it is the team that gets that completed. Getting feedback from members on how it could be better is a way of building the team effort. Giving each member a part of the function that that person is responsible for but affects the whole also builds the team. As the members get their jobs done it needs to be noticed and praised.
It comes down to the manager noticing what is going on, talking about the team, telling them along the way what is going right, how to correct things, and yes saying thank you. It really is an involvement all along the way and not just when things go wrong. An employee should feel that coming to the manager and explaining something went wrong is fine and they will solve it together. Any team or individual needs to feel supported. Needs to feel they matter. Need to be noticed.
A thank you is very important but it cannot be the only thing that happens.
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