John Plunkett, director of employment and training for Cobb Electric Membership Corporation in Marietta GA, says, "People love to collect other people's business cards. Simply carry a supply of your cards with you and as you 'catch people doing something right,' immediately write 'Thanks,' 'Good Job,' 'Keep it up,' and what they specifically did in two to three words. Put the person's name on the card and sign it."
Peter Economy Reports that when he worked as a manager for th City of San Diego Housing Commission, all participants at weeklong management-training workshops could write down one positive thing on an index card for every other person in the session, an activity they called a "strength barrage." Each individual would then receive his or her index cards and read what everyone else had to say about them out loud.
Chris Higgins, senior vice president of project planning at Bank of America's Services Division in Virginia, says, "It is so important to give everyone credit. I always try to find out who is going above and beyond the call of duty. My team is usually spread out over the country, so I wander over the telephone wires or pop in unexpectedly on conference calls. It is not a huge effort; it mainly takes discipline, but has tremendous payoff."
A division of Hewlett-Packard in San Diego held a day of appreciation for an exceptional employee, computer scientist Jennifer Wallick. Fellow employees reserved-10-minute time slots to visit her, present her with flowers, and thank her for something she had done for them. She was praised every 15 minutes throughout the day.
The New England Aquarium allows employees to recognize co-workers with a "thankful cod" (a card shaped like a codfish) - a play on on the New England accent. "Half the card goes to the employee and the other half goes into a quarterly lottery for gift certificates for paid time off, the company store, and local restaurants." reports Linda Hower, learning technologist for Gilbane University in Providence RI.
