The Oldest Recognition Program on Earth: Thank You

I expect that most of you reading this will have had a similar experience:

Act 1:

I was driving in typical bumper to bumper Boston traffic the other day when I acted completely against the local custom and decided to be nice and let another driver pull in front of me.  Just as their car got fully into the lane I noticed the hand of the driver wave a couple times in front of their rear view mirror.  At that moment I felt a smile come onto my face and I thought to myself, that was really nice of them, and especially, that was really nice of me.  It left me feeling good about the whole interaction.

Act 2:

Same setting, 45 minutes later, after traveling a half mile down the road.  I feel the impatience growing among my fellow commuters as cars switched lanes to find the fastest one.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw a small red car, to my right, driving like they wanted to ease out in front of me. Instead of blocking them out, as is the custom amongst us Boston drivers, I decided to let the car ease in front of me.  After the driver settled into the lane I eagerly awaited that same friendly wave in front of the rear view mirror.  I waited and waited and to my great disappointment the acknowledgment NEVER came.  This left me feeling resentful, like I was a sucker for letting them in front of me, and made me vow to never ever let this happen again.

OK, I may be exaggerating just a bit.  After the pain dulled from my kindness not having been recognized by the driver of the small red car it got me thinking about how powerful a simple gesture like, “Thank you” can be.

I often wonder if there is a person anywhere who has been overwhelmed by their boss, colleagues, friends or family with too many, “Thank you” gestures, too much positive recognition or too much positive feedback?  More than likely a global manhunt would need to ensue to find this person.

Unfortunately, it’s more common to get feedback when there is a problem.  But what if things were different for a moment. What if we received recognition about what’s going right, going well or what’s good about something or someone at work?  What if we looked around to find good effort to acknowledge? What if each and every day we looked around in and out of the workplace to find the people who help make things happen, who do great work and who give extra effort so we can say, “Thank you”. Do you think they would be encouraged, inspired or cheered on? Do you think a thank you would help them want to do more of the same great work?