March 4th - March ForthThis year March 4th holds even greater meaning. It is a day to March Forth on Employee Appreciation.

 

March Forth is a day to “remember that thoughts have to be turned into actions and that to succeed one has to set a course and march forth toward it.”1 While today gives you the opportunity to reflect on all aspects of your life, I want to encourage you to focus on your engagement in the workplace. Specifically, how can you become more engaged at work and how can you better engage your direct reports, coworkers, clients, and community?

 

One way you can begin to become more engaged AND better engage your direct reports / coworkers is to start making recognition an integral part of your daily routine. And that is especially timely since March 4th is also the 21st Anniversary of Employee Appreciation Day.

 

“Employee Appreciation Day first arrived on calendars in 1995. A Recognition Professionals International’s founding Board member, together with his publishing company, Workman Publishing, created Employee Appreciation Day as a way of focusing the attention of all employers, in all industries on employee recognition. It is always the first Friday in March.”2

To Do Note- March Forth on Employee Appreaciation Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How can you March Forth on Employee Appreciation Day? Here is a two-step suggestion of how to begin.

 

Step 1: Handwritten note

Send a handwritten note of appreciation to each of your direct reports. Not an email. Not a typed note. A HANDWRITTEN note. In this note, be specific about what you appreciate about that individual both from a personal and professional standpoint.  If you have difficulty in identifying personal qualities you want to recognize, perhaps that’s a sign that you need to spend more time getting to know that particular employee better.

Dear Greg, Employee Appreciation Day note

Step 2: Lunch invitation

As a follow-up to or as part of the handwritten note, invite each person to lunch and get it scheduled. This one-on-one time will give you the opportunity to check-in and learn what’s important to them.  You can even ask them how they like to be recognized.

Follow-through

Use Employee Appreciation day to jump start making recognition an integral part of your daily routine. Recognition and appreciate must be more than a once and done approach. It must be frequent and ongoing.

 

 

While the suggestions above are meant to provide a starting point, there are many others that you can implement.  In fact, if you reference the previous post on The Wheel of Employee Engagement: Recognition & Rewards, you’ll find some average, above average, and superior examples of ways to better recognize your direct reports and coworkers.

 

March Forth and show your appreciation. Make this the day you resolve to better engage your team and others through recognition.

 

What are your plans for Marching Forth on Employee Appreciation? How can you better engage your team and others through recognition?

 

 

1 Reiman, Joey. Thinking for a Living: Creating Ideas That Revitalize Your Business , Career & Life..  Atlanta: Longstreet Press, 1998. Print. P.76
2 “Employee Appreciation Day – Recognition Professionals International.” Recognition. Recognition Professionals International. Web. 03 Mar. 2016. <http://www.recognition.org/?page=employee_app_day>.

 

 

Let’s Engage!

I’m Agent in Engagement Simpson…Gregory F Simpson.

Employee engagement is a critical mission. I hope I can count on your help! Subscribe to the RSS Feed to receive the latest intelligence/insights and/or register to make entries in the comments log.

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P.S.  First contact? Welcome to the Agent In Engagement community. Explore and join fellow employee engagement operatives in targeting a known thief – alias: Disengagement. Together we can bring this thief to justice and make the world a better place for all companies and their employees.

Other recent Agent in Engagement data/reports by Agent Gregory F Simpson: