When is the last time you received a meaningful, handwritten thank you note from someone? Put yourself back into that moment and think about how it made you feel. In my case, it was from one of our clients who was attending an event we were hosting. I had spoken about employee appreciation earlier in the meeting and handed out blank thank you cards to everyone, so they could write a genuine message of appreciation to someone in their lives. One person in that room decided that I was the one worthy of their gratitude at that moment and when I received it, I felt pure joy! BEFORE I EVEN OPENED IT, I felt appreciated, I felt important and special. I knew I had reached that person with my message, and I felt happy. This is a tremendous feeling to give someone and to receive yourself.
I recently read an article about gratitude by Kendra Cherry on VerywellMind.com, a website focused on educating people on a wide variety of mental health topics. She wrote, “Gratitude is a positive emotion that involves being thankful and appreciative and is associated with several mental and physical health benefits. When you experience gratitude, you feel grateful for something or someone in your life and respond with feelings of kindness, warmth, and other forms of generosity.” So, showing appreciation to others not only makes them feel good but also has health benefits for yourself. It can create a domino effect where you may show thanks to one person, making them feel awesome and they show thanks to someone else, who feels awesome, and shows thanks to someone else, and it continues. It’s such a simple concept, but with today’s busy and stressful lifestyle, so few practice it continuously and purposefully.
Of course, there are many various reasons to thank someone, and there are plenty of different people in your life you can thank. Even casual encounters with strangers can leave a lasting impression of kindness if you take a moment to appreciate them. Our parents taught us to always say “please” and “thank you” when we were kids, and for many of us it is a well-engrained habit, but we usually put little thought or meaning into those words. I challenge you to focus on the meaning and purpose of thanking someone. Pause and make eye contact with the person when you say it. Start your day in a mindset of gratitude, with a goal of showing meaningful appreciation to three people, or even just one to start. Think of all the interactions you have with people each week, and how you would feel to receive more gratitude from them. Put that out into the world and start the domino effect yourself. For the purposes of this article, I’ll focus on showing appreciation to your employees, but these ideas certainly can apply to anyone in your life.
When is the last time you sat down to write a thank you card? Who was it for and why? Was what you wrote meaningfully? Did you truly think about the words you were using and how the person affected you so much that you felt compelled to take the time to do this activity? A handwritten thank you card is a simple but extremely effective way to communicate gratitude. The note can be long and fill the whole card if you have many things you want to say, but short and sweet can be just as effective. You simply need to remember three key things and be sure to communicate them somewhere in your message. You don’t need to be a good writer either to accomplish this as long as you include these points.
- Be specific – Share with them the exact reason that prompted you to write this card to them. It’s OK to thank someone for their hard work or something general, but it’s much more impactful to point out a special thing they did to prompt this extra level of gratitude.
- Recognize their effort – Explain that you know what they sacrificed to do this for you, whether it be time, money, comfort, etc. Showing that you understand this may not have been easy for them adds importance to your note.
- Describe how it made you feel – Tell the person how much you were touched by their actions. Did it make your day easier in some way? Did they handle a difficult situation in your absence? Maybe it helped a client, or KEPT a client on service? When you explain how you feel about it, your message is more poignant.
Here are some examples…
For a caregiver – “Thank you for covering that last-minute shift with Mr. Brown on Tuesday night. I know you were scheduled to be off that day, and you had already worked so hard all weekend. I feel so grateful and relieved to have you on the team, knowing that our client was kept safe at home, and I could count on you to take great care of him. We couldn’t do what we do without you.”
For a manager – “Thank you for having that difficult conversation with Tina last week. I heard you took her out of the office for a few minutes to go for a walk and got a coffee together. That really calmed her down and seemed to make a difference to everyone here. I know it took you away from some important things you were working on, and probably added some unneeded tasks and stress to your own plate. I feel so thankful you were here to handle it in my absence and extremely proud of how much you have grown since you started working here. You are a fantastic manager.”
For a marketer – “I can’t thank you enough for the way you handled the stressful situation with Mrs. Green’s daughter yesterday. I know she made you uncomfortable and was yelling quite a bit. You don’t deserve to be spoken to that way. But I am so appreciative and proud of how you listened and were able to calm her down and find a solution to the problem, so she didn’t cancel services with us. You were amazing!”
A few sentences are all it takes to spread the feeling of true gratitude to someone on your team. They, in turn, will feel good about themselves and know that their efforts were noticed and appreciated. They are more likely to be a loyal and hardworking member of your team and pass this appreciation to others, and the cycle will continue from there. Acknowledging the thoughts and efforts of your team with gratitude can help people thrive as individuals and workers. These effects can be life-changing.
I typically write my cards at night once everyone has left for the day, or I will write them at home and bring them to the office with me. I like for it to be one of the first things they see the next day when they sit at their desk because it will have a lasting effect on the whole entire day for them. I sometimes will include a gift card in a thank you note, but it isn’t necessary. I will sometimes decorate the card or envelope with stickers like the type teachers put on quizzes that say, “great job” or “way to go!” It adds some pizzazz and also reminds them of something fun and positive from their past. It should be a fun activity for you to write them and make you feel good to pass this wonderful feeling of gratitude throughout your team.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I know that you are a very busy person and are working so hard to take care of the patients on your service, recruit and retain great caregivers, be a good employer for your staff, and reach your goals. This is not an easy business and I know that even taking a few minutes to do something for yourself can sometimes feel overwhelming. Knowing that you will take a moment sometime in the next few days or weeks to write a handwritten thank you card to someone on your team and pass the joy around makes me feel like it was worth the effort it took me to write this. I appreciate YOU, and all the work you do for seniors. Have a blessed end to 2022.
Author Bio
Nicole Peretti is the Executive Director at Hurricane Marketing Enterprises and co-founder of the nonprofit The Institute for Dignity and Grace. She graduated from Rowan University with a degree in Business Administration, with a specialization in Marketing. She oversees all day-to-day operations of both businesses, ensuring they are run properly. Nicole is also a business coach and has worked one-on-one with many clients, who are typically home care business owners, all over the country. She works closely with them to ensure they are using best practices and operating their companies with integrity and a focus on proper patient care.
Nicole lives in New Jersey with her two cats and enjoys drinking her morning coffee outside in her beautiful backyard. She loves reading, watching crime dramas on TV, spending time with family, and taking naps on weekends. While still in college, she started her sales career with Cutco Cutlery. Nicole has since managed sales teams for companies in several industries, but her favorite job is what she is doing now. Her passion and talent are in managing people, and that transfers into the work she does with her clients, teaching them how they can best interact with the people they meet and work with daily. She has personal experience with home care for her own family, as well as years of shared knowledge through her clients. She truly cares about helping others, and that shows in all she does.