I tend to rave on about giving appreciative feedback to people, I have a list of reasons why I think it matters and the benefits for you and your team when you make it part of what you do. Saying thank you and expressing your gratitude is the outward sign of a practice of gratitude. It inspires trust in your leadership as it correlates with high integrity.

Appreciated people feel better about their job.
They do better and keep coming back to do it again. So it boosts the productivity of your team, and the experience they provide to patients and helps your retention rates.
Giving appreciative feedback is a great way to build your feedback muscles.
I could build a sizable income if I had a dollar for everyone who said to me, “I want to get better at giving feedback”, or “the team needs to learn to give feedback to each other”. Learning the principles and practice of feedback by talking about good things, is a great place to start giving feedback to each one another.
Saying thank you is a cue for safety and a sign of belonging.
Saying thank you feels like a small thing, but if the culture of the team is to say thank you, it’s a cue to your brain that you belong and that it’s a safe place to be.
Acknowledging what you want means you get more of it.
Calling out the behaviour or actions that you value and that you want to see within the team draws attention to it and makes it shine. More people will do those things more often. It’s the opposite of hearing ‘don’t do that….’ or ‘we don’t tolerate….’ It’s the positive framing of describing what you do want.
It creates a win-win for you.
When you give meaningful appreciative feedback to someone, their face lights up and that warmth they feel comes straight back at you. Like acts of kindness, doing the act makes you feel good as well.

The trick is that people like appreciation in different ways and for some people it’s more important than others.

There are two things at play here, tension if you like that as a healthcare leader you need to hold and understand.

We all need an internal sense that we are doing OK. We shouldn’t need to cling to or rely on external validation that we are worthy and of value. If people do, then that’s a conversation to explore more.
Secondly, we all need the cues that we belong to, and we need them in the ways that best raise our vibration and connect with our sense of belonging.

That’s where the different languages of appreciation will be your guide. Discover what your language of appreciation is and then turn that curiosity and sense of discovery to your team and those you work with. This is built on the concept of the 5 love languages, and refined for work. Check out this blog post for more.

When did you last say thank you to someone else?

As you consider the place of showing appreciation to those you work with a couple of other things to factor in.

Appreciation is great when it is specific and personal. This means that you’ve been paying attention. It’s also best coming from your direct line manager. The big widespread ‘thanks for all the hard work’ is important, but creating a culture where an appreciation ripple occurs will have more impact. Getting an acknowledgement from your boss that is specific and personal is a more powerful boost.

If you are a leader across many teams, yes, the big thank you helps, and have conversations with all your leaders so they know how they can spread the appreciation to their teams and so it is felt at an individual level.