Cheers for Peers: Show Gratitude In the Workplace

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Every single person reading this article has a co-worker (or two, or three, or four) that does their job in such a way that you are able to do YOUR job more effectively. You know who I’m talking about – the people who always meet the deadline, have the answers, are there for you when you need them.

Why not take a moment or two today to think about those people and say thank you? Sure, they know how you feel, but there’s nothing like hearing it out loud.

Better yet, try some of these creative ways to give cheers to your peers:

Random Acts of Kindness – Make it a point to NOT leave on Friday afternoon until you have performed an act of kindness for a co-worker. Help her with a project, get him a cup of coffee, and buy her lunch.

Write a Letter of Thanks – Write a letter of thanks to your co-worker specifically describing what he or she does to deserve your praise.

Celebrate Successes – When one of your co-workers reaches a goal or a milestone, do what you can to help them celebrate! Bake a cake, decorate their workspace, and sing a song of celebration.

Eat Lunch with Someone New – Are you always having lunch with the same people? Once a week or once a month, try eating with someone else. Get to know all of your co-workers. You might find you develop a surprising friendship or two.

Write Them Up – Let’s start writing people up for the good stuff! If a co-worker has gone above and beyond, put it in writing and praise them to their boss!

Support Them When Their Down – We all have challenges we must deal with, and a strong support system at work can help us deal with them more effectively. Consider how you can support co-workers under stress? One group of co-workers wanted to support a woman who had an operation on her nose and had to come to work with a cotton ball stitched to her nose.

Knowing she had a great sense of humor, they all greeted her with cotton balls stuck to their noses in a show of support. The ice was broken, they laughed together, and the co-worker was able to do her job without embarrassment.

Start a Peer to Peer Recognition Team – If your workplace doesn’t already have one, why not approach your boss with this idea? Develop a team whose sole purpose is to recognize your co-workers. Rotate the members on an annual basis so everyone has a chance to serve.

Use your creativity and you’ll come up with a myriad of ways to say “I couldn’t do it without you!”

2007, Donna Cutting. You may have permission to reprint this article if you give credit to Donna Cutting as the author and attach the byline above, including the phone number and website address. Please send a copy of the issue that contains this article to PO Box 76461, St. Petersburg, FL 33734.