Acknowledgments

People don’t need to be acknowledged all the time. In fact, if you’re constantly praising someone, it can become noise after a while.

But that isn’t normally the case. More often than not, we don’t give sufficient acknowledgement to the people who make our lives easier/better/more comfortable. As yesterday was Random Acts of Kindness Day (which I introduced two weeks ago), take a minute to acknowledge someone who isn’t expecting it.

If you’re up for expending a little more energy on this, tell the person why their acknowledgement-worthy activity means something to you.

A client once told me that he had the best vacation he could remember because of what I did to protect his personal time and space while he was away. This was exactly what I wanted to accomplish. His acknowledgement surprised me and obviously made an impression, as I’m sharing it with you today.

Some people think that acknowledgement will make the recipient not work as hard (by the way, I don’t understand or get this comment at all, but unfortunately, I still hear it). I’ve never seen this happen.

On the contrary, it’s motivating. Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? A sincere acknowledgement resonates on level 4, self-esteem. This can reinforce the person’s confidence and sense of achievement.

The bottom line is easy. A little acknowledgement goes a long way. Be generous and judicious.

And, by the way, the act of acknowledging someone will make you feel good, too.