This article in the Harvard Business Review "Practice Empathy as a Team" * clearly shows that appreciation, recognition is a very powerful tool in business.
But, definitely, knowing it is not enough. The question is : How do you show your appreciation to your team?
I would say it really depends on what's IMPORTANT to each employee and that's where the process is difficult ! There is not one recipe applicable for every one. Each person has a particular sensitive point that must be touched. A manager must therefore have learn to decode and to enter the world of the other, to know how to express the just recognition expected.
To guide managers, I use different tools like:
-the Enneagram,
- or a card game where everyone tells their story with the same images,
- or a game around emotions from a given situation,
- or Sophrology exercises done in groups giving the opportunity to each one to express what happens for themselves during the exercises,
- or I explain basics of Transactional Analysis for example.
All the exercises done in workshops have objectives: Make Manager aware of their own reactions and emotions, listen to the others reactions and then realize that we are all different when facing a situation. It will lift up both individuals, building stronger communities, more trust, and helps employee feel cared for.
So, when a manager want to congratulate, express empathy or gratify an employee, he/she must be conscious to whom it is addressed and be conscious that he/she can't say the exact same think and at the same frequency to each person of the team.
Learning this is nowadays part of a Manager job
The Sun Touch by Margot 