Leaders have many roles: strategist, competitive analyst, resource-allocator, priority-setter and, of course, coach.
We’ve always heard one of the most effective way to build and lead teams is by setting a great example.
It’s true.
Who cannot be impressed by all those great photos of legendary General Electric CEO Jack Welch, late in his career, beer in hand, fully engaged in conversation with junior high-potential GE leaders?
There is fascinating research to support the value of the leader-as-example-setter-in-chief. The research is published by Robert Cialdini in his recently updated classic, Influence; and explored in his website, Influence at Work. (Full disclosure: I’ve long believed Dr. Cialdini’s Influence is the first text any aspiring leader or marketer should read.)
Influence examines many of the our basic instincts and how they are used in practice by businesses to affect (influence) others’ decisions.
In the chapter called “Reciprocation: The Old Give and Take…and Take”, Prof. Cialdini shows the potential power of workplace giving. Reciprocation is how “we try to repay in kind what another person has provided us”.
A classic experiment describes a university professor sending Christmas cards to total strangers…and the great majority sending return greetings to the unknown prof!
In short, when we do a favor, give a gift or extend a courtesy to others, they instinctively want to do the same, or something similar (i.e. reciprocate).
How often do you:
- Open the door for someone who previously opened a door for you?
- Drive the car or pay for lunch and have someone else say, “l’ll take care of it next time”?
- Plan not to shake someone’s hand only to do so when they extend theirs? (I bet unreciprocated handshakes are less than 1%!)
And so it goes.
It’s why we, leaders must be the people we want our Organization to be:
- Celebrate our Companies, our products and colleagues…and they’ll celebrate the same.
- Find heroes in your workplace and others will recognize their (and your) heroic work, too.
- Find (yes, go looking for) ways to say “thank you” for others’ on-the-job successes, and they’ll appreciate what you do, too.
The Golden Rule is alive and well in the workplace, because it’s hardwired in our psyches.
One early-stage venture-capital funded company was hiring at a break-neck pace; the result was a team with few close relationships and a fragmented sense of purpose.
The VP of Human Resources instituted Friday “thank you” sessions. At all-company stand-up meetings (lasting just 15-20 minutes) employees publicly thanked a co-worker for support, excellence or making a sale.
Guess what? Often the person on the receiving end of the “thank you” would reciprocate, and thank the person who had thanked them.
Guess what? Once the process began, nobody wanted to be left out.
The upshot was a huge improvement in company morale.
Lessons Learned: Give a gift, perform well, lead the way and others will reciprocate.
Rick Kiley is President of gThankYou, LLC, a Madison, WI based seller of employee gifts best known for gThankYou™ Turkey Gift Certificates.
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1 response so far ↓
Bill Huddleston, CFC Expert // July 23, 2008 at 11:18 am |
This is great information, and in the realm of workplace giving (fundraising) campaigns there are three categories of people who should be thanked.
The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is the largest workplace giving campaign in the world, and through it Federal public servants have donated more than $1 billion of unrestricted gifts in the past five years.
CFC Benefits
The CFC is first and foremost a vehicle for non-profit fundraising, and there are many other benefits to including it as one of the tools in your non-profit’s “Toolbox.” These benefits include:
● Generates a reliable, twelve month income stream of unrestricted revenue.
● More leverage and less risk than any other means of fund-raising.
● Leadership Development – organizing, planning, managing, etc.
● Public Speaking
● Market Research about your non-profit
● Development of multiple year income streams
● Increase of public awareness of your non-profit
Where the “low-hanging” fruit comparison comes in is that all of these benefits are generated by approximately 32% of the Federal workforce. With some attention to “basics,” and a little effort it is possible to increase this participation rate to at least 50%, if not 60%. This could double the amount raised to $500 million annually.
What basics? How about saying thank you?
The non-profit sector does a lousy job of saying “Thank you” to all the people who make the CFC successful, (and in terms of actual giving, if the CFC were a foundation, it would be the 10th largest in the USA).
There are three categories of people who deserve a “thank you” and in general, the CFC non-profits only thank one category – the identified donor.
The two other categories that deserve a thank you are the “anonymous donors” – this is a very popular feature for CFC donors, and the fundraising volunteers who plan, organize, manage and conduct the CFC campaigns each year. And yes, in the latter two categories the non-profit will not have the list of individual names, but it still possible to thank people in the following ways:
● On your website
● In your printed material (annual reports, special event programs, newsletters (electronic or print).
● In person at special events – “Thank Yous” from the Chair of the Event.
Regards,
Bill Huddleston, CFC Expert
http://www.cfcfundraising.com