great ways to say Thank You « Celebrating Work

Entries tagged as ‘great ways to say Thank You’

The Science of Giving

December 23, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The anticipation is nearly killing them. My kids, still young in the world, just can’t wait until they can open the gifts under the tree. It makes me wonder when in life we start to cherish giving and the tangible benefits this simple act bestows.

Thanks to a recent New York Times piece, “In Month of Giving, A Healthy Reward,” by Tara Parker-Pope, whose Well columns have this year has become some of my favorite Google Reader picks, I know a lot more about the gifts of giving. During this season, it’s important to be mindful of those rewards.

There are real reasons we feel good giving people gifts, whether they’re gifts of time, talent or a treasured trinket. It’s particularly interesting that scientific studies confirm that giving is, indeed, good for you.

Quoted in the piece, Stephen Post, who wrote “Why Good Things Happen to Good People” says that giving and helping provides benefits that last years.

“It turns out that giving — far more than receiving — is a surprisingly potent force whose impact reverberates across an entire lifetime, nourishing health and happiness in astonishing ways.”

Post directs the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics at Stony Brook University, which has compiled evidence of the good of giving in 50 studies.

So, as we near the end of the year – the end of the decade, in fact – and thoughts turn toward incremental ways you can change your daily life for greater happiness, health and good, keep in mind the power behind a simple Thank You and other little ways to include giving in your daily life. You could be the greatest benefactor.

Categories: Gratitude · Gratitude Research · Thank You · Thank You Power
Tagged: Giving, great ways to say Thank You

Gifts of Thanksgiving

November 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The emails just kept coming from our local community center, which usually collects food, assembles and distributes 1,000 plus Thanksgiving Baskets a year to needy area families. Last weekend, they were still shy a few items – more like hundreds of tin roasting pans and boxed pie crust mix. This year, demand was higher and more food needed.

It hit home. People this year and are in need of basics. Being able to provide a Turkey Dinner with all the fixings is a real gift. That’s why today I’m thankful for generosity that has filled family’s tables across the country this Thanksgiving. A special Thank You to those who use ingenuity to get Turkeys on tables this year, like one gThankYou customer that used employee cash donations to purchase gThankYou Turkey Gift Certificates for its food drive benefiting families of a local school.

Writes Wendy Stane, Star-Telegram Special Events Coordinator,

“…employees’ generosity in cash donations far exceeded previous year’s contributions. These turkey certificates will go to all families in need who submitted an application for assistance compliments of YOU, the Star-Telegram employees. Thank you! In the past, actual food donations required a bob tail truck loaded down and several volunteers to load and unload. With fewer resources this year, we were still able to provide 80 families with a turkey certificate and 31 with a complete dinner kit.”

The certificates were a big hit, according to this from Cynthia Monsevalles, a counselor at Hubbard Heights Elementary:

“The Turkey Certificates to be redeemed at any store were a great idea. Every family got one. Thanks. Through our PTO, a special teacher fund and Star-Telegram we were also able to provide a food box for every family.”

The story is the same, I suspect, most every place. When times are tough, people take the opportunity to shine with acts of gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at gThankYou!

Lynn Welch is a contributor to gThankYou, LLC, based in Madison, WI. gThankYou® Certificates of Gratitude™ are one way savvy companies recognize employees’ great work at Holiday Time. The company is best known for its Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates, and Grocery Gift Cards.

Categories: Gratitude · Thank You · Trends
Tagged: great ways to say Thank You, Thanksgiving, the art of "thank you"

The Power of “Thank You”

July 15, 2008 · 2 Comments

Here at gThankYou we think celebrating in the workplace is a big deal; in fact, it’s critically important.

Many of us spend half of our waking days at work. We must find meaning and joy and personal growth in our work. If we don’t, it’s drudgery. It is essential for leaders to create real meaning in people’s work-lives. Often leaders make it more difficult than it really is.

OK. So what’s one easy way to bring meaning to work? Give up? It’s to say “thank you” often. Not just “thanks” or “I appreciate that”, say it forcefully, look someone in the eye and really mean it.

Yeah, I know this is simplistic and sappy and something your mother taught you. But, the truth is this: many business leaders don’t do it.

But Harvey Mackay does.

Harvey Mackay is one of my favorite business gurus. He is insightful, successful, entertaining — and on target. I read his column every week.

The Crux

As the consummate salesman, Harvey has an important motto: “Short Notes Yield Long Results”.

What SNYLR means is that “thank-you” notes are a time-tested way to communicate “recognition and courtesy, just as important as remembering names and taking a personal interest in people. And it’s not just for sales” (his words).

Twenty years ago, Harvey’s Mackay Envelope was already a huge success and Harvey was a business-guru-newbie. I had the good fortune to work with him on a couple projects. Afterward, he invited me to the launch party for his first book, “Swim with the Sharks, Without being Eaten Alive” , which became a smashing success and New York Times Bestseller.

At the time I was working around-the-clock on my first company start-up and Harvey was working long, long days to kick-off book sales of “Sharks”. I asked Harvey to inscribe my copy of his book. He did. I sent him a thank-you note. And what did he do?

He sent me a thank-you note thanking me for my thank you note!

Talk about Thank-You Best Practices! Here’s a guy whose book has praise from Gerald Ford and Lee Iacocca and he still has time to mail me a thank-you note.

And I’ve never forgotten it. (The note is tucked inside my copy of the book to this day).