By Katharina Anna Klumpp

Appreciation as a prerequisite for satisfied, efficient and healthy teams

Appreciation is an essential human need and therefore has a great influence on our well-being - in our private lives as well as at work.

But it is precisely this appreciation that can come up short, especially in the turbulent daily routine at work. If employees feel that their performance is not seen, this can have a massive impact on their satisfaction, performance and health. The perceived feeling of being needed and thus being valuable for the team and the organisation is crucial.

Numerous studies prove precisely this high importance of appreciation in teams. For example, in a study by Compensation Partner, 45 percent of those surveyed said they had resigned due to a lack of appreciation by their manager. This puts the lack of appreciation as a reason for quitting well ahead of too low an income.

Managers and their behaviour play a central role when it comes to perceived appreciation in the team. They act as role models as to whether and how appreciation is practised in the team, even if appreciation does not have to come from them alone.

The appreciation shown to each other, i.e. how colleagues treat each other in the team, is also important for the satisfaction, performance and health of a team. (see Tip 7).

Self-esteem also has a decisive influence. This refers to the self-image we have of ourselves, i.e. how we think about ourselves and how we evaluate ourselves. The more appreciative we are of ourselves, the more appreciation we will receive from the outside. The reason for this is the interaction we have with our environment. In addition, a high level of self-esteem means that we are less dependent on the esteem of others. For precisely these reasons, it is very helpful to increase one's own self-esteem or, as a manager, to ensure that the self-esteem of the employees increases.

Appreciation is individual

The quotation from Confucius is widely used: "Treat everyone as you would like to be treated". A guiding principle that sounds logical and reasonable at first.

But there is a catch: our needs can be very different. If one person strives for freedom and independence, the need for stability and security is much more important for the other. Accordingly, these personalities want to be treated differently in order to be able to satisfy their needs.

And this also applies to the need for appreciation. If one person feels appreciated through words of praise in front of the whole team, another person feels real appreciation, for example, through a handwritten card.

And that is what giving appreciation is all about: To start less from oneself, but rather to understand how the other person is most likely to receive the appreciative message. Because only when the appreciation really reaches the recipient can it unfold its effect. That is why it should be said here:

Appreciate everyone the way he or she wants to be appreciated.

This is not always easy to recognise at first glance. But awareness of differences is the first step in empathically recognising the needs of employees. You can also openly ask your employees in a one-to-one conversation, a so-called 1-to-1, how they feel valued and what is important to them. This alone shows your appreciation, because you show a strong interest in the needs of your employees. This also gives your staff clarity about their own needs so that they are empowered to meet them on their own.

7 ways to promote appreciation in your team

1. Use words of praise

Praise in the form of appreciative words is particularly effective if it is precise and refers to a specific quality or a concrete achievement and is not arbitrarily interchangeable. For example, "Great job preparing and delivering the presentation. In the concluding part you summarised your message very clearly and convincingly." Is more appreciative than a more general "Great job." which can come across as condescending.

You can give your praise in writing or verbally in a 1to1 or even in front of the team.

2. Take time and listen carefully

As a leader, taking time for employees does not mean always being available, but rather consciously allowing time for employees' issues and concerns.

Regular 1-to-1 meetings help you to have a constant exchange with your staff. This builds trust and strengthens the relationship. Allow 10 minutes at the beginning of the meeting for your staff member's issues. Ask him/her how he/she is doing and what is on his/her mind. Give your employee your undivided attention and show your sincere interest by asking. How much your employee wants to share private issues is up to him/her and should not be forced.

3. Offer your support

The feeling that you don't have to do anything alone has a relieving effect on your employees. If you notice that one of your staff members is not getting anywhere, offer your support. To ensure that your offer of support is understood as such, formulate your offer concretely. It's better to say "Would it help if we went through the survey results together?" rather than "Let me know if there's anything I can do for you. Because no one needs anything and it is therefore not usually understood as real help.

4. Give a small gift

You can also show your appreciation by giving a small gift. For example, a handwritten welcome card after the holiday. Flowers or a cake on your birthday can also be appreciated. Tip: Be sure to keep your employees' birthdays and anniversaries in mind, as these days can be very meaningful to your employees.

5. Assign responsibility

Above all, personalities that love freedom feel valued when they are given responsibility and a large amount of freedom to make decisions. They understand the trust placed in them as recognition of their performance. For this purpose, hand over (partial) tasks to your employee. Make sure that the task is clearly defined to avoid disagreements. Define the desired result and set deadlines for an interim report together with your employee. In this way, you can hand over responsibility in an appreciative way and give control without losing sight of the big picture.

6. Encourage self-esteem

The following exercise is a good way to promote self-esteem among your staff.

Initiate a meeting in which you first state the importance of self-esteem. Then ask your employees to answer the questions below in writing, each for themselves (approx. 30 minutes). Afterwards, share your answers in personal small groups. The aim should be for each person to name one or two concrete steps to ensure more self-esteem in the future.

Answering the following questions can be helpful in practising self-esteem: What are my strengths? What do I use to demonstrate this (give concrete examples)? What am I particularly proud of? What successes can I look back on in the last few weeks? What contribution do I make to the team? How do I regularly make sure that I am aware of my strengths and successes and appreciate them?

7. Celebrate your successes

Often the celebration of successes in teams is neglected. One project follows the next and there is hardly any time to celebrate what has already been achieved. Employees quickly get the feeling that they are doing and doing without their efforts being seen and recognised. That's why you need a framework to consciously reflect on your successes.

Plan about 10 minutes for this in your team meetings. In preparation, each member of the team writes down the successes of the last week. These can be major or minor, your own successes or those of colleagues. A thank you can also be written down, for example. I would like to thank Luisa for her helpful tips on preparing for the contract negotiation. At the beginning of your team meeting, these notes are read out loud and greeted with a collective clap.

About the author

Our author Katharina Anna Klumpp makes sure that young leaders have it easier than they had it at the beginning of their career. As a leadership coach & trainer, she supports young, female leaders to develop into the leaders they would like to be. To this end, Katharina offers a new leadership programme in which participants learn effective (self-)leadership skills with which they can lead their team confidently and purposefully - even in challenging times.