Monday Tip: Appreciate your co-workers
This week’s Monday Tip is about appreciating the people around you at work. Who do you like? Why do you like them?
Make a list of your closest co-workers. Not necessarily the ones you like the best, but the ones you have the most dealings with. Then, for each person on your list, write down at least five things you appreciate about that person. Things they’re good at, ways they make your life easier, their personal or professional skills and qualities… as long as it’s something positive.
That’s it. You don’t need to show your list to anyone, just take a moment to make it.
Now, when you make that list, there may be a person on it that really annoys you. Every workplace I’ve ever been in, there’s always been at lest one person who really honked me off. The trick here is to also find five things you appreciate about that person too. As the saying goes, there’s some good in everyone and if you can’t see it, it’s because you don’t want to see it.
And then I usually get the counter-argument: What about Hitler? (Or Stalin, Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden). Is there something good in them too? And I say let’s skip that entire discussion – if you work with one of those guys, you may leave them out of the exercise :o)
By the way: Do you have any ideas for future Monday Tips? How do you make yourself and others happier in fun, simple, easy ways? Write a comment if you have a suggestion.
The Chief Happiness Officer’s Monday tips are simple, easy, fun things you can do to make yourself and others happy at work and get the work-week off to a great start. Something everyone can do in five minutes, tops. When you try it, write a comment here to tell me how it went.
Marco Said,
January 15, 2007 @ 8:16 pm
Hello Alex,
I am a part-time Counsellor and full-time Technical Manager working for Research in Motion (BlackBerry). I read and appreciate you blog: if only my HR would hire you!
This is something I wrote for my clients. Please feel free to use it as a Chief Happiness Officer Monday tip. Rewrite and adapt if needed, but please quote me if you decide to publish it. Have a great week! Marco – http://www.evenhappier.com
“Some of us have always thought that a compliment which we ask for is never worth receiving. Maybe we think that if we ask for it, then it must be insincere. Is that always the case? In fact, even a compliment that we don’t ask for can be insincere and sometimes by asking for a compliment we can get an honest feedback. How can that happen? Some people are simply not accustomed to paying compliments and needs encouragement. Even people very close to us might be unable to understand what kind of recognition we need unless we ask. So what about asking your boss for feedback on a recent project which you have successfully completed? You will make yourself happier, teaching him how to be a better manager in the process!?
Alexander Said,
January 15, 2007 @ 9:44 pm
Marco, that is a great idea – thanks.
And I agree that this is absolutely something we can teach our bosses and co-workers.
Josh Bickford Said,
January 15, 2007 @ 10:54 pm
I think changing the word “boss” to “leader” is something that would help life at work. The connotation of those two words is earned, so it’s probably easier to think of the person as a leader as opposed to a boss, than it is for your boss to become your leader.
Alexander Said,
January 18, 2007 @ 10:45 am
That’s a good point. In fact, there’s a whole slew of words we should just stop using. Underlings, boss, resources (referring to people) and more…
Hmmmm… there might be a blog post in there!
Michelle Said,
October 22, 2007 @ 4:56 am
I have not been getting my monday messages?
Michelle