Two Words.

As a small child my mother was able to take me through the crystal glasses section of our local DJs because no matter what happened, my arms were mentally glued to my sides. They were glued because the ramifications, a swift hand to the bottom or worse, no TV, were not palatable to me in any way. Interesting how manners were acquired and became ingrained with the raise of an eyebrow or the threat of what was most important at the time, Gilligan’s Island.

I write this because along with the ability to walk through the valley of crystal without breakages, I learnt other skills from my Mother and one of the most powerful concerned the use of two words, “Thank You”. With those two words I became well behaved in the eyes of others (little did they know), I became grown up while still working the cute angle and most of all I built rapport before I knew how to spell it.

The UK has a “thank you week” and the US has a “thank you day” to try and shine a light on manners that used to be a part of everyone’s day before the speed of commerce and technology made it obsolete. The fact they have to have a week or a day to bring attention to this deficit highlights how far we have travelled from the grace of good manners.

So what you say, who cares and what’s to be gained by those two words? Extensive research over 10 years, by leadership experts Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton with 200,000 managers and employees directly correlated “Thank You” to larger profits. As hard as it has become, to say thank you, because of time constraints (huh?) or sheer forgetfulness some companies do it right. Zappos has made thank you a part of their service mantra and have the bottom line to prove it.

It’s not hard really, it just requires you to be a little open and in the moment, so you mean it when you say thank you. Who doesn’t like to be thanked for a job well done, a favour or even a random act of politeness or kindness? The recognition factor of “Thank You” is incredibly important when it comes to business relationships and builds rapport from a trust platform.

Think about the last time your company went out of its way to truly thank someone? How long ago was it? Was it done well? Have opportunities to thank the right people passed without recognition?

You could be the trailblazer, you could lead in the recognition stakes and all it takes is two little words.

Thank you for reading.