The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace

Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post called Can This Marriage (Customer, Team, Leader) Be Saved? in which I referenced a book called The 5 Love Languages and riffed a bit on how those might be applied at work.

A couple of days later, I got a nice email from Dr. Paul White letting me know that he was co-authoring a book with Dr. Gary Chapman, the author of Love Languages , on how they could be applied in the workplace.

It's out now and is called The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace

. I spent some time talking with Dr. White yesterday and, with his permission, recorded the call so you could listen in. He talks about what the research says about motivating through appreciation and the top ways in which most people want to be appreciated. Here's the interview:

He was also nice enough to share his top ten easiest ways to show appreciation to almost anyone. You can download that here .

This stuff is easy to do and likely to make a difference, folks. Think about it:

• What kind of difference does it make for you when your boss or a co-worker expresses their appreciation?
• What kind of difference would it make for your team members if you expressed your appreciation in a way that works for them (hint: something beyond the "great job everyone" email)?
• What is your number one idea for anyone who wants to do a better job of showing appreciation to others at work?