Project Management Newsletter
 
NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 
 
 
LEADERSHIP
 
CIO Executive Programs
The Leader in Face-to-Face Education for Senior Executives

Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »

 
CIO Executive Council
A Peer-Advisory Service and Professional Association for CIOs

Turn Geeks into Leaders

June 17, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM U.S./ET (GMT-4)

Larry Bonfante, CIO of the U.S. Tennis Association, will discuss the skills and approaches that your rising IT leaders must learn to be effective in an executive capacity.

How to Handle Your New CEO: Managing Turnover at the Top

June 18, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM U.S./Eastern (GMT-4)

Turbulent times have increased turnover at the top. Find out what Council CIOs have done to "break in" new CEOs—build relationships, set expectations, educate on the role of IT.

Mid-Market CIO Panel: Tips and Techniques for Improving Vendor Relationships

July 15, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM U.S./Eastern (GMT-4)

We'll highlight relationship priorities and best practices identified in a Council study, and we'll interact with a CIO panel on the approaches they've used to improve strategic vendor partnerships.

Executive Competencies Assessment Tool

Assess Your Business Leadership Skills with the Council's new benchmarking tool. Rate yourself in change leadership, strategy, customer focus and more.

More / Register »

Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »



 
 
RESOURCE CENTER
 
 
 
SUBSCRIBE TO CIO
 
Are you involved in setting the direction for your company's IT budget or strategy?

Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!

 
 

Staff Retention: The Power of Appreciation at Work

Empowering employees at all levels to do their best work can begin with something as simple as positive feedback and other gestures that show their efforts are appreciated. And it can help reduce staff turnover.

 

January 18, 2008CIO

Taking people for granted is an all-too-common problem in the business world. Most of us have taken someone for granted and we only truly realize how much that employee, boss or colleague meant to us after the fact.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 64 percent of Americans who leave their jobs say they do so because they don't feel appreciated. Gallup reports that almost 70 percent of people in the United States say they receive no praise or recognition in the workplace. As a culture, we don't do a very good job of expressing our appreciation for one another, especially at work.

Bringing More Appreciation to Work

We often waste too much time and energy focusing on what we don't like, what we're worried about or what we think needs to be fixed, changed or enhanced. What if we stopped this negative obsession and started paying more attention to the good stuff?

Imagine how this simple but profound shift could transform our work groups, our professional relationships, our results and ultimately our lives. Our experience is a function of what we focus on; each and every moment we have a choice about where we place our attention.

It's important to confront, face and deal with difficulties; however, we don't have to obsess about the bad stuff and let it run us. We each can consciously choose to focus on the good stuff and in the process, appreciate the people with whom we work.

There are great things happening in your company and with your coworkers all the time—if you choose to look for them. And, exercising the power of appreciation with your colleagues and in your organization takes some focus, practice and courage.

Five Principles for Using the Power of Appreciation

  1. Be Grateful
    Focus on the things you are grateful for at your job, your company and your overall work situation. Take inventory of the good stuff around you and be willing to let others know about it. This is not some fake, Pollyanna approach to things, just looking for good stuff and paying attention to it.
  2. Choose Positive Thoughts and Feelings
    Make a conscious decision to transform your negative thoughts and feelings into ones that empower you. This is not about avoiding the bad ones; this is about noticing your thoughts and feelings, and choosing positive ones. Our personal thoughts and feelings impact our attitudes, which ultimately dictate our actions. If more people within the organization paid attention to their thoughts and feelings and chose positive ones, the culture of the organization would change in a very positive way.
  3. Use Positive Words
    Pay attention to the words you use with others and in speaking about yourself. Speak with the most positive words possible. Our words have the power to create, not just describe. As coworkers, and especially if you are a manager, the words you use and the things you say to others have a huge impact.
  4. Acknowledge Others
    Focus on what you appreciate about the people around you and let them know. Be sincere and let others know the positive impact they have on you and what they are doing well. Whether you are their boss or not, most people are starving for appreciation—especially at work. You can empower people in an incredibly effective way by letting them know what you appreciate about them.
  5. Appreciate Yourself
    Celebrate who you are, what you do, and the many gifts and talents you have. Self-appreciation is not arrogance; it's an awareness of your own power and the key to self-confidence, success and fulfillment. In business we have to make sure first and foremost we believe in ourselves and know what we do well. It is also important to let your boss know about your successes as a way to create more success and opportunity. Self appreciation, or lack thereof, is the foundation of the morale and culture of any team or organization. A group of people who truly appreciate themselves can produce extraordinary results.

 
 
Loading...
 
WHITE PAPERS

Meet Rising Demands on IT and Cut Costs

Strategies for Modernizing IT, Reducing Costs, and Improving Operational Efficiency
 

Save On Data Center Costs

Using a five step process one organization was able to eliminate more than 2,000 servers from their IT infrastructure
 

Deliver Higher-Performing Technology Services with ITIL

Enable the business and your IT organization to cope with the effects of economic stress.
 

The Future of Financial Reporting

Finance and accounting executives must understand, adapt to, and manage the costs associated with changes: and doing so opens an opportunity to leverage this shift to better position their companies in the eyes of the investment community.
 

Enterprise Performance Management

15 years after "The Performance Measurement Manifesto" was published by the Harvard Business Review, companies continue to redesign how they measure their business performance.
 

How Tomorrow's Leaders Will Get Ahead

Read how Oracle's Strategy-to-Success framework can guide you on your evolutionary journey to Management Excellence.
 

WEBCASTS

BMC Service Assurance Demo

What if you could predict disruptive IT events and automate their resolution -- all before they disrupt your busine...
 

BMC Service Automation Demo

BMC Service Automation automates repetitive, manual tasks (such as provisioning, patching and compliance) to reduce...
 

BMC Application Performance and Analytics: Predictive Intelligence in Action

See the highlights of BMC's Application Performance and Analytics; a predictive, resourceful and intelligent soluti...
 

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level

Listen to this conversation with Doug Mueller to learn how standards and processes have evolved to bring us the ser...
 

How to Reduce Eclipse BIRT Development Effort for Data Visualizations

Live Webcast: Wednesday July 15th 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT

Web applications can come with a long list of visualiz...
 

Gen Y: IT's 'FWC' - Friends with Challenges

IT Professionals are positive on Gen Y employees. But that's just half the story. Their love affair with social med...
 

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.

 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level

Maximizing the Business Value of the PC Infrastructure

How Interactive Viewer Reduces the Effort to Meet Visualization Requirements

Top 10 Business and IT Drivers for the Wealth Management Sector

BPM Survey Results: The Real-World Analysis

BPM: Leveraging Competencies and Streamlining Processes to Achieve Operational Excellence

Achieving Pervasive Performance Management

Automating the Generation and Secure Distribution of Excel Reports

Introducing the new HP ProLiant G6 server family

Accenture: Outsourcing for Competitive Advantage. More...

Better spam protection with Postini for just $1/user/mo

Introducing the new HP ProLiant G6 server family

infoBOOM! - The Mid-Sized Company CIO's Exclusive Community

Accenture IT Consulting: Logical meets technological. More . . .

The Fraudster Economy Model: Operating a Business in the Underground

Get agile IT security with CA Security Management

Trade in your old laser printer and get up to $1000 back!

Revolutionizing Enterprise Application Deployment

Why Data Loss is Increasing--and What You Can Do About It

Learn how to managing client systems in the enterprise.

Build a High-Performance Open Web Platform

Mid-Sized Company CIO Community: infoBOOM!

Enterprise PBX Comparison Guide

Getting Value from Outdated Networking Equipment

White Paper: 8 Key Ingredients to Building an Internal Cloud

Seven Ways ITIL Can Help You in an Economic Downturn

Communications and Collaboration Needs at Business Organizations

Top-line Performance that's Bottom-line Efficient

5 Steps to Automating Accounts Payable

BPM ROI calculator

Disciplined Autonomy: Resolving the Tension Between Flexibility and Control

Smart Decisions: The Role of Key Performance Indicators

Get Google Enterprise Search for your business information.

Accenture IT Consulting: Enabling high performance. More...

Top Five CIO Challenges

Insight makes it easy to spend your Microsoft subsidy check.

Five minute business analytics assessment. Immediate results.

Dangerous Collaboration Practices: 5 Ways IT Can Minimize Risk

Accenture: Outsourcing for uncertain times. Click to learn more.

Payback in 9 months with CA Spectrum solutions

The Case for Investing in Business Analytics Technology. Read white paper.

Live Webinar: Applying Business Analytics. Click here to learn more

Developing A Dynamic, Real-Time IT Infrastructure

Data Loss Prevention: A Better Way to Approach Security

Using Open Source to Deploy Web Applications

Cloud Computing: Read about VMware's compelling vision & set of products

Enterprise PBX Buyer's Guide

Secondary Market Primer: Your Network at Half Price

Stop Application Fraud at the Source with Device Reputation

Learn about the VMware vSphere (TM) & Intel (R) Xeon (R) Processor 5500 Series