How Valuable is a “Thank You” to the Dental Team?

By | December 10, 2013

 

Thanks

Is this valuable?

We all like to feel appreciated, and you probably thank the members of your team for doing good work.

It turns out that expressing your gratitude might be one of the best (and least expensive) investments you can make in your team!

Harvard associate professor Francesca Gino conducted numerous experiments in gratitude for her book, Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed and How We Can Stick to the Plan.

In one experiment, Gino studied a team of 41 call-center fundraisers working on fixed salaries. At the end of one week, the supervisor personally thanked about half of them.

The second week, the group that received thanks saw its call volume shoot up about 50 percent while the unacknowledged group kept its total number of calls about the same.

Why does expressing thanks have such impact?

As Gino explained to Chuck Eddy at Harvard Gazette, “Receiving expressions of gratitude makes us feel a heightened sense of self-worth, and that in turn triggers other helpful behaviors toward both the person we are helping and other people, too.”

 What about you? How do you let members of your team know that they are doing a good job? Leave your answer in the comments.