The Biggest Success Secret in Dealing with People

I’m going to give you the answer right away.

Acknowledgement!

Ken Langone, co-founder of The Home Depot said it very eloquently, “The two most powerful things in existence: a kind word and a thoughtful gesture.”

In my early career, I spent 15 years working and traveling with Ken Blanchard. I believe deeply in the limitless power of thank you’s.

Ken Blanchard’s “one minute praising” which is one of the three pillars of The One Minute Manager is accessible to anyone and has unlimited potential for positive impact.

In Tom Peters’ book, In Search of Excellence, he uses a quote from Ernest Becker from Denial of Death to make his strong case for how important acknowledgement is.

“Society is a vehicle for earthly heroism. Man transcends death by finding meaning for his life. It is the burning desire for the creature to count. What man really fears is not extinction, but extinction with insignificance.”

Do you think acknowledgement is a big deal?

As I said, I think it is the success secret in dealing with people.

More importantly, as an organizational development professional and having the opportunity to observe hundreds and hundreds of different organizations, I am willing to say absolutely, positively, it is a big deal in success and in life.

I was recently reminded of the power of acknowledgement when traveling on an American Airlines flight coming from Dallas to San Diego, making my way home from the east coast.

When I travel, I make it a point to engage just about everyone I encounter. On this particular flight as we were all getting off the plane, I approached the flight attendant and asked her what percentage of people thank her as they depart the plane.

Her answer surprised me, and more importantly, reminded me the power of sincere acknowledgement.

She said, “the thank you is really not the point.”

I said to her, “What do you mean?”

She said, “What matters to me is not the words, but whether the passenger takes the time to make eye contact and acknowledge me.”

Wow! What a blinding flash of the obvious!

While I am sure a Thank You is better than not getting one at all, what she was really reinforcing is that an obligatory thank you from a distracted passenger who does not look up is amazingly impersonal.

Eye contact is just the opposite. It is a sincere acknowledgement of the particular flight attendant’s attentiveness and courtesy.

Don’t you think that makes total sense?

 

Peter Psichogios is the President of CSI International Performance Group whose mission is to help companies create engaging employee and customer experiences.Prior to joining CSI International Peter Psichogios served as an executive member of one of the largest Instructional System Association companies in the world. In this capacity, he led all the front-end analysis and worked directly with Dr. Ken Blanchard, leading the large-scale E -Learning and employee engagement initiatives. Peter has been fortunate to work with the who’s who of the Fortune 500 and many of the world’s fastest growing companies, helping them deliver innovative learning, engagement and recognition solutions.

You can reach me at: 


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