Appreciation That Retains Your Best People (Episode 39)

In this episode, I make the business case for appreciation in eye care and show how to turn recognition into a daily leadership habit. From a smarter Employee of the Month to one-on-ones that build trust, I map the moves that keep great people and lift patient experience.

• why appreciation reduces turnover and costs
• designing Employee of the Month for values and fairness
• using stories to teach what good looks like
• addressing Employee of the Month cynicism with clear criteria and communication
• small rewards and taxation compliance considerations
• applying the five languages of appreciation at work
• giving specific, timely positive feedback every day
• gratitude habits that make praise natural
• peer recognition tools to scale positivity
• one on ones that signal value and uncover blockers
• culture, patient experience and HR risk benefits

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I also invite you to subscribe to my HR newsletter for ophthalmology leaders. You can find information about that at seasoned-advice.com

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This episode is brought to you by Seasoned Advice HR, where I help eye care clinics to hire, retain, and manage better — helping you get Better Results Through People. Learn more at seasoned-advice.com. 

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Transcript

Why Appreciation Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Greetings and welcome to iCare Leadership Live. This is the podcast for iCare leaders who want to level up their leadership, create better cultures, and improve the financial results of their clinics. Now let's join the show. Employee appreciation is such an important um issue. It's important to get it right. It's important to do it. And I would say the first thing, the first reason why it's so important is because number one, it is incredibly impactful. Most people say they don't get enough appreciation and recognition. And it is a huge, uh, it's an incredibly common thing for people to identify as um one of their main ways of feeling uh valued, you know, at work is to get appreciation from their manager. And then the last thing I'll say is it's important to show appreciation to your staff because it's so costly to lose people. And people will leave your business, they'll leave your clinical ophthalmology practice when they don't feel appreciated. You know, it's kind of it's it's kind of an obvious thing. If if someone doesn't feel appreciated, they're gonna go somewhere else. And yes, there may be some people who are strictly driven by money, and maybe you pay the best in your area and they're gonna stay with you even though you never show appreciation. Um, but number one, all things being equal, they're gonna go where they're appreciated. And number two, I think the vast majority of people will stay somewhere where they feel appreciated rather than going into an unknown environment where they might make more money, where they where they might feel horrible about themselves every day because they never get appreciation and they don't feel valued. And so you can make your culture a sticky environment of being a place where people want to stay if you get good at appreciation. And you don't even have to be great at it, it's not a hard skill to get decent at. So that's what we're gonna talk about today. If you're an ophthalmology clinic leader or a business owner, this is just a skill you have got to, you've got to have it. You've got to have it. So let's talk about it, let's get into it. Um, you know, the first thing I would say, the first, and we're going in no particular order here. Uh, the first thing that you can do, um, if you want to improve your appreciation, is create an employee of the month program. And this is like, you may roll your eyes and say, uh, we've tried this, or man, this is so lame. But employee of the month programs are a great way to get started if you do it right. And why is it a great way to get started? Because everyone understands what an employee of the month program is, they know that, they understand the concept. And it just gives you a very simple framework and a program and a structure to get started with recognition. And so, how do you make employee of the month work well? Well, the first thing to think about is how are you gonna how are you gonna select your employee of the month? Um, I am not a fan of voting. We do not want your employees voting on employee of the month. So put that idea out of your head. We're not voting because then it becomes a popularity contest. The way I would structure this is I would make it a leadership, a leadership decision. So you get nominations, you can solicit nominations from your staff, or you can just talk as leaders about you know who would be a good person, who lives our values, who is doing a great job. Personally, I would recommend getting your staff involved in some kind of way into the process because they're gonna be more bought in, they're gonna care more if you involve them, you know, with that. Um, but but we don't want them voting. So you've got these nominations, and you're gonna make a decision as a leadership team about who you want to recognize that month. And something to keep in mind is you don't have to limit it to one person. You don't have to limit it to why do we have to make it a winner and a loser thing? Finding one person is fine, and that's great. But if you want to pick two or three people, that's fine. That's fine. These are our employees of the month. We're highlighting Sally, Johnny, and Janet. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's awesome. And then you know what? Throw in some honorable mentions if you want. The whole point of Employee of the Month is to give you an excuse, a structured excuse to talk about how great some of your employees are, and to talk about your values and to talk about what's important to you as an ophthalmology office. You know what? Sally is so wonderful with patience, she's so caring and she's warm. Um, Janet is so detailed, she takes great notes, and she her scribing is impeccable, and this is why it really matters. And it gives you a structured way to talk about all this stuff, and what you're secretly accomplishing with this is you're sending a message to everyone in the clinic that this is what's important, this is what gets me as the practice owner or the practice administrator, this is what gets me praising other people. Maybe you want to do it too. And people tend to listen to that and they tend to follow suit. If someone hears the about what you're praising and what you value and they don't care, then I can show you someone that probably isn't a great fit in your clinic. Okay. And so generally your good employees, your your employees are gonna care about that. They're gonna want to do the things that you're praising, the things that you hear the uh you praising other people for. Okay, so this employee of the month program, it basically helps you to reinforce the behavior. This is not about rewarding your your winner. You know, your winner is already a good employee. That's why they want employee of the month. They're not gonna start being even better because you pick them. The employee of the month program is about driving your culture through recognition. Okay, that's what it's for. And guess what? Guess what? Doing this, and this extends beyond employee of the month. This makes you feel good. I don't know many people who don't feel good when they get to recognize and appreciate other people, and I don't know many people who don't like to get recognized and appreciated. Okay, so there are so many reasons to implement staff recognition. And employee of the month is just like, to me, it's a no-brainer. It's something you should just do because it encapsulates everything in this one structured program. Um, it's key to communicate about it if you're gonna do employee of the month. Communicate ahead of time. Hey, we're gonna implement this, this is how it's gonna work, this is how we're gonna pick people, this is how you're gonna nominate your co-workers, this is what you're gonna get if you are selected as employee of the month. These are the kind of the criteria that we're gonna use. We're gonna try to spread it around the clinic. It's not just gonna be the doctor's right-hand, you know, tech all the time that wins. We're gonna talk about billing, we're gonna talk about front desk, we're gonna talk about um the cleaning crew. If you have a cleaning crew, we're gonna talk about um everyone, the appointments team, the surgery schedulers, the ASC. We want to include everyone. Now, there may be some cynicism at first when you roll this out because people are gonna hear, uh, employee of the month, that's lame. I've heard about, you know, it's kind of a thing that people make fun of. You know, what are you gonna put my picture up on the board? You know what? And you don't have to do that, and you don't have to listen to the naysayers, okay? Let them naysay, but you're gonna be consistent and you are going to choose people in a fair way. You're gonna choose them based on your values, and you're gonna try to spread this around, and you're going to make this important. I do like to give a little prize or a little something to the people that you recognize, but that's not that's not the point. It just makes it nicer. It makes it more of an exciting thing to be selected. Maybe it's a hundred bucks, maybe it's fifty dollars, maybe it's a gift card somewhere. Now remember, when you give a thing of value to your employees like that, you do need to make it taxable. That's the part I hate talking about, but from a compliance standpoint, you do need to um, you do need to put that into their their paycheck. Put it into your payroll system that I gave Johnny$100 and it's gonna tax them. And if I were you, I'd probably gross up gross that up so that you cover the taxes um for them. You don't want them to like get too much of a tax hit. You want to put you want to make sure you you apply taxation um so that you're good with the IRS and you don't want the employee to really have to end up paying taxes for a gift card you gave them. This show is sponsored by Seasoned Advice HR Services, where I help eye care businesses to make more money and save more money by hiring better, retaining better, and reducing your HR risk. If you would like an HR assessment or ongoing HR support, please reach out to me at seasoned-advice.com. What else? So that's employee of the month. And there's lots of little details about that. I've got a whole blog post. I'll put the link in my show notes to that blog post that will explain more details about employee of the month programs. But I'm a fan, I'm a total fan of that. Next thing. Uh, check out the book, The Five Appreciation Languages at Work. Um, it was written by the same gentleman who wrote the five love languages. And I always forget uh Gary Chapman, always forget his name. And check that book out because it talks about different ways to give appreciation. So, this is my number two tip is understand different ways of showing appreciation and recognition. Some people prefer words of affirmation, some people prefer uh acts of service. And to be honest, all of the methods of appreciation are valid. And so check out that book, The Five Languages of Appreciation at Work. And it will expand your mind about ways to show appreciation because that's it's not just about words, right? Appreciation is more than just saying good job or attaboy. And by the way, there's an effective way to give verbal appreciation, and there's sort of more vague and not so effective ways to show verbal appreciation, and um learn how to be effective at it. And I'm sure I think the book talks about that, it talks about being specific, it talks about giving the reason why you're sharing the appreciation. If you ever hear me talk at um AAOE or ASOA about appreciation, I I talk about how to structure that so that you can be more effective. So learn the structure of appreciate of giving appreciation so that it is more effective. Um, but read that book, The Five Languages of Appreciation at Work, and uh it will it will help you be more effective. Uh next tip um is to simply do more positive feedback, give more positive feedback. And this is again, it's free. It's free, and you should be doing it every day. Every day you should be giving someone positive feedback. And and it doesn't have to be, you know, people think that positive feedback has to be about some great thing, like, oh, you saved the clinic from burning down today. Thank you. No, it appreciation can be about little things, like, hey, I appreciate you being here consistently, or you know what, your chart notes yesterday were great. Or, you know what, you said exactly the the way you phrased that in your email was like really well done. That's exactly what I want to see. And this does a few things, it makes people feel good. And the other thing that it big thing that it does is it reinforces what you want, it reminds them and lets them know hey, that thing, that's what I like. I like that a lot. Keep doing that. And people respond very well to hearing about what they did right. Someone gave me some advice a long time ago. Uh, we were both motorcycle riders, and he said, you know, it's a lot, it's a lot um more likely that you're gonna run into something when when you're staring at it. And so his advice was, you know, if you're on a motorcycle and and you want to avoid a pothole, don't stare at the pothole. Look where look at where you want to go. Focus on the place you want to go on your motorcycle, and you're more likely to get there. Um, and that same thing goes with employee behavior. Focus on what you want, focus on the results you want and talk about what you want. Talk about what you want more, way more than what than talking about what you don't want. If you spend all day talking, well, I don't want to see that, or don't do this, or you better not do that. Okay, that's good. It's nice to know what I'm not supposed to do. What am I supposed to do? What's good around here? And uh because people need to know what's good. And they need to be reminded about what's good, because by the way, we're all human beings and we all have a bias to remember negative things and to think about negative things and be woken up in the middle of the night about negative things that are on our minds. And so don't harp on the negative, harp on the positive. Um, so give that positive feedback on a regular basis, make it something you do every day. Get used to doing it. And by the way, if you're really struggling with this, then develop a gratitude practice. I want every day, practice gratitude. What's great today? What was great yesterday? What are you looking forward to? Past, present, and future gratitude. Practice that. Do something every day and make it little things, right? Oh, I'm so grateful for the for the weather today. Or, you know what, there's not a cloud in the sky, or you know what? Um, my phone just it always works. Like, I really love this phone. I'm so happy that I have this phone. It could be little things, or the ice in my drink is just that perfect ice. It's like crunchy, it's not too hard, it's not too soft. It's like that good, good ice like you get at Sonic, you know. Um, and so whatever it is, little things like that, uh, get good at that, and then you'll then you will be better at doing it at work. Practicing that gratitude at work, um, practicing at at home will make you better at work. And by the way, it will make your family life better too. Your spouse loves to hear affirmation, your kids love to hear positive affirmation. Practice it, practice it in all spheres of your life. Another way of improving appreciation and gratitude is by uh finding a platform, uh a digital platform. And one I've used in the past is called Work Tango, but there are other ones out there. But basically, it's like a social media website or app that employees can log into and they can appreciate each other. They can say, Hey, Sally, great job. Thank you for helping me out. And then everyone sees it. It's in like a Facebook style feed, and then people can like it and they can comment on it, and you can even allow your employees to send points to each other. And then if you, you know, if you have the budget for that, then they can turn those points into uh prizes. Again, the taxation thing, don't forget about that, but but they can redeem the points for prizes, but you don't have to do the points, you don't have to have the budget. Uh, yes, the software does cost a little bit of money, but it's worth the investment because what happens is employees they love, they start sending each other appreciation all the time. And you then you have a culture of appreciation. I want you, I want your goal to be cultivating a culture of appreciation in your office, where you're showing gratitude, your employees are showing gratitude for each other, and and believe me, your patients are going to notice that this is a great place to go if you're a patient. They they feel good. They feel good when your employees feel good, your patients are gonna feel good. And so this is just a tool to invest in a culture of positivity and a culture of appreciation. Last thing I want to say is if you want to appreciate your staff more, then do regular one-on-ones with them. So when I think about the word appreciation, I think about uh value, valuing people. So the word appreciate has the same root as the word price. Price as in the cost of something. So appreciation and price are all about value. What is the value that you assign to another person? You're appreciating them, means you're giving them more value. And to show someone that you value them, a great way to do that is to talk to them regularly, one-on-one. Listen to them. Hey, what's on your mind? What's been going on with you? How are you feeling? What's been challenging? What are you proud of lately? Um, you know, how can I help you? How can I be of service to you? Um, what are your insights? What do you think about this new thing that we're thinking about doing or this new program we just rolled out? How's it working? What do you think about our EMR? Is it working for you? Has it been frustrating? We're thinking about changing. You know, what's your opinion on that? All those things that I just said are things you can talk about in a one-on-one with employees. You know, how's that, you know, how's everything outside of work? You've been you've been taking care of yourself. What have you been up to? What have you been doing for fun? Um, some people are into talking about their personal lives, some aren't. But um, getting employees talking and listening to them is so important and making time for them because we want to appreciate them. And the way to appreciate people is to show them they're important and that and meeting face to face is a great way to do that. It's a great way to do that. And yes, it takes a little bit of your time, but guess what? Losing an employee takes up a lot of your time and it costs a lot of your money, and it makes your doctor frustrated when a great employee leaves. And so appreciating them at the to wrap all this up, appreciating your staff is really a business decision. And and don't you also want to come to work where people like being there? Believe me, the providers and the doctors and the optometrists and the ophthalmologists, they want to come to work where you know, where employees are engaged and happy and and and and all that. And and so to create that positive culture, you appreciation is your number one tool in your toolkit. It's your number one tool. And by the way, it will probably reduce your HR risk. You know, you're I I'm a believer that you know you're at let at a greater um you're at you have you reduce your risk of legal action when people feel respected. Okay, so that's today's topic. Show appreciation. I shared some tips. There's a million other ways to do that. Um, if you're interested in more tips, send me a message. I'll I'll um if I don't have a blog post about this, I'll create one. And um thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Uh, I appreciate you. I appreciate you for being out there and doing the work that you do. Um, it's not easy work. It's not easy work, and it's so important. We take care of people's sight every day. And remember that and uh pat yourself on the back. Uh, this has been uh iCare Leadership Live, and we'll I look forward to talking with you on a future episode. Well, that brings this episode of iCare Leadership Live to a conclusion. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show on your podcast app and share it with someone who would value the content. I promise to bring you more guests and content to help make you a better iCare clinical leader. I also invite you to subscribe. To my HR newsletter for iCare leaders. You can find information about that at seasoned-advice.com. Now go out there and lead with confidence.