Sanjeev.Himachali
94

Kindly Write Few Lines of Appreciation

Introduction

Appreciation, awards, recognition, respect and love, everybody needs these things in life. They are the heart, soul and life of Human Beings. Is there anybody among the readers, who can say with confidence that these things are materialistic and they can survive and live without these things? We need appreciation, we need respect and we have seen that some, in fact, many people can go to any extent to get noticed; to get appreciated and get respected. Hosting parties and functions is one such common and mostly used tactic to show-off to people, get noticed and appreciated.

Ladies are known to use all the possible ways, tricks and tantrums to get noticed, particularly then when they buy new dresses and jewelry, to make sure that they get noticed and appreciated. There are many stories revolving around various villages which show such desperation among females and one such story talks about a lady who put her house on fire to show her diamond ring to people.

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It is not that males don’t need attention and they don’t do such tantrums or dramas. When they buy new bike, new car, new house, even new shirt…they make sure that people notice them and appreciate them.

Same is true for respect. Most of the time and at most of the places, it is forced respect. Armed forces and companies of Old Economy are examples of such “Forced Respects”. Thanks to our urge to copy the western culture and New Economy Companies that now people can address their seniors by their first name.

I am not writing this write-up to discuss as what people do in their personal life, if their behavior is good and acceptable or not. Neither, I am trying to compare males and females, who seek more attention. I am very much focused and will be discussing about such things at workplaces and the role of HR.

Importance of Appreciation and Respect

Appreciation is related to motivation. We all know that few words of appreciation can go a long way to motivate a person. Similarly, respect is associated with self-pride, more knowledge and experience in company, family and team. But, is it necessary to ask people to appreciate you and respect you? Do you think that the respect or appreciation that you will be getting by asking for it will be true and genuine? Why not earn your respect, deserve appreciation and face the truth? Let your work; let your personality and not your position earn the respect for you. That reminds me one of the dialogues from one of famous Hindi Movie, (Kabhi Khushi, Kabhi Gam), “Paisa to har koi kama leta hai; izzat kamana har kissi ke bas ki baat nahi” (Anybody can earn money but earning respect is that much difficult).

I have seen people at work-places, blunt and straight forward enough to ask for appreciation. They ask their clients, colleagues and subordinates to write appreciatory mails to their bosses and seniors. Other, who are a bit intelligent and shy, they keep on reminding you about the good things that they have done; about their achievements; about the manner in which they have helped you, till the time you acknowledge it and appreciate it.

Respect

Respect can be classified into two – Respect for the position and for the person. I can have high respect for someone who is younger to me and have achieved a lot and is successful in his life; a person with high integrity and credibility. I might not respect a very senior or elder person for his arrogance, ignorance and ego.

Suppose, there is a person who is a CEO of the company and he has been positioned on that post just for the fact that his father owes the company. He don’t know much about the business, have no leadership skills, unlike is father, he is not a visionary; I don’t think that his “employees” will be able to give him the actual respect. They might be respecting the position but not the person.

Ours is a society, wherein we have been taught to respect the elders for their experience and age.

Doesn’t matter if their experience is worth to learn from or they have just piled up the years of experience.

Doesn’t matter if their knowledge is still relevant or has become obsolete.

Doesn’t matter if they have ego and arrogance and they have stopped learning…way back.


In armed forces, an experienced solider, who have 30 years of experience and have faced two wars is expected to respect and obey his senior but young officer who is fighting the first war and is not even aware of border areas.

Respect, should come from the bottom of your heart and should not be just a gesture or a word in the mouth.

Appreciation

In Bhagwat Gita (One of the most sublime of world scriptures), it says, “Karam Kiye Ja Phal ki eecha mat kar aie insaan; jeeisa karam karega weisa phal deega Bhagwaan” (Work is worship. Do your work sincerely and don’t bother about the rewards). We all know that proper appreciation motivates a person but choice of appreciation is also important. Let me explain. During the year, you have been assigned 12 assignments and you did extremely well in each of the assignment. You exceeded the expectations and in the process, also benchmarked your own performance. You set the example for others to emulate.

Your boss appreciated you, after the completion of each assignment by sending you appreciatory mails, marking copies to all the team members. He also announced some ad hoc bonus for you.

Or, you want to get loads of appreciation at the time of appraisal for your perseverance, along with exponentially high increment, with promotion; best employee award (mentioning about your importance and achievements in front of all the employees) with a holiday package. Which one of these will keep you motivated for a long duration?

In appreciation, for it to have longevity and effectiveness, time of appreciation; manner of appreciation; platform of appreciation and the person who is appreciating you are equally important.

You have done a great job; you are happy about your work; you are feeling satisfied…its good but might be your work is not “exceptional” to get any appreciation; might be it is not as per the set guidelines; might be you took lots of time or your boss need to give you many inputs to help you…in such scenarios you won’t get any appreciation.

You have achieved something big; you are on seven sky; you are delighted; you want to share your achievements with others…its OK. Go ahead. But can you ask people to accept your achievement and appreciate you for that. I don’t think so. For example, I appeared on TV, covered by some channel for some good things that I did in my life or career. I am thrilled. In the interview, I was sitting next to Karan Thaper. So, what? I should not expect others to appreciate my achievements or recognition. I should not “ask” them to acknowledge and appreciate me. Should I?

Role of HR

HR people are expected to be generous with their appreciation, while appreciating others work, particularly the youngsters and fresher. In the case of fresher and employees of other departments, the chain should be like…

Acknowledge every effort

Appreciate the result or completion of the task

Celebrate the exceptional achievement


In case of HR Professionals and other seniors the chain should be like…

Acknowledge the result or completion of the task.

Appreciate the exceptional achievement

and celebrate, when such exceptional performances are repeated again and again over a period of time.


Regarding respect, in companies and corporate…it is advisable to go by the culture and value system of the company but in civil life you can choose as whom you like to respect to whom you don’t want to respect.

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Conclusion

Asking for appreciation or forced respect reduces your status. You become like a beggar on the bank of Ganga at Sangam in Uttar Pradesh, who beg for money, if you don’t give, he start following you and irritate you and if you still don’t give, and then they pronounce some ill-wish for you. So, deserve your appreciation and earn your respect.

These are some of the thoughts and views that I thought of sharing with you. You may agree or disagree. Choice is still yours whether you like to ask or earn.

Looking forward to your comments and feedback

Regards

Sanjeev Sharma

(Blog: http://sanjeevhimachali.blogspot.com/)

(E-mail: ; )

From India, Mumbai
deepinjoy
Hi Sanjeev,
Nice write up but I also want to add up few lines here.Appreciation is not only for recognition but mangement way of telling that we are on the right path and we need to keep it rolling.
Yes one should not beg for apprecaition because a real flower is known by its fragrance(values,skills,attitude)and not by the looks( manipulation,flattery,polishing).
So,as long as you have the fragrance within,you will attract people from all over.
In Joy,
Deepti

From India, New Delhi
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