Open Loops

How To Write A Thank You Note

Over the last few weeks of the academic year, I began writing a note of thanks to someone in my school.  In a school of over 100 adults, it was easy to spot something each day that deserved a “Thank You”.  As my last act each day, I sat down at my desk and wrote the note of thanks and placed it in an employee’s mailbox as I walked out of the door.

The result was immediate.  Almost every teacher told me that the expression of thanks was something that they needed to hear that day.  That made me feel good as well.  Jeff Bailey and I discussed Thank You notes on Twitter a few days back.  He said, “It feels good to get a Thank You note, but it feels awesome to write one.”  He is right, writing something that brightens someone else’s day is awesome.

Since writing a Thank You note is going to have a major impact on someone, it’s important to do it right.  Below is a summary of good Thank You note writing practices by Rosalie Maggio in her book, “How to Say It”, that are suitable for the workplace:

• Write the note promptly.
• Mention specifically what you are thankful for.
• Express your gratitude in a “enthusiastic, appreciative way”.
• Tell why you like what you are thanking them for.
• Close with one or two sentences that are unrelated to the object of your gratitude (i.e., saying something nice about the person, sending greetings to the recipient’s family, mentioning that you will see him or her soon)
• Never express more than you feel.  In worst case scenarios, a simple, “Thank you very much” will do.

 

Source: Rosalie Maggio | How to Say It: Choice Words, Phrases, Sentences & Paragraphs for Every Situation

Photo: Simplycenterpieces.com

The Importance of Saying “Thank You”

Four years ago, I posted about the importance of saying “Thank You” to staff members who go above and beyond our normal expectations.  It’s now three year’s later.  Our economy has tanked.  In just six months, my profession has gone from a huge teacher shortage to a teacher surplus due to budget deficits in the state budget that resulted in huge teacher layoffs.

With over 120 school systems in North Carolina announcing at least 100 layoff each and some announcing 700+ layoffs, a minimum of 120,000 teachers face unemployment.  One would think that with that number of teachers who now don’t know how to pay their family bills, the ones who still have jobs would be overjoyed about their continued employment.  Surprisingly, although thankful for their jobs, they still see their future threatened:

• Our governor took back one-half percent of all state employee pay retroactively, many times out of only one check.  In other words, many teachers found their last check of the year $100 - $200 less than normal.
• A projected pay cut of 10% is being considered.
• Another plan being considered has the school year being cut by 5 days this coming year and 10 days the year thereafter.  This means 5 – 10 days without pay.
• The state is raising the student to teacher ratio, meaning they will have more students per class.
• New anti-bullying legislation promises more responsibility, but comes with no funding.
• Taxes are promised to be raised.
• Money for instructional supplies has been slashed.
• Money for repairs and custodial items has been slashed.
• The “No Child Left Behind” requirements are still being raised.

In short, teachers are expected to do more and increase learning.  They are to do this with more students,  for less pay, fewer materials, in less time, and in rooms needing repairs. 

In these poor economic times, administrators, including private sector managers, still need to understand that those still employed still need reassurance that they are valued and that their contributions mean something to the organization.  Ways to tell employees, “Thank You”, are even more important now than four years ago when I wrote the original post.  Not doing so could mean plummeting staff morale and less productivity.

What are you doing during this rough economic time to tell your employees that you value them?

Seek and Act on Research-Based Ideas

I'm a big fan of data and analytics.  Using data to make day-to-day decisions gives me sound footing supporting what I do.  Harry Wong, the noted educator, has said that what you do is not important, that knowing why you do what you do is the important thing. Whether you agree with him or not, it's always intrigued me to understand why some people get results and some do not.  Why do some sales people make that big sale and others let it slip through their fingers?  Why is one presentation killer while another elicits nothing but yawns?  Why will students perform for one teacher, but resist another?

Sometimes, successful people do not even know why what they do works.  It just does.  But there are those of us who have the curiosity to try to figure out the "why" of success.

Increase Receptiveness of Ideas by Using a Listener's Right Ear

Wired Science presents an article on research by psychologists Daniele Marzoli and Luca Tommasi of the University G. d’Annunzio in Italy.  In this study, done in dance clubs in Italy (Who says research can't be fun?), 172 subjects were approached by a researcher and asked for a cigarette.  Out of the 88 people who were asked in their left ear, only 17 gave her a cigarette.  Of the 88 people who were asked the same request in their right ear, 34 granted the request.  In addition, researchers observed even more people interacting, noted similar requests, and observed the success or failure of the request.  This large difference in the results led the psychologists to conclude that the result differences were due to which ear received the requests and not just chance.

When hypothesizing why the right ear yielded substantially more positive results it was noted,

"What’s surprising about the study is that ear choice had such a decided impact on the behavior of participants in a natural, or as the researchers put it, ecological, setting. Why would people feel more generous when their right ears are addressed?

Marzoli and Tommasi write that some work has shown that the left and right hemispheres of the brain appear to be tuned for positive and negative emotions, respectively. Talk into the right ear and you send your words into a slightly more amenable part of the brain."

The take-away from this is that those in positions where persuasion is paramount in getting a desired action (i.e., sales people, teachers, politicians, etc.), the right ear should be favored.  In private conferences, put yourself to the right of the person with whom you are talking.  On the salesfloor, stand to the customer's right.  Teachers should put more difficult students on right side of the room and when they give individual feedback, talk in the student's right ear.

Granted that the results, before counted as fact, need to be reproduced and verified, but, it does give us something to think about and act on to see if it's true in our circumstances.

--via Wired Science: Requests to the Right Ear Are More Successful Than Those to the Left

The Importance of Legible Handwriting

In this digital age, one would think that everyone would be typing, texting, and Twittering their memos, letters, notes, and short messages.  My own writing benefitted from the advent of the word processor.  For years, even into my adult years, my writing suffered.  I was ineffectual in communicating my ideas and thoughts because, as hard as I tried, my fingers could not keep up with the flow of thoughts in my mind.  By the time I recorded one point, three more had already came, went, and were lost.  Now my fingers fly across the keyboard at 80+ words a minute and my fingers, finally, can keep up with the flying thoughts and ideas.

However, despite my unbelief, there are those out there who still handwrite! When I meet with attorneys, notes are taken on a legal pad.  Attending meetings with district personnel, I've noticed that no one uses a laptop to take notes.  Again, the ubiquitous legal pad is the tool of choice.  Agreements are hammered out in longhand first and signed, only to be processed into more formal documents later.  I'd even venture to say that if each of you look at all the written communication that you produce, you would find that the majority of it is in handwriting.  It follows, then that if handwriting still plays an important part in how we communicate with others, it's important to make our handwriting as legible and neat as possible.

Want That Job? Develop Your Writing!

My field is education.  I'd been working in it for 19 years when I decided I wanted to be a school-based administrator.  I was job-seeking all over again.  Not a problem, though, I had sought jobs successfully in the past and thought this next interview would be no different.  I knew the drill:

• Chit Chat
• Interview
• Review of my credentials
• Strong handshake to finish

Then, something new was added as I walked out the door.  I was given a fictitious school and a school-wide crisis with which to deal.  I was handed a piece of paper and was told to craft a letter to the parents of my students to inform them of the "crisis" and what I would be doing about it.  As I sat at the table that was placed just outside the interview room, a 15-minute deadline was added.

Communication is paramount in today's workplace.  In fact, the required evaluation form that I use with my employees has me evaluating the communication skills of not just my teachers, but also the secretaries and custodians.  Verbal skills always jump to the front of the mind in these cases, but writing is just as important.  Many organizations now require a writing sample to be submitted with the application.   

Kathrine Brooks shares five tips to improving your writing sample that you provide to prospective employers.  Promoting proactivity and providing an unsolicited sample, checking your grammar and spelling, to tailoring the topic to fit the job for which you are applying, she gives good advice for improving the quality of your writing sample to nail that job.

Psychology Today: The Dreaded Writing Sample