Closing the Engagement Gap Blog

by Don Lowman
One of my colleagues at Towers Perrin with whom I work quite a lot is always generating new ideas and suggestions for things I should do. 

In one of her first notes to me to start the year, she suggested it would be a good idea to send personal notes to the core members of the teams we worked with last year, and she suggested the notes would have more impact if they came from me because of the leadership role I have in the firm.

The only thing that bothered me about her suggestion was that she made it before I thought of it!  I quickly agreed that it was a good idea and I sent the first batch of notes out last night.  The notes take some time to write because I try to personalize each one. 

I have been amazed at the responses that I have received so far.  Here is a sample note that I sent and the response I got.

Dear “John” (not his actual name):

Happy 2009!  I hope you had a nice holiday break.  And now we are back to reality….

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the work you did in 2009 for the CRM Experience team.  I know it required a commitment of unplanned time and effort on your part.  The quality of the work the team did, and the obvious good thought that you all put into it was quite helpful and very much appreciated.  The recommendations made a lot of sense and we are starting to implement some of them already and plan to do more throughout 2009.

We don’t say “Thank you” enough, and I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to personally express my gratitude to you.

All the best for this year and I look forward to working with you more in 2009.

Don

And “John’s” response:

Hi Don –

I think the appropriate response to a “thank you” is “you’re welcome.”  However, I feel more like saying thanks back to you.  For multiple reasons — first, it was a fun piece of work, especially because it was a really fun group of people.  I’d work with any of them again in a heartbeat.  Secondly, I’m appreciative of your “thank you.”  You’re right that we are all so busy that we often forget to say thanks.  And I know how busy you are these days, so that makes it even more meaningful.

I am hopeful that we have some built some momentum on the output from the team.  I feel like we’re progressing more than we ever have before down this road.  To be honest, it still feels like a snail’s pace, but I understand that it’s a marathon and not a sprint – - so maybe we’re more of a tortoise than a snail

Thanks again for your note…Take care…Talk to you soon…

I learn or re-learn something at Towers Perrin seemingly every day. And this one small but important piece of advice from my colleague about remembering to say “Thank you” is one of the key lessons I learned (perhaps not well enough) when we were researching and writing Closing the Engagement Gap.

It is a lesson I know I need to remember and try to practice everyday.  Surprisingly, it makes more of a difference than one might think, because it happens far too rarely in business (in life?) today.  Just remember to say “Thank you.” 

What might I do differently next time?  I would write the notes out by hand and put them in an envelope instead of using e-mail.