ποΈ EP 43 : Level Up your Feedback with a POWER THANK YOU
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Do you know how to say βThank Youβ?
Well, technically we all do from early childhood, when we were taught to show gratitude.
However, very few of us know how to use such a moment of gratitude in a much more powerful way.
In this episode and article, we explore the POWER THANK YOU. It is a simple 3-step technique to artfully level up in this area, so that it has a powerful, positive and moving effect on others.
Now, what IS a power thank you?
It is a special way to appreciate someone elseβs contributions. In my opinion it is also very useful to master as a People Leader who wants to maximise the positive effect of feedback.
Letβs start with an example.
Imagine your team member has reviewed one memo that you drafted for Leadership. Their feedback allowed you to make some critical changes to prevent unnecessary blunders and resulted in a much better delivery and outcome.
How could you deliver you gratitude?
Well, first see what a power thank you is NOT:
NON-POWER THANK YOU
βWell, er, I am really thankful for what you have done for me in that report. It helped me a lot. Thanks heaps!β
That may be JUST enough to be considered
POWER THANK YOU
βI want to take a moment to thank you for the way you helped me on that report last week. I canβt believe that you took more than an hour out of your day and that you helped me review my entire draft memo. I especially like that highlighted so many small detailsβ¦from my word choices, to some clumsy sentence structure and especially the fact that I missed to close the point on an element that I mentioned in the introduction. My closure was quite weak because of that.
I can tell you that it made a big difference. I was able to craft that into a document that my peers say is very strong. It is so much clearer to them what our team wants to achieve. So thank you very much. β
What is the difference?
Well, the power thank you consists of three elements:
1. We share something SPECIFIC
2. We acknowledge the EFFORT the person made
3. We highlight the IMPACT that they had.
Once these three elements are there, they have the impact that the receiver will know
1. specifically what they did well, so they can focus and continue doing that,
2. that their effort is seen and recognised, likely motivating to do it again in the future
3. that their effort paid off.
Itβs an amazing impact you can have as a Leader and great opportunity to positively reinforce someone elseβs behavior.
Go ahead and see where you can apply this mindset and technique with children, spouse, your team members, peers and even your boss. Itβs a great trust-building exercise!
-Maik
Resources: Mark Goulston https://hbr.org/2013/02/how-to-give-a-meaningful-thank
Maik Frank
Maik is a PCC Executive Coach and the founder of IntelliCoach.com. He has coached and trained over 400 People Leaders to improve their communication skills and offers guaranteed measurable growth to his clients. He also hosts the Coaching Leader Podcast.
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