With a few well-placed kind words you can really make a persons day. So let me start by thanking you for reading this newsletter and I hope you'll find 5 minutes to peruse it through to the end.

I once asked a group of managers how good they thought they were at encouraging their teams. One said, 'I know I can do more but I'm terrified of my encouragement being mistaken for being patronising, so I just wait until formal reviews'.

What a shame. Here's a boss with a team of 12 who get 'formally encouraged' during documented meetings every few months. He's a nice person who wants to do more but he is gripped by fear.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather have a go and get it wrong than wait until it's so 'right' it's sterile.

A few years ago I worked with a large company who realised they could be better at recognising their staff and their efforts. One of the ideas we came up with to help them was for every member of staff to receive a 'Thank You' card.

We printed 4,500 cards and the Chief Exec sponsored the programme. She then had to send a card to each of her Area Mangers with a short description of what she was thanking them for. The Area Managers would do the same with their direct reports and so on. They had 90 days to complete the project.

The idea worked brilliantly. However, as well as the very nice feelings associated with doing this, four very interesting things happened...

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