---

Guest post by: Martin Haworth Become an Author

Tweet

---

---

There is a huge value in accepting help in your business, to build your own capacity as well as growing your team too.

And often, when we are given a compliment, or someone says 'Thank you', we feel it is polite to gently decline. We say things like 'It's nothing' or 'No, no - it was all you'.

As part of a business transaction I've been involved in, which has not gone that well and one which I have been chasing hard to make anything out of for a bunch of other people as well as myself, we had a minor success.

To one of the partners, it represented something far bigger than it did to some of the others, despite being less than anticipated.

Financially, it was very important to him. So he sent me a gift for the effort I'd made. It was a small gift and one which he could ill-afford.

Now he told me he was sending this small gift and it would have been easy to say 'You shouldn't have'. Instead, I said 'Thank You'. I appreciated, following the reminder that a boss gave me a few years ago, that the choice of making the gift was theirs and thus important to them.

In fact it was a big financial decision, given the state of their finances. Dismissing it with the 'You shouldn't', would undo a lot of their decision making and choice to make a gift. So, I said 'Thank you, I appreciate that you have made this gesture, and I'm very grateful'.

My business experience of this was when I was once given praise for a piece of work where I dismissed the praise with, 'It's just my job'.

Quickly and supportively, my boss said this to me, 'It's always best to accept thanks and praise with good grace, that is how it's given'. And so I always have since then.

Why is this important? Well, when individuals offer thanks or praise, it is their gift to give, not yours to decline or dismiss. Gifts like this are hard to give, especially when courage and strength is needed to even speak up, as in some organizations.

Respecting this, is where you come in.

Accepting the gift with honesty and appreciation is a wonderful gift back, though mainly unspoken and intangible. It's like saying, 'Well, well, how wonderful that someone appreciates what I do sometimes, you are so kind for giving me the feedback that what I do is valued'.

This builds relationships hugely, builds teams and overall means that all pulling together, appreciating each other and valuing the closeness, are important even though sometimes unspoken.

It's worth reflecting on the form of words you can use to someone who shows you appreciation for something you did and thank them for taking the time to thank you, without deflecting that in any way.

You, they and your organizational morale will find great value in this.

Related Articles

  A Smile - The Universal Language
  Most Important Thing to Take to Your Direct Sales Vendor Event
  Your Gratitude Affects Attitude
  When You’re Smiling!
  The Awesome Power of a Smile
  Presentation Skills Training - Why Is Mona Lisa Smiling?
  The Face Of The Season
  Smile and the Whole World Smiles with You, Cry and You Cry Alone
  Measuring Success with Happiness
  Are You The Joker When Networking?
  How to create a catchy business name
  When Your Smiling
  The Power Of Thanks
  Seeing Perfection without Judgment
  Five Benefits Of Accepting Guest Writers On Your Blog
  Smile - Love Being You
  Toddlers Teach Us
  Home Party Sales and Networking Consultants Must Smile
  9 Simple Tips for Better Presentations
  Personality

Related Forum Posts

Re: what makes you smile ????
Re: what makes you smile ????

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Avoid Burnout: Do the Limbo Regularly

How to Improve Your Effectiveness as a Manager

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.