Being acknowledged and thanked

Every quarter the healthcare company I work for holds a campus-wide forum for everyone to attend- managers from the stores are welcome as well as anyone from corporate (although attendance is so high that you must register to attend so most people watch the event from their computers). Anyway, the purpose of the forum is to talk about hot topic issues, play TV commercials that haven't been released to the public yet, go through Q&As, introduce key executive level additions, etc. Mostly though it's to motivate the entire live and web audience-- the company's employees. There are a lot of thank you's given out by everyone who holds the mic to once again everyone...the field, the DCs, corporate folks, etc...Today, a personal thank you was given to pharmacists as it is Pharmacist Appreciation month. I didn't go to the event and so was left wondering how that really resonated with the pharmacists and non-pharmacist audience members that did attend. My curiosity resides mainly with whether the pharmacists in the room felt truly acknowledged or whether it sounded rehearsed. I personally appreciate the fact that our occupation is celebrated this month, but know that as a pharmacist this is not how I'd prefer to be acknowledged.

This is something our company has struggled with for some time now. The manner in which you thank someone matters. Not thanking pharmacists for their efforts is not an option. If you want to deliver millions of flu shots, meet your KPIs, improve customer satisfaction, etc you need to tell your pharmacists that you 'get it' and that you appreciate them. But how do you convey that message in a genuine manner?

In an effort to demonstrate the value of MTM and at the same time acknowledge select pharmacists for their contributions towards MTM services, MTM vendors put together concise newsletters if you will to describe MTM cases that their contracted MTM pharmacists handled. They are usually not your 'So and so refilled their patient's medication and so compliance was improved' stories-- they are usually cases that show how a pharmacist went above and beyond with an intervention to improve their patient's healthcare. The pharmacist's store is listed, their name is displayed, and the case is described. Once again, this is intended to highlight the pharmacist and their success with this service as well as create interest for pharmacists who don't understand MTM or see the value as well as for pharmacists who may be unaware of how their interventions can make a difference. So, are these 'Look what your peers did!' emails successful? Does the pharmacist highlighted in these briefs even like the fact that their name is published? Do they feel a sense of pride knowing that these emails can trickle down to 7,000+ stores?

We get thank you's in all kinds of ways, from all sorts of people in the company. I get them as automated responses from many people just for responding to an email. I get a more personal thank you and 'good job' at my annual review. I get thanked sometimes by upper management who were made aware of something I excelled at. But whose thank you matters most to me and how do I like to get thanked?

Here's how-- don't thank me only in front of other people. It only shows me that you only care about how you look and if that's the first time I hear it, I know you've been waiting to deliver the thank you in front of a large group because you 'acknowledge your employees'. Don't thank me only at my reviews. I resent you all year long for not acknowledging my efforts just for you to overwhelm me with gratitude this one time a year. Don't thank me only after someone else has acknowledged my accomplishment. You either understood the value of it in the first place or you didn't. And lastly, don't thank me because you have to. The random thank you's at the end of a busy week or emailing our boss to explain why you're so proud of me every so often means something to me. Being thanked by patients for helping them through consultations, product selection, or just answering a simple question is usually good enough for me too. Being thanked by other colleagues via a simple email or call for making their job easier is good for me.

What motivates you to do better? Do you prefer a personal thank you or do you prefer for others to witness gratitude given to you?