I still write letters. Yep. On paper, with a pen. And thank-you notes. Because my grandmother told me to.
There’s just no substitute for the written word, especially words of praise, gratitude, and encouragement.
Yes, the pen is mightier than the sword! And it can do wonders for your team culture.
That's why I was delighted to discover in “Campbell’s Finds the Soup for Their Soul,” a recent Teamistry episode, that one of the main techniques the leadership team used to rescue the company’s ruined morale was personal note-writing. Notes with sincere messages to employees – nothing canned or phony – for a job well done.
Former CEO Douglas Conant, the person responsible for the company’s big turnaround, said: "I would develop a practice of writing 10 to 20 notes celebrating contributions of significance with everyday employees. And I did that six days a week for a decade. And we did the math with a calculator at my desk and we said, ‘My god. I sent out over 30,000 notes to Campbell employees.’ We only had 20,000 employees.”
In this spirit, we made some cards for you. Use them to jump start a note-writing era on your team and in your organization. Download and print (examples below) and find even more ideas (in editable PDF form) in "extras."
Give ‘em a try, and tell us about your experiences!
(How to use: right-click and save image. Open file in preview. Click pen-in-circle icon to the left of search box. Edit your image, save, and send. Or, head over to the "extras" page and use the editable PDF versions.)
Jamey Austin
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