With more than 10,000 people having been trained in the 7 Principles of Acknowledgment, I know that the world is changing unalterably for the better. I know that each person who becomes conscious of what has been stopping him or her from communicating heartfelt and authentic acknowledgments, will overcome these obstacles and start delivering them on a regular, generous, profound and committed basis.

And don’t forget about the ripple effect — those who feel valued and appreciated by our acknowledgments of them, want to pay that forward and make others feel that way, too. Okay, so we’ve got that handled…or we are in the process of getting that handled. So now here’s the next step: once you have delivered your acknowledgment to some deserving person, it is also your “job” to make sure it lands and sticks. Some people will come back to you with an “Oh, it was nothing!” statement, and then it is your job to tell them, “Oh yes, it was something!” and make sure that they get it. Wait until you see the light go on in their eyes, until they grin ear to ear, until they wake up and come alive, just from your acknowledgment. Then you will know that they have “gotten” it.

Now here’s the rest of this amazing process. It’s also our job as the recipient of an acknowledgment, to let it land and not blow it away — it’s equal responsibility for a great result. What follows is a wonderful example of this that came to me last week after I delivered a virtual training session to 356 IBM people. Immediately following the session, I received this email:

Hi Judy
Thanks for putting on a fantastic webinar. I received some good feedback from my customer today, just as The Power of Acknowledgment (POA) session was wrapping up and because the POA concepts were in the forefront of my mind, I was really able to “feel” the power that the acknowledgement had. The feedback has totally made my day. I’m determined to provide more acknowledgements to the people in my life. Everyone deserves to feel this good.

Regards,
Mark Peters, PMP

Do you see the way Mark opened himself to this acknowledgment and let him truly feel it? That’s glorious, and look at the effect he allowed it to have on him. What he is telling us is that he might NOT have let that acknowledgment really reach his core if he hadn’t become conscious of his obstacles to both giving and receiving acknowledgments. And now that there are so many people (10,000 x all the people they have acknowledged who then start acknowledging others, and so on…) out there bringing forth The Power of Acknowledgment, taking risks and making themselves feel awkward and even uncomfortable at times to overcome their barriers, we all have to make the job easier for them! We have to open ourselves, as Mark did, to their priceless contribution to us. Otherwise, the acknowledgment comes back to the giver like a boomerang, and they feel that their “gift” has been refused.