Love Language at Worksplace

I am sure you have heard about the famous "The 5 Love Language". But what do love languages have to do with the workplace?

In our small group, my team and I discussed the topic of "appreciation".

I told my team that I would love to see more leaders expressing how valuable we are to the company and how they appreciate us to be part of the team. To my surprise, my fellow colleague said that he would prefer the leader perform certain "actions" to show appreciation than actually "saying it". Then we realize that people have different preference when it comes to appreciation. So is there such a thing as "5 love language in the workplace"?

And it turned out, there is!

The author Dr. Gary Chapman of the famous book the "The 5 Love Language" also co-authored another book called "The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace". And yes, if there are preferences about how we would like to be loved, there are certainly preferences on how we would like to be appreciated at work.

The 5 languages are:

1. Words of Affirmation – uses words to affirm people

2. Acts of Service – actions speak louder than words

3. Receiving Gifts – small tokens of appreciation

4. Quality Time – giving someone undivided attention (coffee chat)

5. Physical Touch – appropriate touch (pats on the back)

When we feel valued and appreciated, we are able to perform at peak levels. Feeling cared for and supported increases our mental and emotional wellbeing, which translates into improved work performance. Simply ask the question: "how do you prefer to be appreciate it"? Or just by trying out various forms of appreciation to observe how they react can also be a great way.

What's your preferred language of appreciation?

#appreciation #employeewellbeing #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #wellbeingatwork