Thank YOU Jennifer and Jacob!
A few months ago I mentioned a great way to use your name card in training–write a thank you note to the instructor. I had been surprised and delighted with such a card after a class for police sergeants and supervisors and wrote about it then.
A few weeks ago I received another of those, then another a week later–one from Jennifer Kirkland, a Communications (Dispatch) Supervisor for the Vail Police Department and one from Jacob Campbell of the Cherry Hills Police Department. Jacob is a tremendously impressive sergeant with a great career ahead of him and I certainly appreciated the thank you note on his name card. However, I will focus on Jennifer’s in this article for one big reason: I had to get hers out of the trash!
Several of us were cleaning up after a class on supervisory interviewing and I was getting ready to throw some items away when I saw a name tag with writing on it covered up by some other trash. I took it out and smiled to see the note.
It may not be original, but thanks, Tina! It was great!
I carefully wiped the coffee grounds from it–as though it was the Holy Grail being restored–and put it into my briefcase with reverence. I scanned it into my computer when I got home and saved the card in my files. I was thrilled to have it! (I love the emails I receive too, so don’t think I’m picky about how I get a thank you note!)
Creative thank you and greeting ideas for training or work: The next time you attend training, use your name tag to write a thank you to the instructor or a fellow participant. Or, take it back to your office and give it to the person who helped make the training possible for you. Be creative in any other meeting or gathering and find something on which to leave a thank you note for the coordinator or someone else responsible. Or, simply look for ways to leave your mark and have an Instant Impact on someone’s day.
- If it’s a food event, write a Thank You on a napkin and leave it on the co-worker’s desk.
- Write “thank you” or greeting on a snack package and give it to an employee.
- Write a thank you note on a styrofoam cup and hand it to someone you appreciate.
- Buy a coworker a can of pop and tape a fun note to it.
- Put a note in a desk drawer, on a purse or briefcase or somewhere else unexpected.
- Think of something even more creative—but appropriate–and say thank you or just Hi! to someone you know at work.
The idea is to surprise people with an unexpected thank you note or greeting. You don’t have to do it creatively–but it certainly has an impact when you do!
In Jennifer’s case, she must have decided not to leave the note after all–or, maybe her name card was put in the trash inadvertently. Whatever the situation, I’m glad I found Jennifer Kirkland’s name card because I was very happy to have it–coffee grounds and all.
