Appreciation

Gary Chapman wrote a very famous book (that is now a series of books) called The Five Love Languages. His theory is that we express love and receive love based on one of the five "languages", which are acts of services, words of affirmation, physical touch, receiving gifts, and quality time. This theory of giving and receiving love became so popular that Chapman expanded his theory to cover appreciation in the workplace.

If you don't know your love language, you can visit https://5lovelanguages.com/. 

 In the workplace we can show appreciation in the following ways:
1. Acts of Service - offering to help a co-worker or leader with a project, helping to clean the shop or office without being told, or offering to run an errand.
2. Words of Affirmation - compliments on work done, compliments on personality, positive feedback
3. Physical Touch - high fives, fist bumps, hand shakes, hugs (when appropriate)
4. Receiving Gifts - giving time off, giving gift cards/certificates, raffles, bringing coffee and donuts for everyone, pizza party
5. Quality Time - one-on-one meetings between team members and leadership, company events and outings, allowing team members a way to give leadership feedback

Below:
​We encourage our team to learn soldering and reward them for their efforts with a certificate that we display at the shop. Peter and Seth (right) first bump to show their appreciation for each other.