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I've just returned from an offsite with our team at The Energy Project. As we concluded, I asked each person to take a few moments to say what he or she felt most proud of accomplishing over the past year. After each of their brief recountings, I added some observations about what I appreciated in [...]

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This is a powerful message in our modern society.
We seemed to have lost our bearing & our sense of direction.

**Story of Appreciation**

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the first interview; the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, Never had a year when he did not score.

The director asked,
"Did you obtain any scholarships in school?"
the youth answered "none".

The director asked,
" Was it your father who paid for your school fees?"
The youth answered,
"My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked,
" Where did your mother work?"
The youth answered,
"My mother worked as clothes cleaner.
The director requested the youth to show his hands.
The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.

The director asked,
â€Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?"
The youth answered,
"Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books.
Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said,
"I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.*

The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid.

The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother's hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.

The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked:
" Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered,
" I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'

The Director asked,
" please tell me your feelings."

The youth said,

Number 1,
I know now what is appreciation. Without my mother, there would not the successful me today.

Number 2,
by working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done.

Number 3,
I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.

The director said,
" This is what I am looking for to be my manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company's performance improved tremendously.

A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts.

When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others.

For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement.

He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?*

You can let your kid live in a big house, give him a Driver & Car for going around, Eat a Good Meal, learn Piano, Watch a Big Screen TV. But when you are Cutting Grass, please let them experience it. After a Meal, let them Wash their Plates and Bowls together with their Brothers and Sisters. Tell them to Travel in Public Bus, It is not because you do not have Money for Car or to Hire a Maid, but it is because you want to Love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will Grow Grey, same as the Mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.

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Story of Appreciation; A HEART TOUCHING STORY

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This is a powerful message in our modern society.We seemed to have lost our bearing & our sense of direction. **Story of Appreciation** One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the first interview; the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

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Managers often view "appreciation" as one of those soft HR concepts that in the hard business world doesn't matter much.

That is, until you see research stats showing that approximately two out of three employees would quit if they don't get enough of it.

This is a key finding of a new study from Office Team examining the impact of appreciation, or lack thereof, in the workplace.

It's a subject I write about with some frequency: managerial issues related to employee recognition, appreciation, communication, etc. I just did a piece a few days ago on the management effects of what I call chronic emotional stinginess. Then I came across this current study; in essence, it puts hard data against a "soft" concern. But it's a concern that on closer inspection has plenty of hard dollars behind it, as dissatisfied employees and turnover are issues costing companies hundreds of billions of dollars on an annual basis.

Let's take a closer look at the key data points of this new research.

- 66% of employees say they would "likely leave their job of they didn't feel appreciated." This is up significantly from 51% of employees who felt this way in 2012.

- Among millennials, the number of employees who'd leave if unappreciated jumps to 76%. This helps account for the overall increase from the 51% figure in 2012, as millennials are becoming the dominant generation in the workforce, with a unique set of characteristics and needs.

- From a management standpoint, 54% of senior managers feel "it's common for staff to quit due to lack of recognition." Though this is a reasonable number, there's a still a sizable disconnect between management's perceptions and the 76% of millennials who report they'd respond this way.

Appreciation matters. So what does all this mean? I'd call it a short message with a powerful takeaway: Appreciation matters. Whether you want to call it recognition, appreciation, positive management communication...or just one of those irritating soft subjects HR keeps harping on... from an employee's point of view feeling appreciated often makes the difference between leaving and staying.

Which is why I write about things like the importance of managerial emotional stinginess. Much effective management isn't rocket science; it's just common sense. Good managers understand the manager-employee bond is a fragile one. It may not take too much appreciation to keep someone happy, but it does take some.

Otherwise, you may well find yourself faced with the unwanted costs of hiring, training and lost productivity - as 66% of employees will tell you.

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66% Of Employees Would Quit If They Feel Unappreciated

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Managers often view "appreciation" as one of those soft HR concepts that in the hard business world doesn't matter much. That is, until you see research stats showing that approximately two out of three employees would quit if they don't get enough of it.