The Gift Your Co-Workers Really Want This Holiday Season

In many parts of the world it’s gift giving season.  Perhaps you’re up to your neck in gift and entertainment approvals, but, as we go into the holidays, may I suggest you give your co-workers and employees the gift they really want more than anything?  It may surprise you to learn that psychologists have recently found that the thing people want more than anything is this: focused, personal attention. 
 
We’ve all been out to dinner and seen the family whose members aren’t talking to each other because each one is sat staring into a smartphone.  Perhaps you’ve been guilty of putting your device next to you when you’re out with friends just in case someone more important calls?  Maybe you’ve reflexively picked up your email while your spouse was mid-story, pretending to half-hear the details while silently drafting a response?  These scenes are so common that we forget there was a time when people used to sit and talk to each other, uninterrupted, as a matter of course.   
 
While there are definitely times when we need to pay attention to our phones, one of the easiest ways to make yourself a Wildly Effective Compliance Officer is simply to stop all the distractions and to really pay attention to the people you are interacting with on a daily basis.  When we stop to actively listen to people instead of keeping our mind somewhere else, we give the person a great gift. 
 
Inherent in the phrase “paying attention” is the verb “to pay.”  It’s a transaction of sorts, with the person who is “paying” giving a gift.  Try these simple ways to increase your effectiveness: