When is the last time you appreciated your team at work? When you did, was it in the way each individual likes to be shown appreciation? If your answer is, “I’m not sure” or “I think so” then this episode is for you.
According to our guest, Diana Rogers Jaeger, research shows that when employees feel appreciated in the workplace, employee engagement goes up which leads to increased morale, productivity and retention. Diana is a company culture and appreciation expert. As founder of Love To Appreciate Consulting, she specializes in working with organizations to drive employee engagement to improve productivity, retention, and job satisfaction. She also strengthens teams by providing executive coaching and leadership training, and by facilitating team building activities and retreats.
LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:
- Learn more about our guest’s business Love to Appreciate: https://www.lovetoappreciate.com
- Contact Diana directly at: diana@lovetoappreciate.com
- Here is the book for the 5 Languages of Appreciation at Work: https://5lovelanguages.com/store/the-5-languages-of-appreciation-in-the-workplace
- If you are ready to franchise your business or take it to the next level: CLICK HERE.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Diana Rogers Jaeger, APR, M.Ed. helps organizations harness the power of culture to achieve greater success. She is a go-to speaker on the topics of employee engagement, workplace culture, and the 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace for conferences, luncheons, and employee events. As founder of Love To Appreciate Consulting, she specializes in working with organizations to drive employee engagement to improve productivity, retention, and job satisfaction. She also strengthens teams by providing executive coaching and leadership training, and by facilitating team building activities and retreats. Diana resides in Fort Collins, Colorado with her husband and two sons and her life motto is “Live a life of adventure while making the world a better place.”
If the Great Resignation has taught us anything, it’s that employees today expect more in the workplace. They expect to be treated like a human being or else they quit. Organizations struggling to keep talent are most likely underestimating the power of appreciation. Research shows that when employees feel appreciated in the workplace, employee engagement goes up which leads to increased morale, productivity and retention. The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace is a proven method for developing positive workplace relationships and making individuals feel valued by their peers and by their leaders. Teams can better fill each other’s appreciation tanks when they know which language of appreciation speaks to a specific individual. The reality is most people have never been trained to show appreciation well which is why most people don’t do it well. I’m here to change that!
ABOUT BIG SKY FRANCHISE TEAM:
This episode is powered by Big Sky Franchise Team. If you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no-obligation, franchise consultation online at: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/ or by calling Big Sky Franchise Team at: 855-824-4759.
If you are interested in being a guest on our podcast, please complete this request form or email podcast@bigskyfranchise.com and a team member will be in touch.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:00):
Welcome to the Multiply Your Success Podcast where each week we help growth minded entrepreneurs and franchise leaders take the next step in their expansion journey. I’m your host, Tom DuFore, CEO of Big Sky Franchise Team. As we open today, I’m wondering, when is the last time you appreciated your team at work? And when you did, was it in a way that each person liked to be shown appreciation? If your answer is, well, I’m not sure or I think so, then this episode is for you.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:34):
According to our guest today, I’m not sure if you knew this, but research shows that when employees feel appreciated in the workplace, employee engagement goes up, which leads to increased morale, productivity and retention. Our guest today is Diana Rogers Jaeger. She is a company and culture appreciation expert. She’s the founder of Love to Appreciate Consulting, and she specializes in working with organizations to drive employee engagement to improve productivity, retention, and job satisfaction. She also strengthens teams by providing executive coaching and leadership training and facilitating team building activities and retreats.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (01:16):
You’re going to love this episode with Diana. It is jammed full of great takeaways, so let’s go ahead and jump right into my interview.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (01:24):
My name is Diana Rogers Jaeger, and I am the founder and owner of Love to Appreciate Consulting. I believe so much in the power of appreciation that it’s in the name of my company.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (01:37):
Well, I love that. On the form you submitted, one thing that jumped out to me, and I always like to go through this, is you said appreciation is a necessity, not a nicety. That really stuck out to me, so I’d love for you to just talk a little bit about that.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (01:56):
Right. Some people think it’s manners because we should be nice, we should do things like say thank you or you’re doing a good job, or point out something nice about what you’re wearing, things like that. It really is deeper than that. Just like we have physical needs as human beings for food, water, and shelter, we also have emotional needs as human beings with appreciation being a key part of it.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (02:23):
If I can flip the mindset in a lot of people, leaders especially, to think about it as a necessity and not just something we should be doing but we need to be doing in the workplace. Because if we’re treating employees as the human beings they are, people first, then this is something we have to provide. We need to train everyone in how to do it.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (02:46):
Have you ever gone to school or training for appreciation? Probably you have not, and most people have not. And so, understanding too that whilst appreciation may come more naturally to others, or maybe they had a role model in their lives about how to do appreciation well, others have had no training or do it very poorly. And so, that needs to be addressed and there needs to be equal opportunity for people to do appreciation well.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (03:12):
Also, since my niches, the five languages of appreciation in the workplace, people don’t even understand that there are different ways to appreciate others. So, even if you have great intentions of I want to appreciate others, you may not have the tools and the knowledge to do it well. And so, that’s what I specialize in, is really helping individuals and organizations understand the power of appreciation, how to do it well, and why it’s needed in the workplace.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (03:40):
Wow. Well, you just said a lot of information there. What I was thinking about as I was listening to you talking, just immediate, it’s one of those things where it’s like a bucket of cold water that gets dumped on your head, is when you said telling someone that they look nice today, really, it’s almost more of a compliment than appreciation. That’s not appreciation. So, I’d love for you to talk through that. Because even as you’re listening to the thing I appreciate, well, I appreciate… Maybe we’re showing that by saying a compliment, but that’s not really appreciation is what you’re saying.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (04:22):
Well, it’s one type of appreciation for people who value words of affirmation, which is just one of the five languages. So, yes, a compliment on your appearance, on your performance, on your personality. A compliment or praise is very valuable, but others think words are cheap. For them, they value a different form of appreciation. It could be quality time, it could be, well, you may say nice things about me, but you never spend time with me, so I don’t really feel appreciated by you.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (04:59):
That’s where the disconnect happens is because naturally if we value one form of appreciation like praise or words of affirmation, that’s how we’re naturally going to give it to others. But you may not value it, so it’s important to know.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (05:13):
It could be two people doing this, right? I’m trying to appreciate you, but you don’t value how I’m being appreciated, so it’s a complete miss. And so, good intentions can often end up with bad outcomes just because people don’t understand. It’s like, oh, you don’t believe in the power of words and saying thank you. It’s funny because I actually value words of affirmation. So, thank you, written thank you cards are very valuable to me.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (05:40):
Just to case an example, people who don’t value thank you cards, they will say, “When I get it, I just want to throw it away, but then I feel bad. It’s like I should keep it, but I don’t really care about thank you cards.” But to me, I keep them in a box. I find them very meaningful and I’ll go back and read them sometimes. That’s just the big differences between people. It’s like, oh thank you card? Okay, I read it. Okay, let me just put it in the trashcan.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (06:10):
That’s just a big example of how the disconnect and really understanding that what you value in terms of appreciation might not be what I value and the rest on the team. So, we have to be aware so we can act accordingly.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (06:22):
Yeah. Yeah. I’d love for you… You mentioned the five different languages here or five different ways that people want to see appreciation shown to them. I’d love for you to walk through all five and share some more additional examples. I think this is really helpful.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (06:42):
Yes. The first one would be words of affirmation, like I said. That’s essentially praise. The good thing that I want to point out is that you can praise a lot about someone. You can praise, like I said, their appearance, what they’re wearing, their personality, their performance.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (07:01):
Oftentimes, in the workplace, it’s just focused on performance. As I mentioned, people are human beings. It shouldn’t just be about their performance. Maybe you could praise that they’re a volunteer in the community. Like, thank you for making a difference in a child’s life. If you could think more holistically about what you can praise people for.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (07:23):
And then it can be given, with each of the languages, it can be even delivered in different ways. You and I may say we would like praise one-on-one, and typically that is the most powerful, if it’s specific about what you’re appreciating. But others really like public praise and others would be embarrassed by public praise. Even though we may share the same language, I may want you to pull me up on stage at a company meeting and tell everyone, and then someone else would want to tell you that a simple thank you card would be enough. Like, that would be meaningful; please do not pull me up on stage. I would never be able to live it down. That is just not what they want.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (08:02):
So, understanding even within the same language, there are nuances, if people share the same language. That’s what praise and words of affirmation is. The second one is quality time. This is giving someone your focused attention. Multitasking is not a… You can’t be doing that when you’re spending quality time. So, going to coffee with someone; it could be a social event; it could be a team building, let’s go bowling as a team together or go to happy hour; it could be let’s work on a project together. I would rather work alongside you than work in my office or in my cubicle. So, being able to engage with others, those are all forms of quality time.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (08:44):
It could even mean I want to have a one-on-one meeting with my supervisor every week so I can have that quality time with them. So, it could be social, like outside of work, let’s go to lunch and not talk about work, or it could be I’d like to have some time with you every week to touch base, check in on you or have you check in on me and let’s talk about work. It can be a variety of those things, but it’s definitely having that focused time together. Whether it’s in a group setting or individual, there is differences in preferences. But people who value quality time want to spend time with you, they want you to check in with them to see how they’re doing, those types of things.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (09:26):
The third one would be acts of service. This one is saying, no, don’t tell me you care, show me you care by helping me out. In the workplace, this often looks like, hey, I see you have a lot on your plate. Can I take something off your plate? Can I run an errand for you? Can I make copies for you? Something so you can focus on the more important tasks. It could even mean there is an event and helping clean up after.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (09:54):
It’s like, oh, well, you noticed I needed help, and here you are noticing I need help. Taking time out of your day to help me really shows you care. Not just coming over and saying thank you for cleaning up. Like, okay, that wasn’t helpful. Acts of service like, I want you alongside me, let’s do this together. So, people who value acts of service really love it when people notice that they might need help and offer to help them. That’s very powerful to them.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (10:24):
These days too, something that’s very interesting is even help with their computer. Could you help me understand Excel better? Can you show me how to merge spreadsheets? For someone who may be having trouble with that and values acts of service, that could be huge for them, that you’re helping them become more efficient or understand something new. You are helping them out in a big way.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (10:47):
The fourth language is tangible gifts. This is actually what you think of in the workplace. So much swag, birthday gifts, anniversary gifts, Christmas gifts. It’s very popular. But actually, they’ve done studies. There’s only about less than 6% of employees value gifts. It doesn’t mean they will turn it down, it just means you are not filling their appreciation tank. That’s like, “Oh, well, thank you for the gift.” You appreciate on some level, but is it equivalent to a thank you card for me who values words of affirmation? Not at all.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (11:27):
So, I would say thank you to that gift, but would I walk around thinking, “Wow, people really value me here”? No. Gifts don’t do it for most people. But gifts that are thoughtful in nature, gifts that someone finds valuable, right? It has to be about what they like, their hobbies, their favorite things to do or favorite food and drinks and those type of things. It has to be very specific to a person. You can’t just give the same gift to everyone. That’s what people will do. It’s like, “Oh, here’s all the same swag. Enjoy your gifts.” But for people who value gifts, it has to be very specific to them because it communicates that you know them, that you understand them. It’s about the thought behind the gift.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (12:15):
The fifth language of appreciation is appropriate physical touch. These are usually done in celebrations. It would be high fives, fist bumps, pats on the back, even handshakes. Those types of things that are pretty normal but obviously appropriate physical touch in the workplace.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (12:39):
These five languages are based on the five love languages. Those are designed for personal relationships. These five love languages has been translated to the workplace. Research has shown that because we are human beings, whether we’re outside of work or at work, we all have the same human needs. They all still apply, although according to research, less than 1% have physical touch as their primary language.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (13:10):
There’s actually an online assessment that people can take to figure out their language of appreciation. It ranks the other four because appropriate physical touch is so low that between the other four, it’ll tell you which one’s your number one and which one’s your number two. That’s very useful to know about yourself, right? You may intuitively know, but a lot of people maybe have not picked up on, wow, how is it I like to be appreciated?
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (13:37):
So, it begins with self-awareness. Because once we understand and realize, I really value one language over the others, that means the people around me also value one language over the others and I need to know what that is so I can communicate appreciation effectively and meaningfully.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (13:57):
Well, you answered one of the question I was going to ask, which was where’s the place to start? Taking this assessment sounds like one place, but thinking of the leaders that are going to be tuning into this, they’ve got a team, they’ve got people, how do you work with your clients or help business leaders implement something like this or go through this process? Where’s a place to start to say, okay, what if everyone takes this? Now, what do I do? I mean, what do I do with this information?
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (14:28):
Right. Right. Well, the great thing is, when you have that team information and you put it in a chart and you share it widely among the team, everyone has their results. But then, you compile the results for everyone on the team and you can see where everyone falls. Like, wow, the majority of us fall in this language. It’s good to know that visually, but at the same time, group appreciation isn’t as powerful as individual appreciation. It really have to drill down to Tom specifically like acts of service, for example, and Matt over here really likes quality time.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (15:08):
So, it’s good information to know where people generally fall, but you can then go specifically. What I love about the, it’s called MBA inventory, motivation by appreciation inventory, is that it has people, when they go through it, identify their specific acts of appreciation within their language. This is where the power of appreciation really comes in because you can guess. Like, okay, words. Does Tom like thank you cards? Does he like thank you text messages? Does he want me to praise him in front of a group? Does he want me to praise him one-on-one?
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (15:47):
I mean, there are still so many variations within a language. But when you share your results with me, which is what we encourage in these trainings, is that you’ve identified in your results that your, example, top five or 10 ways you want to be appreciated using words.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (16:06):
You may say, “Tell me when I’ve overcome an obstacle.” Next time I see that, like, “Wow, there was this obstacle, you overcame it.” I’m going to point it out to you and say, “Tom, I can’t believe that you did those three projects in one week. That is amazing. You had such a time crunch, I can’t believe you got it all done.” That would really lift you up and make you feel valued by me because… That is just something you value that, okay, I want people to notice that I’ve done something difficult and overcome a challenge. When people point that out, you feel extremely good. It really takes the guessing game out of it.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (16:50):
You’ve given a list of specific ways I can praise you. I can have that information and utilize it. You know how it is with some trainings that you do? It’s like, okay, I have theory, I have general knowledge, but then there’s a gap between application and really putting it into practice. Well, with the information that people do in their inventories and they share it, it’s like you’ve given all the good stuff, the golden nuggets of information, so that basically you’re guaranteed that, wow, if I appreciate them in these ways and it’s done authentically, you are going to feel amazing about yourself, you’re going to feel amazing that you’re part of this team and that you work with the people that you work with, and it really fill your appreciation tank.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (17:39):
We know that when people feel appreciated, they work harder, they’re happier employees, they stick around longer, they’re more loyal. I mean, those are the intangible things that… Well, actually, retention is very tangible. There’s a lot of money associated with retaining employees, but all of those things that you may not be able to measure right away, how happy someone is or how engaged they are, but it really does have results. You can observe it in how well they work with others.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (18:14):
If you’re not happy then you could be grouchy in the workplace and you’re not really interested in collaborating with others. If you’re not happy in the workplace because you don’t feel appreciated, then you’re going to spend your time job hunting, go somewhere else where you think people will appreciate you. Research shows that. If people don’t feel appreciated, they will move on to different organizations. It’s not just something that, “Oh, okay, people don’t feel appreciated around here but I like the work I do.”
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (18:48):
People make their decisions a lot bigger than just do I like my job? Do I get paid well? There’s also those emotional factors of do I have friends at work? Am I engaged with the people I work with? That people engagement side really ties in directly to how valued people feel in the workplace and appreciated they feel.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (19:11):
Well, it certainly seems, in today’s work climate with the great resignation and hiring challenges and labor and short supply, it sounds like it’s applicable all the time. But if there’s ever a time that’s hitting us all on the backside of the head saying now is the time to be implementing something like this to help increase longevity and people sticking around with your business.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (19:41):
Right. That’s what I’m trying to… I said change the mindset that this is a necessity. It didn’t just become a necessity because of the great resignation, but now is the time for leaders to really look at how they’re treating people, look at how they’re running their business, look at how much they’re investing in their culture. If it’s not working for them, this is one of the biggest things that they can do is really build that culture of appreciation because it’s something that people find authentic, right? No one’s being reviewed on how many times a week you appreciate someone. That’s not how we’re telling people to implement this. It should be organic, it should be authentic.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (20:23):
There’re so many different ways to appreciate others. I compare it to recognition programs that just focus on behavior. Let’s say you have an employee of the month program. You’re only recognizing 12 people max a year. But if you’re appreciating everyone in your organization and appreciation flows, right? A supervisor could appreciate their employee, an employee could definitely also appreciate their supervisor. We don’t always think of it rolling up.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (20:54):
And then there’s also peer-to-peer appreciation. If you have all this appreciation across departments going on, it could be happening multiple times a day, every day of the work week. That’s the type of culture you’re building. It can be very transformative and it’s something people are attracted to.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (21:12):
I know I’m a millennial. There’s actually a term for me, an elder millennial. I’m like I’m on the bridge between the two. I actually worked at the same place for 12 years. I’m considered part of the job hopping generation. Well, all of my peers were switching jobs every two or three years, and a big piece of that was the culture of appreciation that we had in my organization.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (21:39):
If people can really see what a game changer a culture of appreciation is, not… I say culture because it’s not just leadership doing it well, right? Top down? No. When it’s a culture, appreciation is flowing in all directions. Everyone is equipped to know how to do it well. And because it’s happening regularly and it feeds off of itself, you probably had this experience when you feel appreciated, you’re more likely to appreciate someone else because you feel good about yourself.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (22:10):
When we feel good, we treat others better. It has this snowball effect that when you feel appreciated, you’re more likely to appreciate others and your team. It just feeds on itself. It can really be something that a group of people can start in an organization. And then through leading by example, leading through the five languages of appreciation, you can really help grow that culture of appreciation.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (22:40):
That is phenomenal. Phenomenal. I think the timing… I mean, everything you’ve said here is spot on and so applicable for every organization. Every organization. Just thinking back on organizations I’ve worked at, I’ve owned, you see some of the areas where not identifying this and focused on it. Just most organizations that I’ve been around don’t, but it’s an easy thing to implement. It doesn’t cost a lot of money. It’s not sending people on, like you said, sending people on vacations or giving them big gifts and such. It can be very small little things that go a long way.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (23:24):
Exactly. Exactly.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (23:26):
Well, this is a great time for us here, Diana, to make the transition during the show where we ask every guest the same questions before they go. I’d love to just get things started by asking the first question, which is, have you had a miss or two on your journey of life and career and something you’ve learned from it?
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (23:46):
This is a very difficult question because I really don’t have any regrets. I feel like everything builds up to the present. But I will say that something that’s really important for me, and I feel like everyone is, is having a personal mission statement because it really can guide your decisions in life. When you don’t understand maybe what path you should take, it’s like a guiding light for you to know what to do or maybe to feel good about the decision you are doing. Maybe it’s unpopular, maybe it’s different. Maybe it’s not what everyone else is doing, but you know for sure it’s right for you.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (24:26):
I feel like if I had had a personal mission statement earlier in my life and gone through the process of really understanding my personal values and what’s important to me, I would have made bigger life changes earlier in my life, starting a business was one of them. I just think, not that I missed out on a lot, but information that you have earlier in life that you can do more with is just helpful.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (24:56):
I think when people really understand what’s important to them, it can really give them the confidence to really make big decisions in their life that they know is true to what they value. Because they know it’s important to them, they’re willing to take on the challenge. They’re willing to ignore the naysayers. They’re willing to ignore that; okay, others aren’t following this same path and that’s okay, but I know what I’m doing is what’s important to me and there’s just a lot of confidence.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (25:29):
Like I said, confidence in just knowing that. Because if you look to others all the time externally about what you should be doing, you could be… The media, your parents, your friends, the latest trends, you can be pulled in all these directions, but a personal mission statement really centers you. And so, everything you do is filtered to your personal mission statement and you have the power to do more because you’re not always busy with what’s out there. You are focused, centrally focused on living out your purpose.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (26:08):
Yeah, that’s great advice. I love that. Otherwise, as you said, you wind up living a life that everyone else thinks you should live, which is not the one that you probably necessarily want to do. Oh, that’s wonderful.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (26:23):
Well, how about this idea of, on the flip side, we’ll talk about make or two that you’ve had in your career that you’d like to share.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (26:32):
Right. I would say the biggest one is, I know we’ve been talking about it, but coming across the five love languages, which led me to the five languages of appreciation, I used to think having both of those things have helped my business and my personal life. I used to think men are from Mars, women are from Venus that’s why we can’t communicate well all the time..
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (26:58):
Then I realized, foundationally, that we feel loved in different ways, and then translated in the workplace, we feel appreciated in different ways. It really transformed how I view my personal relationships. Not only with my husband, but with my family and my children. Really, instead of being self-centered about how I feel loved, really having a wider mindset about the people around me and how they feel loved, so I can make sure in showing them that they feel loved in the way that’s meaningful to them, it’s very transformative.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (27:34):
I mean, relationships are the most important things in our life. If you can do those well by understanding the love languages and the languages of appreciation, it will transform your life daily, your personal lives professionally. I mean, that’s what our lives are made up of, our relationships we have with the people we spend time with. It’s just very powerful on how it’s changed my life for the better.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (28:01):
Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. That’s beautiful. Let’s talk about a multiplier. Multiplier that you’ve used in, whether it’s growing yourself, your business, that you’d like to share.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (28:13):
Right. I really focus on the value of win-win partnerships. Thinking through, whenever I do business with anyone or… I mean, you can take this. This is one of Stephen Covey’s seven habits, is win-win. I’ve really taken this to be one one of my personal values.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (28:31):
When you really approach everything with… We both want to walk away, that feeling like we’ve won, that we come to the table wanting it to feel good for both of us. That you’re in this solution-finding mode as opposed to I’m going to tell you how to do it, or I know what it’s best. But really coming to the table together and understanding you have needs and I have needs and I know we can find a solution and that feels good to both of us. Approaching relationships, business transactions, everything like that, around that, I want us both to walk away feeling good, to me is a multiplier. Because it’s not just a one and done; okay, I sold you something, you got something out of it. It’s always thinking about the other person.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (29:24):
I think that’s part of the journey of maturity and growing up is that you really see the world outside of yourself, that self-awareness and really focus on how other people walk away and feel and it’s not just all about yourself. I think it can be a multiplier that when you approach business with the win-win mindset, that it can really take your business to a whole new level. I know it has for mine.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (29:52):
Yeah, yeah. Well, that’s music to my ears, I can tell you. Our company’s value, our number one value at our company is win-win relationships. So, very similar idea and thought there. As soon as you said that, I said, “Oh, music.” It’s like the symphony is playing. It’s beautiful.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (30:12):
Yes.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (30:13):
I love that. I appreciate that. Well, the final question we ask every guest is what does success mean to you?
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (30:23):
Okay. To me, I have that personal mission statement. I feel like this is very circuitous. It all ties into each other, but my personal mission statement is live a life of adventure while making the world a better place, which is by becoming the best version of myself and helping others become the best version of themselves. It was a journey to get to that personal mission statement, but it really ties into my definition of success. So, live a life of adventure. I mean, I whitewater raft, I mountain bike, I skydive. I do all these fun, outdoorsy, extreme things. But then, now I’m writing a book on the topic of confidence and I view that as an adventure because I’ve never written a book before. I mean, it’s not just physical outdoor adventures, but starting a business is an adventure, right?
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (31:18):
It ties into that passion of mine to live a fine, interesting life, trying new things, making the world a better place. That ties into my history of launching for Girl Scouts. That is actually part of their mission statement, which I have borrowed, but it’s a great way to approach life, right? Leave it better than you found it.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (31:41):
And then becoming the best version of myself is just that journey of I always want to be better tomorrow than I was today. So, that journey of self-improvement. And then, helping others become the best version of themselves, that’s through the leadership training and coaching that I provide in my business. I feel like if I can help organizations and individuals become the best version of themselves, then they’re going to make the world a better place as well.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (32:08):
It’s pieces of all these things that are very important to me. That defined success all wrapped up into this very memorable, personal mission statement that I live by every day.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (32:20):
Oh, that’s wonderful. Well, thank you for sharing that. As we bring this to a close, what’s the best way for someone to find out more about what you’re doing, learn more about your organization? Are you taking new clients? Can you talk a little bit about that?
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (32:36):
Yes. I have a website, lovetoappreciate.com. People can find more about what I do there. And diana@lovetoappreciate.com is my email address. I am taking on new clients. I do executive coaching and then I do leadership training with my niche being the five languages of appreciation. I do a lot of speaking engagements and training workshops, those types of things.
Diana Rogers Jaeger, Love to Appreciate Consulting (33:02):
In these days, people come to me. If they want to do it in person or virtual, I can do both. I make sure to make it very engaging and interactive so that people really walk away excited to use this newfound knowledge that they have and put it into practice to make their lives and the lives of the people they work with better.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (33:23):
Diana, thank you so much again, for a fantastic interview. Let’s go ahead and jump into today’s three key takeaways. Takeaway number one is really the title of the episode, which is, think of appreciation as a necessity, not a nicety. Appreciation is necessary. It’s not an in addition to.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (33:47):
Takeaway number two is when Diana explained the five languages of appreciation, which are based on the five love languages, if you’re familiar with that. Those five languages of appreciation are, number one, words of affirmation; number two, quality time; number three, acts of service; number four, tangible gifts; and number five, appropriate physical touch.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (34:10):
I think that if you’re looking to maybe learn more, discover more, or talk about it, Diana would be a great person to go ahead and schedule some time with to talk about how she can help you and your organization. I just love this topic, what she’s talking about here.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (34:24):
Takeaway number three is group appreciation is not as valuable as individual appreciation. I loved when Diana talked about how companies give group gifts to staff and employees, but that’s not as valued as that individual level of appreciation that’s specific to that individual person’s preferences. I thought that was important. You can’t just put a blanket mass, like a mass email going out. It’s got to be individualized.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (34:56):
And now it’s time for today’s win-win. Today’s win-win is when Diana talked about win-win partnerships, and I’m certainly biased to it. I have no problem in saying that, but I loved when she said it, our number one value at our company is win-win relationships. I liked how she described for her, with win-win partnerships, was really making sure you’re thinking of that other person as part of your decision making process in creating that win-win. I love that.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (35:30):
That’s something that we incorporated our company with the same exact philosophy in thinking of how can we make sure we’re thinking about that other person first, which all spins back into the five languages of appreciation and how are you appreciating your team. And not just your team. This also spills right into your personal life as well, and Diana shared that when she talked about how this use of the five languages and languages of appreciation has also helped in her personal life with her spouse and family and kids and so on.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (36:08):
And so, that’s the episode today, folks. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast and give us a review. Remember, if you or anyone you know might be ready to franchise their business or take their franchise company to the next level, please connect with us at bigskyfranchiseteam.com. Thanks for tuning in and we look forward to having you back next week.
