Pamela reminded me the other week in her response to a blog that appreciation is great so long as it’s sincere. I certainly agree that being thanked when it’s just something on someone’s to do list doesn’t quite have the same impact. I’d also suggest that the lack of sincerity is often picked up by the other person and can have other less than intended repercussions.

I realise there’s lots of examples of people ‘doing’ the right things but for reasons that inhibit the ‘doing’ working effectively. Social Media has its fair share of examples. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of wanting to increase traffic to our web sites and increase sales as our prime objective.  We then come up with a billy wizz idea of how to do that and start sending out tweets and writing blogs that support the strategy. Unfortunately our intention to increase our sales is what we convey to the other person. It might as well be junk mail. The blog, the tweet or the article may have loads of relevant and useful information but our intention really can get in the way of others receiving the information. Over the months I realise I always get a better response from others when my intention for communicating is about others finding the information useful  because something jogged my memory rather than when I think I must market myself better or when it’s part of a strategy.

So next time before you ask for feedback, appreciate someone, offer information or simply comment via social media bring into your conscious awareness why you’re doing it and just check it’s aligned with the recipient benefiting not just you.