Saying “thank you” is easy but doing it in a meaningful and thoughtful way can be a bigger challenge. This is even more important if you are supposed to give a speech where you want to follow a narrative thread.
Fortunately, there is an easy way that will do the job without the necessity of spending weeks of preparation.
“Scrabble” your employee’s name
Use the first name or the last name or even both to describe the employee’s true nature and successes, for example:
J – oyful
O – ptimizer
H – onored
N – egotiator
While J-O-H-N is a rather short name, picking the right attributes might be already sufficient for a full-blown story about
…his joyful characteristic traits
…his optimization-oriented work habits (that sometimes created a headache for the team)
…his globetrotting sales-career that owned him the Hon-Circle Status at Lufthansa
…and his unforgettable negotiation skills in winning the once-in-a-lifetime deal with customer XYZ.
As you probably won’t forget the colleague’s name it will give you a powerful mnemonic of your whole story.
More input needed? Continue with the last name or the middle name 😉
Creativity is king
Be creative and to the point. Don’t use words and attributes that are too general. One or two of those are OK but being specific makes your message look more thoughtful and authentic.
If you lack the right word a Thesaurus service might be helpful.
Your colleague is Awesome but his name is M-I-K-E? Well, what about Magnificent?
There are plenty of options with a similar meaning for many other letters:
https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/awesome
Make it memorable
If you used this framework for pulling up your thank you story, why not sharing it with the audience? It will make your job even easier if the letter-based attributes are on a PowerPoint slide. Combine it with pictures or texts to make your presentation more vivid and interesting.
The intro or wrap up slide will summarize all attributes by spelling the name which will be a nice keepsake for the leaving employee.
Not only employee names
If you want to convey a special message to the team or any audience you could use the same approach for the respective keyword, e. g.:
W-E-L-C-O-M-E or H-E-L-L-O for a new employee or visiting group
T-H-A-N-K-S for saying thank you in general
“P-R-O-D-U-C-T-N-A-M-E” for a new product or idea
G-O L-I-V-E for motivating your team in a roll-out phase
Try it out! It is easy to use but highly effective.
References and further reading
Thesaurus
Web-URL: https://www.thesaurus.com/
