Saying "thank you" is fine. It is not, however, appreciation -- at least, not in a way that reaches most of the people you are trying to celebrate. That is Dr. Paul White's central argument in this episode of The DrBicuspid.com Podcast.
White is the co-author, alongside Dr. Gary Chapman, of The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace. The book, which has sold more than 800,000 copies, is an adaptation of Chapman's landmark Five Love Languages that translates the same framework into a professional setting.
Dr. Paul White.
In this conversation with Editor-in-Chief Kevin Henry, White explains why words of affirmation -- the language most managers default to -- resonate with fewer than half of employees and what that means for dental practices trying to hold their teams together.
The five languages of appreciation are:
- Words of affirmation
- Quality time
- Acts of service
- Tangible gifts
- Appropriate physical touch
Each of us has a primary language, and communicating using the wrong one is not only ineffective, it can miss the mark. White notes that 40% of people do not like public praise at all; for those individuals, recognition in front of the team is not a reward but a source of discomfort. Knowing these differences, White says, separates managers who retain people from those who wonder why good employees keep leaving.
White recommends a tool called the Motivating by Appreciation Inventory, an online assessment that takes 10 to 15 minutes and generates an eight-page individual report. Critically, the inventory has a dental-specific version, because an act of service means something different in a dental practice than in a construction company. White's team also created a group profile capability so an entire team can see each other's languages. He suggests the office manager take the lead on implementation, removing the burden from a dentist who is already stretched thin.
An example of White's appreciation inventory analysis that breaks down an individual's language of appreciation.
The conversation also addresses the bigger picture: In an era of AI, remote work, and increasing depersonalization, the practices where team members feel genuinely valued are those seeing higher productivity, better patient service scores, and stronger retention. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Union are now requiring companies to report on workforce culture metrics -- a signal, White says, of how seriously a workplace's environment is being taken at the highest levels.
White can be reached at [email protected]. Resources, assessments, and a sample group profile are available at appreciationatwork.com and MBAInventory.com.
Listen to the full conversation below.
