In 1471 - Sten Sture the Elder, the Regent of Sweden, with the help of farmers and miners, repels an attack by King Christian I of Denmark.

 

1938 - The Munich Agreement cedes the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany.

 

2015 - Hilla Becher, German photographer died.

 

 

I shouldn't overlook the fact that today is Finnish Literature Day and 'Party Foundation Day'... in North Korea.  To be fair it is World Mental Health Day but to be honest; you'd never know it.

 

 

To take part you are very likely to have to go shopping for an item of equipment.  You'll need a budget of about two pounds, ninety-nine pence. 

 

 

In 1770, Nisbet MacNiven established the company, whose idea it was, at Balerno, outside Edinburgh and later moved to Blair Street in Edinburgh's Old Town.

 

 

The equipment is available in the high street.  You might be lucky and find them in the pound shop or even a charity shop.  You are looking for some notelets.  Most famously Waverley Notelets.

 

 

A simple Waverly Notelet; nothing too floral, a picture or drawing on the outside.  It doesn't matter too much.  It's what on the inside that counts.

 

During the course of this week you should make it your business to find someone working for you, or with you, who has done a good job, handled a situation well, or is struggling with a task and say 'thank you'.

 

'I just wanted you to know that I think you've done a great job this week and thank you'.

 

It can be yesterday, this week, this month or even at the end of a year... it doesn't matter.  What matters is saying thank you... not with an email, no, no, no!  Not by text, Whatsapp or even Facebook.

 

A handwritten note.  The power of the handwritten note goes beyond all other ways of saying 'well-done'.  They are a permanent record of appreciation.  The handwritten note makes it personal, it makes an effort and is impossible to ignore.

 

Write to every new member of the organisation.  A few lines to say;

 

People seldom remember what you say.  They remember what you made them feel.  A handwritten note makes them feel good.  Feel good when the get it and feel good very time the look-back at it.

 

The handwritten note is a great way of saying; 

 

You may get a hundred or more emails in a day but I guarantee you will get only one handwritten note, in a blue moon.  They have huge impact.  They show a deep investment in people and relationships. 

 

 

I an increasingly disjointed workplace, remote working and hot-desking a handwritten note can be an anchor point, a reference to the fact that even if you are not face to face, you are facing the same day, face the same challenges and you know there is a back that needs patting.

 

Personal and not invasive, private but not intrusive.  The handwritten note saves managers from the sin of convenience and the routine of expediency.

 

Let's make today go down in history as the start of the handwritten note revolution.