Daily Ways to Honor Work Colleagues, Employees, Customers, Friends, Family

When we think of how to honor work colleagues, customers, or friends and family, we often imagine honoring them for some big event and doing it with an event. We honor people for their tremendous success, or their courage and sacrifice, etc… These moments are very important and honoring them is truly appropriate.

Yet if we think of how great it feels to be honored this way, it makes sense that honoring people everyday for who they are can create very positive, sustainable relationships. Think about it, who doesn’t want to be honored and acknowledged for just who they are? Well here are daily ways to honor work colleagues, customers, friends and family.



Daily Ways to Honor Work Colleagues: Image by Chronic Joy

Daily Ways to Honor Work Colleagues, Customers, Friends, Family. Image by Chronic Joy via Flickr Creative Commons License.

Image by Chronic Joy via Flickr Creative Commons License.


12 Daily Ways to Honor Work Colleagues, Employees, Customers, Friends, & Family

Use these daily actions to honor work colleagues, employees, customers, friends, and family and watch everyone’s happiness and teamwork soar!


  1. Invite them into a conversation. Instead of just talking and telling, ask them what they think. It tells them that you value their view. This is especially true in this era of online Zoom sessions! Pause and invite them to speak. Be curious about what they say instead of judgmental.

  2. Listen. Yes, there’s that word again. Yet go further than just being silent. Sense when they want you to be silent, when they want you to speak, and when they want you to dialogue with them. Silence is not always golden. Moreover, listening is more than just being silent. Honor their listening preferences in every interaction and you honor who they are!

  3. Mention something specific and valuable about their experience and connect it to a current problem that needs solving or topic discussion.

  4. Highlight one of their natural talents and ask them to apply it to a current situation or thank them for using that talent to help you.

  5. In moments of intense disagreement honor others by NOT attacking who they are. Disagree on issues while showing respect for each other.


  6. Adapt to Others & Show Care

  7. Spot their personality needs and adapt to them! This honors who they are. If someone is an introvert and you are an extrovert, (or vice versa) modify your behavior when interacting with them. Extroverts can give introverts more quiet thinking time. Introverts can speak up a bit sooner so that extroverts can process what they hear.

  8. Honor others with courtesy, civility, and caring honesty instead of your uninvited bluntness. For customers it honors their status as a paying customer. To employees it shows that their dignity matters as much as their work. With friends and family it shows love.

  9. Honor others with in-the-moment gratitude. Even if it’s a moment where they tell you how you hurt them, thank them for their honesty (and then of course apologize and makes amends). Gratitude is one of the most powerful ways to honor work colleagues, customers, employees, and loved ones.

  10. Assume good intentions at the start of an interaction. It honors others with initial trust. Giving people the benefit of the doubt honors who they are. Don’t let your fear of being fooled communicate constant mistrust. Your instincts will tell you along the way if they are being untrustworthy and you can handle it then.


    Manage Yourself to Honor Work Colleagues and Others

  11. Handle your own baggage vs. making others carry it. You might not think of this step as honoring others. Yet it is. If someone has treated you badly before or cheated you, or betrayed you, make sure you don’t take it out on others. This honors them for the who they truly are vs. dishonoring them for what you suspect they may do to you.

  12. Know and own your pet peeves. We’ve had someone that “rubs us the wrong way.” It often triggers one of our pet peeves. However, if we dig into what is bothering us and own it, we are more likely to still honor people for who they are. Otherwise, we are likely to actively or passively make a remark about what we don’t like about them.

  13. See the power you have to create uplifting sustainable relationships. And if that idea makes you feel uncomfortable, think about why it does.


What Does It Take to Honor Others Every Day?

  • Liking yourself. If you don’t like/love yourself, you are not likely to honor others every day.

  • Self-confidence. When you are confident in yourself — even with your weaknesses — you are far more likely to honor others for who they are.

  • Courage to connect and show appreciation. Honoring others is an act of emotional intimacy. Professional intimacy in a work setting and even stronger intimacy with friends and family. There are many people who develop this ability and you can too. Step one: Give up the myth that it makes you look weak. Honor others and expressing gratitude takes great strength.

  • Conscious practice. Changing your behavior requires daily practice. It’s a matter of building new habits. Take one or two items from this list of twelve and practice them every day for one or two weeks. At the end of each day, note how you did. By the end of the one or two weeks, you will be able to say that you are changing your behavior. Then take two more from the list and continue on.


Final Thoughts

To honor work colleagues, employees, customers, friends, and family every day, it comes down to desire, awareness, and practice. If you want it, give it. It you give it, you will create an entire culture that will give it back to you.

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™
Author, Leading Morale


Related Posts:
Leaders, Give Employees These Specific Heartfelt Thanks
5 Specific Reasons to Show Gratitude to Employees
9 Essential Thank You’s to Give Customers
Don’t Force Your Uninvited Bluntness on Others & Call It a Gift!

©2021 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com for permission and guidelines. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.


Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

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