Appreciation is a commodity that is becoming increasingly important in a professional context. This is also reflected in the way we communicate with each other. The salutation “Dear, dear” is somewhat out of date. The informal version – “Hello . . .” or simply “Hello” – but it was also unable to establish itself as a form of greeting across the board. Anyone who writes an email today begins professionally with “Dear Sir” or “Dear Madam”, which creates a positive mood in the person being addressed.
However, the adjective is no longer just popular in email exchanges, but has increasingly found its way into everyday office communication, for example via Teams chat, and is sometimes even used in – which is becoming less common – oral communication. “Dear Sybille is responsible for quarterly communication” or “Dear Heinz will introduce you to the next five slides”.
But is Sybille really nice, or does she terrorize her colleagues with deadlines that are far too tight? And is Heinz nice – or did he complain for hours about the arrangement of the slides, the chosen font and the background images, infuriating his colleagues?
General appreciation quickly degenerates into arbitrariness. Anyone who takes part in a business meeting in Great Britain with mediocre business English will be impressed by the polite, appreciative tone of the participants. Until he cracks the British code. If they call a suggestion “interesting”, they don’t think it’s interesting at all, but rather the exact opposite at best, and often downright nonsense.
Brits only reveal what they really think about their colleagues after work in the pub, where the “Fu. . .” words fly through the air. Appreciation just because it is in the zeitgeist does no one any good. Sincerely meant compliments are more valuable in professional life – even more effective in larger groups.
