Appreciation in project work – theory and practice

According to the latest Randstad Employer Brand Research 2025, 41 per cent of employees in Germany feel that their performance, their contribution to the company and their daily commitment are not sufficiently recognised. [1]

Appreciation in an economic context is an ambivalent topic. Some see it as the key to a more humane and people-friendly form of business. Others are rather sceptical about it. They rely on their rational minds and objective facts rather than on a subjectively perceived feeling such as appreciation. For many, this seems unfamiliar; some even scoff at it.

With this article, I aim to help you form your own informed opinion and understand how appreciation can be put into practice in everyday working life, and what can actually be changed through consciously practised appreciation. At the same time, I would like to draw your attention to your own energetic capabilities and encourage you to use them for your own benefit. Appreciation is a form of positive energy with which you can empower yourself and others.

The article is divided into two parts:

• In the first part, you will gain insights into scientific findings on the impact of appreciation on our well-being, our productivity and our collaboration with others. This provides the mind with a sound foundation for opening up to this initially unfamiliar topic.
• The second part focuses on practical implementation. How can you integrate more of it into your daily life, your work, your project context and your team? To this end, I will introduce you to two tried-and-tested tools that you can apply straight away. Practical application is crucial, because without it, there will be no impact. I originally developed these tools for my own work and now pass them on to my clients.

There is plenty of theoretical knowledge, but consistent implementation in everyday life is often lacking, which is precisely what the results of the Randstad study also show.

What we know about appreciation from experience and research

Before I delve into the scientific findings, it is worth taking a look back at history; the importance of appreciation has been recognised for thousands of years.

In Buddhism, there is the practice of metta. Through this, practitioners cultivate the quality of ‘loving-kindness’ towards themselves and others. The term ‘appreciation’ can also be used for the expression ‘loving-kindness’, as it is closer to our everyday lives and cultural context.

A central component is metta meditation. In this practice, loving-kindness is first directed towards oneself and then towards others. First towards people whom one finds easy to appreciate, and then also towards those with whom interaction is more difficult. The associated feeling of appreciation is often perceived particularly strongly in the region of the heart. This experience is not merely a subjective description; it can also be scientifically observed and explained.

The American researcher Richard Davidson, together with Buddhist monks, investigated what happens in the brain during Metta meditation. [2] The monks practised the meditation inside a CT scanner. This revealed increased activity in the left medial frontal gyrus, a region of the brain associated with positive emotions. During this form of loving-kindness meditation, the brain enters a state of activation typically accompanied by a pleasant mood and heightened well-being. Monks who practise this regularly are able to induce a state of physical well-being in a targeted and comparatively rapid manner, even under unfamiliar or unpleasant conditions.

In addition to the processes in the brain, the communication between the heart and the brain can also be examined. As early as the 1990s, researcher J. Armour demonstrated that the heart possesses its own neural network comprising more than 40,000 nerve cells. This so-called ‘heart brain’ can process information, influence memories and send signals to the brain via the autonomic nervous system. In this way, it directly influences areas involved in the processing of emotions.

Research by the HeartMath Institute also shows that the effect of appreciation in the heart can be observed via heart rate variability, or HRV for short.

Figure 1: The message of appreciation

The lower part of the figure shows a subject’s heart rate during a rapid coherence exercise. During this exercise, he deliberately evokes a sense of appreciation. The resulting state is referred to as cardiac coherence. The term ‘coherence’ essentially means ‘connection’ or ‘harmony’. In physics, it describes the regular oscillation of waves. In the measurement, this state manifests as a harmonious, steady pattern of heart rate. For the human organism, this state means that various bodily systems such as respiration, blood pressure and the autonomic nervous system are in sync with one another. Body, emotion and mind come into balance.

The positive effects of consciously practising appreciation

The findings show that the positive effects of appreciation are scientifically proven.

During exercises such as Metta meditation or rapid coherence, our stress hormone levels drop. Our perception broadens and the thinking part of our brain functions optimally. This has many positive effects in our everyday lives, in our relationship with ourselves and with others:

• We feel at ease, strong and secure.
• We have a high level of resilience when it comes to stress.
• We are no longer so easily infected by others with the ‘stress virus’.
• We are more open to new ideas or people who think differently from ourselves.
• We feel a sense of connection with the people we work with. We are willing to place our trust in them.
• We are willing to try out and implement new or unfamiliar solutions together.

Appreciation also has a positive effect on the quality of our relationships. Just think about who you’d rather work with: someone who is at peace with themselves, who listens to you and treats you with respect and attention, or someone who is stressed, seems constantly distracted and only half-listens?

Putting appreciation into practice

So much for the theory. However, the positive effects of appreciation only become apparent when it is put into practice.

Appreciation is all about energy, in the form of appreciative thoughts and feelings. Energy work is still unfamiliar to many people, and not just in the business world.

I have been exploring mental and emotional energy for several years now. The professional context and the topic of projects are particularly close to my heart. That is why I have developed a number of small but highly effective tools that can be used directly in everyday working life.

I would like to share two tools with you here that will help you in your everyday working life.

The Appreciation Break

I developed this ritual when I realised how important appreciation is in the workplace. With this tool, you kill two birds with one stone. You treat yourself to a well-deserved break whilst simultaneously filling yourself with the positive energy of appreciation.

In doing so, you cultivate appreciation for yourself, for your work and for collaboration with the people in your professional environment.

This is how I practise the appreciation break:

I take a break of at least ten minutes every morning and every afternoon. To do this, I make myself a cup of tea in the morning and a cup of coffee in the afternoon. As I do so, I appreciate the high quality of the products I am able to enjoy.

Then I sit down and let my thoughts wander. With the following questions:

• What have I already achieved today?
• What did I particularly enjoy doing?
• What support did I receive along the way?

I look around and take pleasure in the beautiful things in my surroundings: the crockery, the view from the window, the trees, the greenery or any animals that happen to be in sight.

I enjoy these moments of appreciation and focus my thoughts specifically on more appreciation, joy and enjoyment. I feel appreciation in my heart and in my body.

This is a simple yet very powerful tool that anyone can practise in their daily life.

The following tips may be helpful when using this tool:

• Schedule the appreciation break in your calendar so you don’t forget it.
• Follow the steps described. Pay particular attention to not just thinking about appreciation but also feeling it. Because only when your feelings and mind are in harmony does the positive effect unfold.
• Some of my clients keep a success or gratitude journal. You can write down your thoughts on the appreciation break there, if you like.

The weekly reflection with the Appreciation Booster

I use this tool myself regularly to reflect on my working week. I pass it on to my clients during my coaching sessions and have gained a lot of practical experience with it.

One of my clients wrote to me: “For weekly appreciation, the Booster is an incredibly effective tool for developing self-efficacy and promoting contentment.”

The Appreciation Booster is a reflection tool that you can use daily, weekly or monthly. I recommend using it weekly.

With this tool, you activate both levels of appreciation: the intellectual and the emotional. This helps you embed appreciation deeply into your experience.

Here’s how to use the Appreciation Booster:

• Write down three things that were particularly valuable to you during the past working week. These could be pleasant, enriching experiences, important insights or lessons learnt.
• Feel the positive sensation rising within you as you write them down.

That covers the mental part of the Appreciation Booster.

With this feeling, you now move on to the second, emotional part. In this step, you reinforce the feeling of appreciation and anchor it in your body:

• Sit comfortably in your chair. Place your feet side by side. Close your eyes.
• Focus your attention on your heart.
• Imagine yourself breathing in and out slowly and evenly through your heart.
• Recall the three points you have noted down and summon the feeling of appreciation in your heart.
• Feel how this pleasant sensation spreads throughout your whole body. How it fills every cell. How good it makes you feel.
• Practise this for at least two to three minutes.

Remember what science has discovered about the effects of heart-brain communication. With the emotional part of this tool, you restore the harmony between feeling and mind that is often lost in our daily lives.

Conclusion

Appreciation influences how we work, how we collaborate, and how we feel in the process. Experience and research show that consciously practising appreciation enhances our well-being, broadens our perspective, and improves collaboration.

The key lies in applying it in everyday life. With the ‘Appreciation Break’ and the ‘Appreciation Booster’, you have two simple and effective tools at your disposal.

The ‘Appreciation Break’ helps you to consciously pause during your working day and focus on what is going well. The ‘Appreciation Booster’ complements this with structured reflection and combines the mental and emotional approaches to appreciation.

The effects are evident on several levels:

• You strengthen your self-confidence, self-awareness and self-esteem.
• You enhance your well-being and increase your emotional stability.
• You develop a better understanding of how appreciation works for you.

Try out the booster, either on your own or as a team. You can use both parts or limit yourself to the mental aspect.

Appreciation in projects requires your appreciative energy. You don’t have to wait; you can take action yourself. By consciously generating appreciation within yourself – in your mind, heart and body – you lay the foundation for inspiring others too.

Start with your everyday life. You and those around you will benefit from it. The more people consciously practise appreciation, the greater its impact will be.

Notes:

If you are interested in effective energy management at work and would like to further develop your energetic abilities, Martina Baehr invites you to a free 30-minute Energy Call. Together, you can explore how to apply your appreciation in a targeted way to your day-to-day project work. Alternatively, you are also welcome to send her an email.

[1] The Randstad Employer Brand Research has been conducted for 25 years across over 30 countries. For the 2025 edition, over 170,000 people worldwide were surveyed, including 3,961 in Germany. The survey assesses the attractiveness and brand awareness of employers, as well as the key criteria for job choice and loyalty.

Here you will find the country report for Germany.

[2] Richard Davidson

[3] HeartMath Institute Research Library

Here you will find the scientific foundations of the HeartMath System.

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Martina Baehr has published more posts on the t2informatik Blog, including: