A well thought out gift can add a personal layer of awesomeness to your relationship with your team. I'm really not talking about Christmas gifts or birthday gifts; but more of a spontaneous, personalized surprise. Look for occasions that are already important to your leader and add to them. Here are some examples:
- Your leader taking their family on a cruise? Have an obnoxiously BIG arrangement of fruit, flowers and kids toys waiting for them in their room with a note from you.
- Team member taking his wife to a special dinner? Arrange for the server to tell them their entire meal is on you and have the server deliver a handwritten letter from you to their table. Imagine the look on his wife's face when he reads your letter aloud, telling him how thankful you are to work with him.
- I learned one of my peer leaders lived in a neighborhood with a nice disc golf course; but he and his son had never played. Amazon delivered two sets of discs with nice bags to their house the next day with a note from me.
- A leader was at my house and saw our toy grill set sitting next to my big grill. He and his wife commented on how their two-year-old son would love it. A special package arrived at their house, addressed to their son, the next day.
- One of my leaders was a big Alabama football fan and we had his team over to our house to grill out in celebration of his ten-year work anniversary. I gave him a game ball signed by Bear Bryant in front of his team to honor him.
The keys to giving a gift that feels special is that you know them well enough to know what's important to them, that you personalize it by adding a note from you and it surprises them in a good way. Keep your ears open for opportunities and get creative with your gifts and your team will love it.