Intangible: thanking Soldiers for a specific act they did goes farther than “thanks for all your hard work”. “Hey, thanks to your attention to detail working on X spreadsheet/vehicles/etc, we’re the first done in the BN…or, the Boss personally said s/he was impressed with the work, and I told them you were taking the lead on this.  Your perseverance showed! Well done” Or, if you don’t know the specific thing they did, ask them.  I’ve found that multi-purpose to help with gauging where they are in their learning curve, communication skills/teaching skills, and if the door opens, you can teach them something.  It’s a wonderful opportunity.

Tangible: I find out what my Soldiers like to eat baked-goods, wise, and make those treats maybe every other week, depending on battle rhythm.  (This also works to enable communication across BN Staff Sections!) I knew someone who loved lemon bars, but his wife hated lemon so she never made them.  So lemon bars entered my rotation of baked goods.  I have had several Soldiers who don’t eat pork, so I am mindful of that, as well as several GF and/or vegetarians, and make treats with mindful ingredients in those as well.  That goes a long way , especially if someone has a lifestyle or health-related eating preference that they can still join in on the group morale boost.  I think some people get so used to saying “no, I’m vegetarian/GF, I can’t eat X”, that when I would say that it was made without eggs, or with GF flour, or a different kind of sugar, veg butter, etc. they would light up, excited they could join.  Also, if we came into work early in the day on a weekend/off-day, I’d bring something breakfast-y in (muffins, apricot crisp with yogurt, etc.). Again, not everyone partook, but it made the environment less harsh.  We were usually coming in due to mission, not discipline, so if we came if there was no reason I couldn’t set the tone that we were there to do work, then get out.  I felt it helped create a better team atmosphere.