People usually express their gratitude in jackal, not in Giraffe. If they express gratitude at all. It is a loss, because so much connection can be felt from gratitude. You can listen to any person saying thank you in a judgmental way by putting your awareness to feelings and needs, as well as possible observations. Usually in a thank you there is no expicit request. But often the person enjoys when you receive their gratitude as a gift from the heart.
How a giraffe can listen to “You did a good job.”
First and most importantly, the giraffe does not hear this statement as a jackal evaluation. The giraffe puts her awareness to the feelings (probably pleasant ones, in this case) and needs, that might have been fulfilled. It cannot be overstated how important the focus of attention is. There is no good job or bad job. There is a person, who is feeling pleasant and it is wonderful to connect with the met need.
Did you enjoy the competence you experience in this work?
So the giraffe can try to verbally connect by making an empathy guess for a need.
Also, it is important to consider the circumstances. If the business could make an important deadline because of your work, the project leader or your boss might have been fearful of not being able to fulfill the expected time of delivery and would probably feel relief, when the contract was kept after all. So the need might have been support, help. This will be different in each specific situation. So the giraffe connects with what it knows already.
But the giraffe can also ask for more information, to connect deeper with what is going on for the person, what is the deeper meaning of their gratitude.
Can you say more why this work I did was important for you?
A dialogue is possible, with the intention to connect to feelings and needs. To celebrate together.
Secondly, the giraffe can try to connect in silence to what is alive in the other person. It also can connect to its own joy, of having been able to contribute, of feeling accepted – or whatever else is alive inside the giraffe herself.