We’re all familiar with the importance of gratitude. As a recap courtesy of Harvard Health Publications, “Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health and deal with adversity and build strong relationships.” Adding to this, in the workplace, gratitude makes team members feel seen and valued, they are motivated to work harder and it reduces turnover.[1],[2]
I recently read an article that encouraged leaders to give immediate recognition and not to delay gratitude in favour of time to construct a perfectly detailed email. While well intended and fantastic to receive, often we get caught up and regrettably the email never gets sent. Ouch, especially when we consider the impact of not receiving gratitude. When team members don’t receive any gratitude, the likelihood of them leaving is 15%. If there are 5 or more moments of gratitude in a year, this drops to 7%. When a team member receives over 12 moments of gratitude, their propensity to leave drops to 2%.
Many years ago Doug Conant, former CEO of Campbells Soup, had a long daily commute. Given his role, Doug was chauffeured. Doug recognised that the workplace was a community of people and winning in the marketplace was dependent on winning in the workplace. More than that, Doug recognised the benefit of not having the deficit that invariably occurs when good work is done but isn’t acknowledged. Each day on his commute Doug would write 10 – 20 notes to team members acknowledging what they’d done right, their contributions of significance and how they’d reinforced the company values.
Doug’s notes resonated. They were proudly displayed throughout the workplace and employee engagement increased year on year, despite significant structural changes. 20 years later Doug receives LinkedIn messages from people who have rediscovered his hand written notes while cleaning their study.[3] It was a small gesture with significant impact.
A positive gratitude culture is not the exclusive responsibility of leaders. Every team member should be encouraged to express their gratitude, regardless of role or tenure. A number of things happen – at a minimum, team bonds strengthen, it builds positivity in both the giver and receiver and motivation increases. At this point someone usually will lament, “I don’t want superficial praise for everyone.” Superficial praise will always be exactly that – superficial. It won’t drive the desired outcomes that genuine gratitude will.
As you embark on a new week, consider the following questions:
- How do you express gratitude in your workplace?
- How often do you express gratitude at work?
- Does your organisation have a gratitude culture?
- What two things can you implement this week to enhance your gratitude culture?
If you’d like to have a further conversation or work on implementing a gratitude culture, please connect. Have a great week 🙂
[1] “Giving thanks can make you happier”, 2021, Harvard Health Publishing.
[2] https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-eric-mosley-on-making-work-human/
[3] https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-doug-conant-on-finding-telling-your-leadership-story/