Expressing Gratitude Will Define Your Workplace Culture
Often Overlooked, but Never Unnoticed, Expressing Gratitude Can Go A Long Way
As the economy is expected to stay stagnant for the foreseeable future, companies, its employees, its vendors and its customers are all feeling the heat.
Employers are cutting costs. Employees aren’t seeing raises or bonuses. Vendors are seeing less business. Customers are more hesitant to spend.
It’s a vicious circle that manifests itself in low employee engagement, vendor dissatisfaction and customer reluctance.
But there’s a simple tool that companies often overlook in engaging their workforce, partners and customers alike.
It’s expressing gratitude.
Gratitude is a cousin of affirmation says When someone has expended some effort from which you benefit—even if it's something they're expected to do—let them know that you appreciate it. Make a habit of expressing gratitude. People feel entitled to it and when it's withheld, resentment fills the vacuum. By contrast, when you express gratitude, you can instantly make that person's day.
Gratitude has been statistically linked to happiness, pride, and hope in a study of college freshmen (Overwalle, Mervielde, & De Schuyter, 1995). The lack of gratitude has been found to be characteristic of clinically diagnosed narcissistic personalities (McWilliams and Lependorf 1990). Gratitude was found to be rated among the top 5 personal “strengths” in a survey of 24 strengths given in 40 countries (Park, Peterson, & Seligman, 2005). Clearly, gratitude plays a central role in human social relations.
Positive feedback, a simple thank you, raising your antennas’, acknowledging an achievement – these are some examples of how gratitude can work in producing results.
“Gratitude is a meaningful gesture backed by sincerity of purpose that involves feelings,” said Steve Walter, President & CEO of CoreCentive, a leading Human Capital Management Company dedicated to assisting companies, employees and business partners express gratitude (www.gratitude-works.com),. “It makes relationships in the workplace, with vendors, with customers, more meaningful, not to mention it engages people, customers and brands. Engaged people are happy people and there is a direct correlation between happiness and ROI (Return on Investment).”
Companies can deliberately infuse their cultures, from top to bottom, by simply expressing gratitude, which will create an ‘attitude of gratitude.’ These types of environments have been proven to be among the best places to work at and do business with.
Noted author and speaker Nina Spencer, who penned the best-selling “Getting Passion Out of Your Profession,” recently developed this checklist of opportunities to make gratitude a regular part of a company culture:
1. Don’t Hold Back
- Whether you are in a position of official leadership (but, especially if you are), when you see people doing things right, take the time to tell them so.
- It need only be a simple comment – “Good point!” “I'm glad you brought that up!” “I really appreciate that!” – or the old-fashioned and still much-appreciated “Thank you!”
- If one of your staff or a colleague is the real magic behind an idea, concept or success of a project, don't steal their thunder. Give credit where the credit it is due.
2. Target Gratitude
- Target gratitude to specific observations, and be quick to respond.
- Timely gratitude, rather than delayed, often has more reward and satisfaction for the person.
- Specific gratitude, with comments about the details that inspired you to speak up, is more effective than merely saying “You're doing terrific work” in a performance review.
- Direct gratitude toward vendors and customers for their business, loyalty and feedback.
3. Keep It Appropriate
- Make sure that the expression of gratitude isn’t out of proportion to the behavior or action being praised.
4. Make It Part Of Reviews
- Performance reviews would be much less dreaded, and more likely to have employees follow through on suggested improvements, if managers were to accentuate the positive as much as they point out what needs to be improved.
5. Praise With Purpose
- Rather than making praise or giving thanks a formulaic and predictable gesture, such as at the end of team meetings, offer praise when it is unexpected – it’s a much more effective way to reinforce behavior.
- Most everyone can spot phony gratitude a mile off. Behaviorists have found that praising periodically, on an irregular basis, is more effective than praise that comes so often it becomes expected.
6. Praise The ‘Praiser’
- Managers who overhear someone praise another employee can encourage the behavior by following up with words of appreciation of their own.
- Saying how much you admired your colleague’s words, and the time they took, will inspire staff to make appreciation a natural part of the business day.
7. Have Unstructured Fun
- Playing and having some lighthearted times together isn't “goofing off” at the expense of the company owner or the customers – it's intermittent refueling to keep staff geared up for the hard work ahead.
- As piano teachers remind students, “Rests are part of the music.” Too many managers undervalue periodic workday “rests” for their staff.
- Sponsoring occasional staff events that incorporate play with serious work is another way to show employees that they, and their work, are appreciated.
- Show gratitude to vendors and customers with surprise gestures.
“The possibility to express gratitude comes up much more than most companies realize,” added Walter. Every day there are countless opportunities to show gratitude to others in the workplace. Supervisors, leaders, and coworkers can all help build an attitude of gratitude by acknowledging the contributions. Thank your employees for their effort, even if it doesn't always produce exactly what you want. Thank the business partner for being so reliable. Then watch their faces brighten. “If you want more, give more – it’s pretty simple. Expressing gratitude enhances morale, boosts performance, fosters relationships, and provides a significant return on investment.”
To learn more about recognition programs visit http://www.corecentive.com/info/Rewards-And-Recognition
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