This season encourages us to practice gratitude. Appreciate the kindness your community shows you. Be thankful for the generosity and love of your family. Consider the gifts, help and favors bestowed upon you throughout the year. And as business leaders, it is important to extend your gratitude toward those in your organization.
According to a survey by Glassdoor, 81% of professionals said they would be willing to work harder for an appreciative leader. Yet showing gratitude is often left out of business interactions. An “it’s part of the job” mindset can overlook vital opportunities to recognize team members and their service throughout the year. When your team members feel underserved internally, they often struggle to serve buyers at their best externally.
Leading with gratitude can energize your employees to end strong and inspire them to put in extra effort in the year ahead — for you, their peers and your customers.
Inspire Your Teams to Higher Levels of Service — With Gratitude
While the concept of gratitude is commonly understood, it is not commonly practiced — especially in the workplace. “Gratitude” holds a dual meaning: a worldly one and a transcendent one. In interpersonal, worldly exchanges, this concept becomes a shared positive feeling of acknowledgment. Transcendently, it becomes an internalization of another person’s good intentions and efforts.
Your team member did not have to bring you a cup of coffee, for example. Your fellow business leader was not obligated to move a meeting so you could spend the afternoon with your family. Your salesperson showed extra kindness to a prospect by helping them through a problem unrelated to your business and its solutions. Their extra actions matter, and they call for thankfulness.
We should express gratitude because it is the right thing to do — not because it was expected. However, it is easy to forget to show gratitude as you go about your daily routine. Become familiar with the three stages of gratitude and incorporate this practice into your leadership:
- RECOGNITION. Be aware when someone goes out of their way to help you, the team, the organization, or the customer.
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. Thank the person or people who went above and beyond the norm.
- APPRECIATION. Pay acts of kindness and generosity forward with your own actions to cultivate a positive, engaged culture.
With the disruptive, fluid selling environments we have faced these past two years, there are many things we can find within our teams and among our peers for which to be grateful.
Taking the time to appreciate your people can have a deeper impact on your business. According to Workhuman CEO Eric Mosley in Forbes:
While many of us tend to view and express gratitude in relation to our personal lives, gratitude in the workplace is especially critical because it satisfies the higher psychological need to feel a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves–to feel a sense of meaning at work.
This desire for meaning at work is part of an organizational and psychological shift toward a more human workplace, rooted in gratitude, where employees feel appreciated, valued, respected, and empowered to reach their fullest potential.
Build A Winning Business Culture That Promotes Gratitude
Emphasizing gratitude as part of your leadership is not only important during this season but should be part of a business culture that Seeks to Serve, Not to Sell™ year-round. With this approach, your selling teams will stand out to buyers by building deeper relationships and lasting trust.