Play with Gratitude This Month!
November is gratitude month! This may not come as a surprise to you given how the Thanksgiving holiday serves as a reminder to many of us to take a moment to contemplate what we are grateful for and to share those thoughts with our family and friends.
Showing gratitude for your co-workers is no less important. Gratitude is a leadership skill you can learn and cultivate, and developing it is critical to your growth as a leader.
Taking advantage of November as gratitude month is an opportunity to not let another day go by without noticing what you are grateful for and showing appreciation for the people you likely spend most of your waking hours with.
According to Fast Company’s, “The Science Of Gratitude And Why It’s Important In Your Workplace” by Stephanie Vozza, gratitude can benefit your workplace by:
Improving corporate culture by combating factors that contribute to a toxic environment (like exploitation, gossip and negativity) and increasing one’s sensitivity toward others
Strengthening teams and relationships by helping co-workers feel more connected to one another and increasing their desire to support one another
Inspiring employees, since research shows, people are motivated to work harder for an appreciative boss and may be less motivated by financial incentives
There are many more reasons why gratitude is important in the workplace.
Speaking from experience, it is easy to let the workday go by having not taken a moment to stop and express to someone you truly care about that you appreciate them and/or thank them for a job well done.
So, let’s play a game and experiment with expressing gratitude this month.
Step 1: Start with yourself.
Begin noticing what you are grateful for at the beginning of each day.
Last year I was inspired by a coach to start a gratitude practice. I began using the Five-Minute Journal by Intelligent Change. The beauty of this journal is that it encourages you to take just a few minutes at the start and end of your day to reflect. Each morning your first prompt is to write down 3 things you are grateful for. This practice invites you to get really specific. For example, instead of saying you are grateful for your family, you might note you are grateful for the extra-long hug your daughter gave you that morning. Over time, you will begin to recognize all the little things you are grateful for that often go unnoticed or unacknowledged, both inside and outside of the workplace. Noticing these moments will lead to greater satisfaction with your life. First, I invite you to start by writing down 3 specific things you are grateful for each morning in November.
Step 2: Mark it in your calendar.
Make a note in your work calendar that November is gratitude month and commit to showing appreciation to a co-worker or client at least once per day. Pro tip: If you use Outlook, schedule the calendar meeting as an all-day event and list yourself as “free” so that it shows up at the top of your calendar throughout the month. Let this be your daily reminder to share what you are grateful for with others and to tell someone what you appreciate about them or the work that they’ve done.
You may also choose to play with scheduling a specific time in your day to stop and appreciate someone. If you know having dedicated time blocked in your calendar, whether in the beginning, middle or at the end of the day, will increase your likelihood to follow through, great! The important thing is to commit to doing it and follow through with your commitment.
Step 3: Test a framework.
The Conscious Leadership Group offers a simple framework for showing appreciation:
Be brief. What you can say in one exhale is the perfect amount of words to share in an appreciation.
Be specific. Similar to your daily gratitude practice, be really precise about what it is you are appreciating so the person can understand exactly what stood out to you.
Be unarguable. Share your experience of what the person did that stood out to you with them so they are less likely to argue with it. For example, start with, “I really liked how you did…” instead of, “You did the best job ever!”
Let your whole self appreciate. Don’t just rely on your head, connect to what your head, heart and gut are telling you and notice the effect that sharing appreciation for others also has throughout your body.
Step 4: Notice your results & HAVE FUN!
Once you begin to notice the impact being grateful and sharing your appreciation for others has on you, you’ll want to make these practices more prominent in your daily life. Have fun with it!
Step 5: Teach it to others.
Each of us as leaders has an opportunity to make an impact on the world. First, it starts with ourselves. By taking part in this November game, you’ll get to play and see what approaches work best for you. The next step is to teach others what it is you are learning and experimenting with so that they can try it for themselves.
As 2021 comes to a close (Wait, already?! I can’t believe I’m saying that!) we approach the time where many of us will reflect on what we did well throughout the work year, what we can improve upon and what skills we want to focus on cultivating next year.
