I can’t think of anyone that doesn’t get a “warm fuzzy” feeling when they’re acknowledged for a good deed. The benefits of expressing gratitude can be enormous, while the cost is essentially nothing. Often times, the act of saying “Thank You” or expressing gratitude happens naturally around friends and family, but the practice of gratitude in the workplace, interestingly enough, doesn’t happen as much. Yet, gratitude in a work environment can be invaluable. A survey done by John Templeton Foundation unveiled that people felt better when they thanked someone at work, but only a small number had actually done this regularly.
An event I ran with Gap Outlets was titled “Academy of Leadership,” and the leadership aspect came from empowering each other through gratitude and harnessing that power to become better influencers, as well as leaders. By expressing gratitude, you increase your connectedness to others while also increasing your self-worth. Ritualizing gratitude will amplify the feelings of self-worth and connectedness, so I have everyone at the event play together and demonstrate the collective GAP Outlet heartbeat in the center of their drums.
The pulse at GAP Outlet’s event is their emotional connection with each other, with leadership team and with their customers. The participants practice gratitude in all of these areas:
- Coaching – Inspire your peers to perform at their peak.
- Directing – Steer your team to deliver what you need when you need it.
- Energizing – Give hope, build momentum and share passion.
- Executing – Take the lead to ensure your team deliver on time and in style.
- Innovating – Think outside the box and welcome the thoughts of others.
- Relating – Create, strengthen and manage relationships.
- Thriving – Look inside yourself to keep growing and gain strength.
Yes, that last point means you should express gratitude towards yourself! Gratitude can go a long ways— you will find things come much easier when you handle each other with a little TLC and find time to give thanks.
After the event we received these expressions of gratitude from our friends at GAP Outlet.
