Now, the calendar has flipped to December, a wave of gratitude for the year envelopes me as I pull on my “hurry hurry hurry up” boots to see what else I can finish, especially at work, by year’s end. I slow up just enough to catch myself saying ‘make this year different’ – and that’s different for me as well as our team and everyone we work with. Gratitude is the difference.
I’m a huge fan of the value of gratitude. This includes being kind to myself as well as offering gratitude to others. But, let’s be honest, it can be seen as an added extra and something to do when there’s time or by offering up some kind words as we have our end of year get togethers to signal the close of the year.
Imagine how we could enhance the wellbeing of ourselves and those around us if we included gratitude as an everyday leadership tool. It’s like a magic pill. It can foster positive emotions, reduce stress, improve relationships, promote resilience and give an increased sense of achievement and fulfilment.
I’m going to share a few observations about gratitude with you here now.
1. Enhance your emotional intelligence. Name and get to know gratitude. Include it as a daily practise for you and for those around you. Offer yourself and at least one other person in your network gratitude everyday.
2. Gratitude for good. Gratitude is a feel good thing. In a world where there can be a focus on what’s wrong and the negativity around this, offering gratitude will help you and those around you find the positive, improve relationships and increase resilience. Gratitude is an action.
3. Gratitude and reducing stress are linked. Speaking kindly to yourself and really recognising the value of your thoughts and actions will help you to reduce stress. Without this, we can become pretty full of negativity and this in turn brings on stress.
4. Offering gratitude comes in all shapes and sizes. Let’s keep it simple. A sentence in an email “I’m grateful for your efforts today”, a sticky note that says “love your work” left on a team member’s lunch box, a shout out at a team meeting like “thanks Jim for all your work on the new quality system this week” or a sentence for each team member in a routine email will cause people to stop and feel the gratitude you are offering.
5. Gratitude starts in your mind and takes little time. I know from experience that I have to have in my mind that I want to offer gratitude and then I’ll find the time and the reason to. Yes it’s a tool (like part of a checklist) or your leadership tool kit that you use regularly. It doesn’t take much time, it does need focus and it really can change the world.
Over to You
Take some time to think about adding gratitude to your string of leadership capabilities – one sentence at a time.
