How To Lead Your Workplace With Gratitude

 

This Thanksgiving holiday week is the perfect time to read the leadership book, Leading With Gratitude, by authors Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. 

Published this past spring, the book provides managers and executives with easy ways to add more gratitude to the everyday work environment to help bolster moral, efficiency, and profitability. 

Gostick and Elton also share eight simple ways managers can show employees they are valued. Then, they supplement their insights and advice with stories of how many of today’s most successful leaders successfully incorporated gratitude into their leadership styles. 

Today, the authors answered this question for me: 

Question: During this most unusual and challenging pandemic year, why is it more important than ever to express gratitude? And how best should a leader do that? 

Gostick and Elton: “Our research shows there is a staggering gratitude deficit in the work world, especially when times get tough. People are less likely to express gratitude at work than anyplace else. And yet expressions of gratitude for employees’ efforts—when the acknowledgment is authentic, specific, and timely—have been shown to be a huge boost to motivation and productivity. 

One of the most distinctive attributes we’ve seen in the great executives is that they notice and express appreciation for small-scale efforts as much as they celebrate major achievements. Especially when times are uncertain, they look for incremental wins every day that they can acknowledge. This allows them to find ways to inspire all their people to stretch and grow and helps their people know they are on the right path and that their work is valued. Gratitude gives their team members confidence to keep going.”