Creative Coaching

Does being thankful make you a better leader?

Of course, it’s really something we should think about year round and not just on one special day in the calendar. So why should we be thankful and what good does it do?

According to Robert Emmons, a world leading scientific expert on gratitude and Professor of Psychology at the University of California, gratitude is good for our bodies, our minds, and our relationships. In a series of studies, he has helped people systematically cultivate gratitude, usually by keeping a “gratitude journal” in which they regularly record the things for which they’re grateful. Participants (ranging in age from eight to eighty) consistently reported a host of benefits including:

• Stronger immune systems
• Lower blood pressure
• Higher levels of positive emotions
• More alert, alive, and awake
• Feeling less lonely and more outgoing

Setting aside time to give thanks is an important practice to adopt in the workplace. Our people want to feel valued at work – they want to know what they do is important; that it matters to the rest of the team and the company as a whole. Showing thanks can be a great tool to motivate teams to work harder and it can improve their personal happiness.

Robert A. Eckert, former Chairman and CEO of the world’s largest toy company, Mattel, believed saying ‘thank you’ to employees and colleagues was a vital contributor to the success of the company. He adopted the habit of showing thanks because he found the positive effect of doing so was obvious. Here are his tips:

•    Set aside time every week to acknowledge people’s good work.
•    Handwrite thank-you notes whenever you can. The personal touch matters in the digital age.
•    Punish in private; praise in public. Make the public praise timely and specific.
•    Remember to cc people’s supervisors. “Don’t tell me. Tell my boss.”
•    Foster a culture of gratitude. It’s a game changer for sustainably better performance.

The good news is the practice of being thankful is something you can add to your day without taking up much of your time. Make your process of being thankful a conscious effort every day. 

Start now: what are you thankful for today?  Are you a leader who consciously adopts the habit of showing thanks? We’d love to hear about how you do this. Please share your comments in the box below.

Posted on Thu, December 04, 2014 in Leadership Personal Development
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