4 ways gratitude can help your team
Tis the season where we eat, shop, and indulge in all things festive. While we love the holidays for all the food and presents, we want to bring some attention to the pure act of gratitude that defines many of our holidays.
The definition of gratitude is literally thanks giving. So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we wanted to share a few science-backed reasons to feel and be grateful with our teams
1) Improve Cohesion
“Ignoring the performance of people is almost as bad as shredding their effort before their eyes” — Dan Ariely, Behavioral Economist & Author
Showing appreciation for those around you is easy to do and incredibly rewarding. On the other hand, not showing gratitude can be quite costly. A recent study found that 66% of respondents would quit if they didn’t feel appreciated at work!
In a team setting, showing gratitude can build cohesion and strengthen trust, which are critical components for a high-performing and innovative team. And no, just paying someone for their work is not a show of gratitude, but taking the team out for lunch on a random Tuesday is.
2) Strengthen your network
Gratitude is a powerful human connector. Not only do you make another person feel good, but you strengthen relationships and open new doors.
Researchers Algoe, Haidt and Gable studied how gratitude influenced the relationship between new sorority inductees and their older sorority mentors. Inductees who felt more gratitude toward their mentors reported stronger relationships, and feeling more connected to the sorority.
When on-boarding someone new to the team, going above and beyond to bring them in and feel welcomed creates feelings of gratitude. These feelings make integrating into a new role easier and more inviting, and it sets up better relationships in the long haul
“There is no such thing as ‘no communication’.”— Jenny Mandelbaum, Rutgers University Professor
Sometimes we hold back from showing appreciation. Maybe we’re in a rush or don’t think it would be valued, but withholding our appreciation could have unintended consequences. Recently, Lindsay Pollack spoke about personal brand at a TechStars event, and she shared a story about how a random stranger emailed her for advice. Lindsay took the time to craft a thoughtful response, but never heard anything back. Feeling frustrated by the silence, Lindsay reached out to ask why she never received a response, not even a simple thank you. She got an instant reply saying, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t want to bother you with another email”.
The point of the story, a thank you is never a bother, but a lack thereof is.
3) Make better decisions
In a 2014 study, researchers at Northeastern university found that gratitude reduced impatience with students who were offered the option of taking $10 today, or waiting for $20 the following month. The students who demonstrated higher levels of gratitude were 50% more likely to wait a month for the higher returns.
On a team, feelings of gratitude can help us work together more patiently and collaboratively. When teams make hasty decisions, they’re more prone to suffer from biases like groupthink. Small gestures of gratitude injected into the decision-making process — a simple thank you for sharing their opinion or recognition for challenging the status quo — can go a long way to combat common decision-making biases. These small gestures make a big difference in how likely team members will be to speak up, feel open, and share new ideas, all of which are vital for a high performing and inclusive team.
4) Improve cooperation
Have you ever been shocked at the generosity and kindness of a random stranger? It’s a beautiful thing, and fills you with tons of gratitude!
Pioneers in gratitude research, Bartlett and DeSento found that people who possess gratitude are more likely to help others, even if the efforts are costly and unwieldy. There is a cascading effect here, one person’s act of gratitude can ignite a chain reaction of help and kindness. (confirming the world changing idea of the heart-warming, circa 2000 movie Pay It Forward)
If you want to build a team culture where everyone is open to lending a hand and problem-solving together, then gratitude is a great place to start. You can start to seed a culture of gratitude immediately — in the next team meeting, decide what “gratitude behaviors” you want to make a habit. Some examples are anonymous thank you cards, kudos and shoutouts in Slack, but the options to show gratitude are endless
Thank you for taking the time to read our post and support our journey. Happy Thanksgiving from the Doplr team!
Come say hi on our site www.doplr.ai or reach out directly at teams@doplr.ai, we’d love to chat
