A Season of Gratitude
As quoted by Robert Emmons, professor of psychology, UC Davis: Gratitude improves emotional and physical health, and it can strengthen relationships and communities.
In my book The Profit of Kindness, Gratitude is #3 on the values a leader and a company need to practice inside and out. Feeling graceful for what you do and what you have is one thing, but showing such gratitude towards your team and clients, that is another level. We tend to submerge ourselves into our day-to-day tasks and responsibilities, that showing how grateful we are for the roles others play in out business becomes secondary and sometimes we move it to the back burner. If that is the case, we can change these by setting different habits and guiding our inner leader to act from a place of kindness on a daily basis, here I would like to show you how.
It might be easy for others to see their leader as a bad one, but really in many cases it all comes down to be misguided. Pay is not a way to show gratitude to your team, when we go to the grocery store to get milk, we pay for it, however that is not directly determined by how grateful we are with the lady in the register or thy guy at the deli cutting the ham, it is a fare transaction we agree upon from the beginning of the employee/employer or contractor/service provider, relationship via a set contract per say. Then let’s start here, we make the transaction, agree on it, now what? The best way to practice kindness other than making payments on time and in full, is to understand that what others do for you, and our companies is coming from a place of gratitude, and perhaps admiration towards You on top of the monetary remuneration.
Let’s do not forget each team member is a resource to get things done and a force to help the business grow, and as any resource there is a cost involve in the process, however in this case the resource is a human being and appreciation, gratitude, empathy, and kindness are needed in the equation to obtain satisfaction. No person is going to work crazy hours if they do not feel appreciated, the number one reason people leave their job according to the U.S Department of Labor is because “they do not feel appreciated”. If not, go to a Friday evening Happy Hour and must of the time you will hear people venting among department members, management, and how unhappy they are with a situation or a person at work. But this unhappiness can cost a company thousands of dollars in lost of productivity.
To be successful in business, we must show employees, customers, clients, and colleagues that they are appreciated, that their work means something to us, that their patronage and loyalty are the reason for our success we must fill their bucket!!!
Therefore, go out there and spread positive emotions, focusing not on what is wrong, but on what is right. Instead of being Hyperaware of who screwed up, how little we have, or what we lost in a day, we need to ask, “What is right with our people, our mission, or culture?
What is right about our intention, our service, our product, our last week?” When we do that, we find opportunities to notice positive things and in turn let others know how grateful we are. We fill up bucket after bucket until a brigade of good business relationships forms.
Show Gratitude and Raise Your Bottom Line
Training costs, lost skill, lowered productivity, and disgruntled staff who are wearing too many hats are just a few of the hidden costs of unhappy employees. One of the benefits of showing gratitude, as touted by an article on Feelhappiness.com titles “Gratitude and Paying it Forward,” is that it usually inspires the recipient to show gratitude to someone else, and in a company or small business, this can lead to something called upstream reciprocity, which strengthens the culture of the business and affects customers and clients. Upstream reciprocity is the propensity of those who have been helped by others to pay it forward by assisting another person who needs help.
Jill Lublin — Short Bio
(Pronounced Loob-Lynn)
Jill Lublin is an international speaker on the topics of Publicity, Networking, Kindness and Referrals. She is the author of 4 Best Selling books including Get Noticed…Get Referrals (McGraw Hill) and co-author of Guerrilla Publicity and Networking Magic. Her latest book, Profit of Kindness went #1 in four categories. Jill is a master strategist on how to position your business for more profitability and more visibility in the marketplace. She is CEO of a strategic consulting firm and has over 25 years experience working with over 100,000 people plus national and international media. Jill teaches a virtual Publicity Crash Course, and consults and speaks all over the world. She has spoken on many stages with luminaries such as Tony Robbins. Jill also leads an intentional kindness community. Visit publicitycrashcourse.com/freegift and jilllublin.com
