The year has been complicated and stressful for most of us. The global pandemic, social injustice, political division, and all the economic impacts have knocked us to our knees. With the holidays fast approaching, it’s hard to wrap our brains around expressing gratitude when we are so burnt out and exhausted.

In leadership, emotional turmoil hinders organizational performance, and it can cripple and destroy the ability to thrive and grow. However, it’s critical to a business or community’s health that those in leadership positions gain some focus and identify the people and events around them every day, giving their best, working well, or showing promise.

At this point, you might be thinking, “Really? I need to find the energy and enthusiasm when all I want to do is crawl into bed?” Well, we feel you. But yes, now more than ever, displaying leadership strength through authentic and consistent gratitude is precisely how we can motivate employees and invigorate overall performance.

The Impact of Grateful Leaders

Let’s begin by saying that expressing gratitude openly and honestly must become part of a consistent leadership approach. It’s not about saying thank you once, and then you’re good to go. Building the habit requires a concerted effort and an entirely different lens into day-to-day activities. Shifting our mindset to seek out those working hard, trying their best, and helping others succeed must become second nature.

Secondly, leaders need to share their gratitude authentically for those entrusting them to believe in their acknowledgments. Employees can spot insincerity a mile away. Being natural and considerate takes awareness of how we present ourselves. That may require a fair bit of self-reflection to ensure our expressions are coming from a place of heartfelt sincerity and truth.

Once we embrace a leadership style that incorporates gratitude and acknowledgment, several positive results impact the culture, experience, and performance of an organization. Below are some of the primary areas that receive some of the most significant benefits from a grateful leadership.

1.   Morale

Employee morale, whether good or bad, can permeate the entire organization. And employees are on the front lines with direct contact with clients, partners, vendors, and other key stakeholders. Those external audiences can sense when there is a toxic environment dragging the morale of employees down.

Morale can be impacted by many things but has a considerate blow from ungrateful leadership. One core need as human beings is the need to feel valued and validated. If we spend most of our time working in a business where leadership consistently struggles to acknowledge our contributions, the drive to continue giving our A-game to the table drastically declines.

With that decline comes a direct impact on customer loyalty. While you shouldn’t express gratitude to employees solely for client revenue, it can certainly be a strong motivator to ensure we integrate the practice.

2.   Performance

As mentioned in both culture and morale, grateful leadership impacts the performance of the entire organization. But going beyond those two key elements, gratitude also ignites a shift in mindset that allows both the leader and the employee to seek opportunities where clouded before.

For example, the current crisis and the resulting impacts could kick many organizations into a tailspin if negative attitudes and company-wide stress and frustration permeate the business. If we approach the challenge with a grateful mindset, we automatically shift our brains to view the situation differently, cultivating new solutions and paths forward. This new pivot can be a powerful call to arms that can mobilize employees with new energy.

3.   Culture

Leadership sets the tone for the culture of the entire organization. If the leadership style is toxic, abusive, thankless, or absent, the destructive ripple effect is palpable.

However, suppose leadership operates as more self-aware, conscious of what’s happening within the organization, and appreciative of even the smallest tasks. In that case, the day-to-day environment becomes more conducive to idea generation, open risk-taking, generosity among individuals and teams, and ultimately optimized performance.

Leaders can begin by assigning weekly tasks to themselves that push them to recognize and acknowledge good performers personally and publicly. Slowly they can build this up to daily so that it becomes a habit. Other leaders will take notice and mirror that style, so gratitude becomes embedded in the culture.

4.   Innovation

Along with culture and performance, gratitude can spark heightened creativity and risk-taking, kindling innovative thinking. Whether on a larger scale with unique products and solutions to the market or in the smallest of innovations within a process or approach, the positive environment that gratitude presents can transform the cognitive abilities of individuals and thought leaders.

It is unimaginable that a good leader wouldn’t want to encourage and support innovation within their organization. It impacts the bottom line and can be the growth engine many require. Incorporating grateful leadership so that our most creative thinkers feel confident and appreciated when bringing their best to the business is a no brainer.

5.   Customer Experience

Finally, the experience customers have as they engage with employees at all levels of the organization should be protected and nurtured at all costs. No one wants harmful or disrespectful service given to coveted clients. Taking care of those tasked with taking care of the buyers of our products and services is just common sense.

Leaders have both an opportunity and an obligation to rethink how they care for employees. Most of us give approximately 50% or more of our time to the work we do. Yes, we get paid for it. But it’s also such an incredible gift if you think about it. Time is precious, and that amount of time is continually spent away from those we love. If we can start by recognizing that as a baseline, we can build on that as we begin to look at the individual efforts of those we lead.

Your customers are essential. You wouldn’t behave in a disrespectful way to any client, nor should you to the ones taking care of them. If it helps to begin by thinking of the customer first, by all means, feel free. Practicing genuine gratitude, recognizing the work, the effort, and even the passion many employees bring to their day can shift and even catapult every aspect of your business.

How will you show gratitude to those you employ? What can you do differently today to express appreciation and become a grateful leader?

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