Thankful at Work: Tips for Showing Gratitude and Appreciation

Written by Tracy Nadal

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. How cool is it that we have a national holiday set aside to stop and express gratitude for all the goodness in our lives?

While this is a wonderful annual practice – we encourage business leaders to regularly demonstrate appreciation to their employees and peers. We’ve known for years that regularly praising employees increases employee engagement.

Providing Praise & Recognition

One method that has been used with several of our clients at Turning the Corner is the The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace book the Motivating By Appreciation (MBA) Inventory with the included code. This inventory and book allows employees to identify their preferred way of recognition.

For example, if an employee learns that their preferred “language of appreciation” is Words of Affirmation, managers can demonstrate gratitude by praising the employee for specific accomplishments, or affirm their character.

Likewise, if the employee’s preferred “language of appreciation” is Acts of Service, managers and co-workers can demonstrate gratitude and appreciation by asking this employee, “What would be helpful to you? How would you like this task done? When would be the best time to help?” Then they can voluntarily serve the employee in a way that is meaningful to them and complete what they start. 

The most consistent response that she heard was simply, “just say thank you to me.” Zero dollars. Just two small words. Thank you. We recommend following up those two words with specificity around why you’re thanking the employee and the impact of their efforts. For example, “Thank you for always being willing to step in and support your teammates. When we all pulled together and worked extra hours last week, we were able to deliver the customer’s product to them on time and with outstanding quality.” 

Need a Jumpstart?

Here are a few additional tips. First, keep a gratitude journal. This can be as simple as keeping Post-It notes on your desk and writing one thing at the beginning of your workday for which you are grateful, and writing one thing at the end of your workday for which you are grateful. Keep these notes and review them once a month.

One of our HR consultants shares a daily gratitude practice by exchanging gratitude text messages with eight of her friends. They each share one thing for which they are grateful each morning. Some days the texts are lighthearted, “I’m grateful I watched a comedy movie last night that made me laugh a lot.” Other days the texts are more serious, “I’m grateful my father’s cancer is being managed well.” There are endless ways to demonstrate gratitude! We would love to hear your ideas too!

• Be genuine and specific. Most of us have “sincerity radars” and can tell when someone is not being genuine. 
• Be consistent. While November is a great time to start demonstrating gratitude and appreciation towards our employees and peers, consistency is key in maintaining positive employee engagement.
• Show gratitude and appreciation in a way that’s meaningful to the recipient.

Thank you, our readers, for your interest in growing your gratitude practice personally and in the workplace! If you would like assistance in identifying what types of appreciation activities would build engagement at your workplace, reach out to us. One of our HR consultants would be happy to discuss this further with you.