As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, I challenge you to fully immerse yourself in this season of gratitude. That said, I also acknowledge that for many, giving thanks this year feels hard—maybe even impossible. If you're in this situation, I feel for you; and recognize that reading about gratitude may be too challenging right now. Perhaps this post will serve you better as you process feelings of fear, grief, anger, or others. 

When we are able to lean into gratitude, the research suggests we get a boost in happiness, health, and overall well-being. The simple act of giving thanks has remarkable benefits.

In one study, conducted by Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., at the University of California at Davis and his colleague Mike McCullough at the University of Miami, participants were randomly assigned one of three tasks. Each week, participants kept a short journal. One group briefly described five things for which they were grateful from the past week, another recorded five hassles that occurred in the previous week, and the neutral group recorded five events or circumstances that affected them, but they were not told whether to focus on the positive or on the negative. After ten weeks, those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic, felt 25% happier than the hassle-focused group, exercised more, and faced fewer health challenges. Wow.

Beyond the impact on an individual's well-being, gratitude also has a powerful impact on workplace dynamics. In organizations where gratitude is a prioritized, recurring practice, employees:

• Feel more positive

• Experience less stress

• Feel more confident in their ability to achieve goals

• Use fewer sick days

• Communicate higher job satisfaction

• Show a stronger desire to help coworkers

All are highly valuable benefits, but let’s dive deeper into the last one—a stronger desire to help coworkers. The research suggests that employees who receive frequent appreciation are more concerned with social responsibility. In other words, they perform more “organizational citizenship”—kind acts that go above and beyond their job description, like welcoming new employees or filling in for coworkers. The recipients of those kind acts are then motivated to do the same...and so begins a ripple effect that can transform workplace dynamics.

Leaders have an opportunity to kickstart this ripple effect. Employees feel motivated to work harder for managers who remember to say thank you. Researchers at the Wharton School randomly divided university fundraisers into two groups. The first group conducted work as usual, making standard phone calls to solicit alumni donations. But the second group—assigned to work on a different day—received a pep talk before beginning work from the Director of Annual Giving, who expressed her gratitude for their efforts. During the following week, the university employees who heard her message of appreciation made 50% more fundraising calls than those who did not. Wow, again.

We often think of organizations as transactional places where it’s unprofessional to incorporate things like gratitude, forgiveness, or compassion, but evidence suggests that these things create workplace environments where employees actually want to work. We are human after all—even when at work.

As you seek to weave gratitude into your team, please do so thoughtfully. It’s easy to recognize strong employee performance, but cultures that truly value and practice gratitude do much more. They engage with employees at a “whole person level”—valuing who they are, not just what they do—appreciating their ideas, values, talents, and goals, not just their performance.

To get you started, watch the Two-Minute Tip for an easy, practical exercise to facilitate with your team. Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving!