The Key to Climate Change in Your Company Culture

Thanksgiving, the last Thursday of November, was, thanks to George Washington, to be devoted to public thanksgiving and prayer. Thanksgiving is a recognition of what we have, what has been given, and what we may receive; the physical and intentional act of giving thanks. 

Gratitude is powerful. It is one of the few acts that can reach deep down into the depths of one’s heart, to change a belief. Gratitude reframes perceptions to the point where you can see something through entirely different eyes. Belief forms the foundations of decision-making and, in a sense, can be an indicator or driver of future success. 

Gratitude isn’t personal… well, ok, gratitude isn’t JUST personal. Gratitude has an impact that goes beyond just us. Gratitude is one of the most unselfish acts we can undertake. It looks outwards and draws inwards; gratitude connects. 

In a recent (2019) Forbes article, it was mentioned that “gratitude in the workplace is especially critical because it satisfies the higher psychological need to feel a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves–to feel a sense of meaning at work.”. 

This sense of being part of, contributing to, and building something bigger than ourselves is a key component in both our personal and our company’s growth. 

Employees who feel seen, heard, validated, and connected from a vision and heart perspective are the people who will achieve more than they thought possible; to reach or exceed their potential. 

Gratitude is essential to a thriving workplace culture, but you can’t force it. It’s a tender concept that requires sincerity and genuineness that, if not present, will cause more harm than good. 

While it can’t be forced it can be modeled, and you can create an environment where it can flourish. Given time, it will permeate your culture to the point where others begin to recognize it. Partners love it, clients are impacted by it. Your retention and employee engagement strategies are finding success, and it makes you attractive to potential candidates. 

That’s something to be thankful for. 

Here are three ways to develop an environment where gratitude can bloom. 

Top-down Thanks

As a leader, if you want your people to grow and develop you need to understand them. Not everyone thinks the same way, not everyone receives encouragement in the same way and what is meaningful to one person may not even register for another. Finding out what’s important to your people and finding a way to recognize them accordingly will do wonders to increase their feeling of worth and value. 

Leaders who can privately and publicly praise their people create an environment of openness and shared success, which has a massive impact on the culture at large. Leaders who display these elements empower their people to operate in it too; leaders set the tone. 

Shout Outs

Shout Outs are where purposeful processes and planning meet people. Making room in meetings for peer-led recognition is another key component in building a culture of gratitude. These moments carved into meetings create an avalanche of potential praise. 

When one person starts, another responds, then another, then another. Before you know it, you have team members recognizing one another, celebrating wins, achievements, and areas of growth. It’s dynamic, inclusive, and connected. It’s also an area that does require intention and planning. It doesn’t happen by accident. At Titus, we have two weekly meetings that have  

The Little Things Matter

Finding gratitude in the small things has a significant impact. When someone notices and celebrates something small or seemingly insignificant it sends a profound message. That message is, “you’re seen,” what you think is small or unimportant is anything but. It’s those small yet recognized acts that highlight the value and contribution of team members. After all, gratitude is about perspective. 

Take, for example, someone who has just done their job. It would be easy to say, “you’ve done your job, hit your target, and completed what we’ve asked.” Gratitude investigates how what has been achieved and the attitude displayed in reaching that goal. If you’ve ever worked with (or more accurately, in the vicinity of) a lone wolf then you’ll understand. They might hit their numbers, but they may have caused some damage along the way, it doesn’t inspire trust, confidence, or future desire to work near that person. On the flip side, figuratively high-fiving a colleague in a client meeting when they’ve raised an excellent point is empowering to both them and you. Both people get to share in the building up of one another and the chances are that one small act will lead to heightened success in the future. When people feel good about what they are doing they tend to do it better (confidence, or more accurately belief, is powerful). 

According to Harvard: In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships. 

There you go. It’s science!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

What are you thankful for? What have you seen in your people that deserves recognition? If you want to be happy and to build high-performing, happy, and fulfilled teams then you’re going to want to look deeper into gratitude. Look for it, speak it out, and share it. You’ll be grateful that you did. 

More than recruiters, Titus Talent Strategies are a team of Talent Optimizers who genuinely care about the work we do. We empower companies to put the right people in the right seats through informed, connected strategies that combine data with an empathetic understanding of what makes people tick. We recognize that our partners are investing in us and that results mean more than just people placed in a role. It’s about impact and connection.