Thankfulness Can Last All Year

By Andrew Bundy

With Thanksgiving around the corner, the concept of thankfulness is as ubiquitous as pumpkin spice flavoring in everything from coffee to chewing gum.

But that thankfulness feels as disposable as a 99 cent greeting card.  Since an attitude of thankfulness in an office needs to begin at the top, how can the owner of a busy mental health practice or small business make time to model genuine thankfulness?

Thankfully (pun intended), this essential skill can be integrated into everything a leader does, becoming more automatic than forced over time. And if implemented correctly, it can help employees enjoy their jobs and be thankful all year long.

Thankfulness Intervention

It may seem silly, like that scene in Finding Nemo where Bruce the Shark’s friends had to shout “Intervention!” and prevent Bruce from eating Dory and Marlin, but some research suggests that having a Thankfulness Intervention can help improve the office atmosphere.

Lauren R. Locklear, Shannon G. Taylor, and Maureen L. Ambrose wrote in The Harvard Review that many offices become fixated on the negatives. Even virtual employees can get stressed out and focus on what is going wrong instead of what is going right. This is why they recommended a Thankfulness Intervention.

There are many ways to do this. The authors suggest creating gratitude journals to record when something good happens. There’s also the option of gratitude groups, where employees meet together to talk about positive events. They also suggest taking time to thank every employee for something specific.

Thankfulness Targeting

It is easy to thank the people who work with you the most. It is even easier to thank the people who attract attention through their personalities or positions. However, to instill true, meaningful thankfulness, a business owner or office manager needs to thank those who are not often thanked.

Targeting these people, and making sure other see them being thanked, will help put credence to that old saying that “there are no small parts.” If everyone’s contribution is important, then why are there people who don’t get recognized?

Sometimes, these are people that no one is aware of – the backroom workers who keep the nuts-and-bolts of the business working while the customer-facing workers get the credit.

Think about your custodians. When was the last time they were thanked for cleaning the bathroom? When that leftover food in the fridge gets cleaned out before it walks out, did the person who cleaned the fridge get a thank you? Maybe they work overnight when the office is empty, but if they did not come and clean, counseling sessions would also become dusting sessions.

Find a way to thank these people, but also try to find a way to broadcast that thank you. Highlight what they do for the business and how they allow the rest of the staff to do their jobs. If the rest of the staff sees you thanking these people, they will be more likely to follow suit.

Thankfulness Personified

As a leader, being thankful is part of the job. A Harvard Business Review survey showed that while managers do not like to give negative feedback, many more managers avoid giving praise to their people. This can create a grumpy office atmosphere that has people complaining around water coolers or on group text threads. While it is important not to praise people who are undeserving, making sure to praise the ones who have earned it will encourage others to be more thankful.

Make a point to say “thank you” for the little things people do. If they hand you the report you requested, thank them. If they scheduled that difficult client quickly and avoided an incident, thank them. Yes, they are just doing their jobs, but when a whole NFL team celebrates a catch in the end zone, no one complains that the wide receiver was just doing his job. The mindset of thankfulness can become contagious, just like the shouts and jumps and headbutts in that NFL huddle.

In order to make thankfulness an all-year office feature and not just a Thanksgiving bug, you will need to be thankfulness personified. Take time to find ways to thank those around you, and express thankfulness every chance you get. If the copier is working consistently, express your thankfulness. If the coffee is strong and picks you up, announce that.

It may seem hokey at first, but the more you do it, the more natural it will become.

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