Leading with Gratitude by Adrian Gostick

Author:Adrian Gostick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2020-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

Signposts to Success

Retired American Express chairman Ken Chenault told us, “The way I look at the little pats on the back: They’re signposts for how you’re doing. If I’m on a journey, I’ve got to look for signs that I’m going in the right direction. Points of recognition are those signposts that enable me to complete the journey.

“I think sometimes people get confused. If a leader waits until the big event, I (as an employee) may never get there. I may not have the confidence. I may not have the encouragement that this is a journey worth completing.” Well said.

Singularity University founder and CEO Rob Nail told us a great story about the remarkable uplift that can be generated from expressions of gratitude for the small things that happen in a workplace on a regular basis. “Someone in our office kept leaving notes on my desk, almost every week. Things like, ‘Wow, that was amazing what you just did at that meeting.’” Nail was profoundly touched and determined to find the anonymous source of this gratitude.

Eventually he solved the mystery and asked the employee about the practice. “She said she journaled every day about one hundred things she was grateful for. Each day she started the list again with a blank page.” From that practice, this woman got inspiration for notes not only for Nail but the others she worked with. The result was a team that felt lifted because someone was paying attention to the above-and-beyond things they were doing every single day.

Imagine the lift to morale and productivity in most workplaces if that kind of gratitude came routinely from not only peers but their leaders. One of the most distinctive attributes we’ve seen in great executives—aside from better hair than us—is that they notice and express appreciation for small-scale efforts as much as they celebrate major achievements. They look for incremental wins every day that they can acknowledge. This allows them to find ways to inspire all their people to stretch and grow. When managers get starstruck and focus only on their best performers and the most substantial victories, they overlook the vital contributions of people we like to call the Steady Eddys (though we also considered Stable Mabels, Constant Connies, and Reliable Rauls).

Now, this is not to say that managers shouldn’t be vigilant about expressing gratitude to their stars. It’s crucial to identify one’s top performers and let them know you understand the difference they’re making. Managers who are afraid to single out outstanding achievements by their high-fliers neglect those people at their peril. When high-impact performers are asked why they left an organization, many report: “No one ever asked me to stay!”

But with that said, we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to appreciate your Steady Eddys, those who show up every day to do the often unacclaimed, low-prestige work that keeps the doors open and customers satisfied. They are the backbone of businesses, and they need encouragement too. Managers too often underestimate the importance of even brief gratitude for tasks that may be overlooked.

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