Inspiration & Gratitude
The importance of inspiration and gratitude in your business
By Robin Anderson
As we near the end of 2021, it’s a good time to take a few minutes to evaluate where your company is at, and think about what you can do to help your team. One of the most important things you can do is to incorporate inspiration and gratitude into your culture. Give your employees the gift of appreciation and they will in turn give you the gift of hard work and loyalty.
For many startup founders, inspiration and gratitude can easily be overlooked. While many understand the benefits of treating customers well, they skip the part of passing it on to their employees. Don’t hesitate - express gratitude not just to your customers, but also employees on a regular basis, through recognition and rewards, demonstrating your appreciation for the extra effort or for the extra business. Doing so builds happiness, loyalty and empowerment. The best part of this is the extension of goodwill a business receives from employees - sharing their positive experiences with others.
Definition of gratitude:
The quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
“The way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement.”
There are many benefits of incorporating gratitude into your business culture. With regard to employees, a business will experience an increase in employee engagement and productivity. Employees whose managers focus on their strengths are more engaged. When employees are more engaged they are more productive which also leads to greater employee retention.
The Global Happiness Council estimated that “a meaningful increase in well-being” yields, on average, about a 10% increase in productivity.
Happier employees work harder, their level of work is improved, they stay longer, and they extend that happiness to others. The benefits of having happy employees results in saving money with reduced turnover rates, higher quality products and less hostility within the office environment. A positive office environment leads to greater respect for others. And, happy employees tend to extend their gratitude with customers not just in sales but in support which leads to happy and higher levels of trust with customers.
“..the more you can authentically shine praise on everyone in your ecosystem, the more your potential, individually and collectively, rises.”
As a startup founder, one way to build a positive environment is to communicate. Managers that consistently and genuinely communicate through regular meetings, make themselves available when problems arise, show interest and are more approachable, have a higher level of trust from their employees. In addition, team members whose managers work with them to understand their responsibilities, set priorities, and communicate progress tend to be more engaged and embrace accountability. Managers who leverage their employees strengths, and give them the opportunity to grow, contribute to a higher level of work and engagement than those who focus on weaknesses.
Give employees the latitude to develop their strengths with goals and challenges by providing training and career development opportunities
Employees are motivated by positive feedback. Recognizing a job well done with a reward reinforces the effort.
Encourage your employees to share their ideas and opinions.
Employees are more engaged and embrace accountability when there is autonomy and trust to get the job done. This gives them a sense of personal accomplishment.
In ‘Find the Right Words to Inspire Your Team’ by Joel Schwartzberg, he emphasizes the importance of choosing the right words when communicating to your team with the goal of inspiring and motivating them. Using power words such as ‘proposing, suggesting, or recommending,’ to communicate with the point of making an impact.
One well known company whose culture focuses on both their customers and their employees is HubSpot. According to The HubSpot Culture Code:
We (HubSpot) obsess over our culture just like our product. Because culture is a product.
HubSpot's positive culture environment enables it to easily attract customers as well as employees. For their employees, HubSpot’s culture code includes ‘work to make a difference’ and ‘value amazing people’ instills the feeling of work that matters - really helping the customers. According to Comparably and their “Happiest Employees” list, employees who are given the opportunity to grow, meet their career goals, and rank their company highly on workplace culture. By helping their employees achieve success, HubSpot is empowering their employees to help their customers be successful.
Happy employees -> Happy customers -> Successful company
We have experienced yet another unpredictable year. Some highs, some lows, some crazy and confusing times. As we quickly approach the end of this spirited year, we are taking a moment to thank those who have helped us to build our business and make it a success. Because without you, we would not still be here, doing what we can to help others.
At Fly to Soar, we’ve experienced the benefit of gratitude in two ways, one - expressing appreciation for the benefit of lightening the load for all with laughter for example, no matter how big the challenge and two - how one person’s success can lift an entire team.
From Lenka and I - THANK YOU! For your patience, support, and most importantly, trusting us to assist you with growing your business.
Let us know how you and your company are doing. Send us an email, or share on social media.
Happy Holidays!
FunFact
To end the year on a happy note...
WeRateDogs was created in 2015 by Matt Nelson, a college student. The account started as a poll to determine if he should create an account dedicated to rating dogs. The majority responded with a YES. WeRateDogs is an account that posts pictures of dogs with humorous copy and a rating 10/10 - with all dogs always getting a rating higher than a 10 as all dogs are “good dogs.” Matt’s initial goal with the account was to make people happy. 9M followers on Twitter, indicate a pretty strong fan base.