Gratitude is a positive emotion that involves being thankful and appreciative. According to Harvard Health, in positive psychology research gratitude has a strong and consistent association with greater happiness. Not only can practising gratitude help you improve your health, but this positive emotion is associated with relishing good experiences, handling stressful times, and cultivating strong relationships.
While this emotion is often experienced spontaneously, some people are naturally prone to experiencing it. Others can cultivate it and learn to practice it more often. Without being thankful for the environment where people spend a lot of their time, they can feel irritable and witness a downfall in productivity.
Here are 5 tips you can follow to make sure you cultivate gratitude at your workplace:
Prevent An Environment Of Burnout
Employees essentially drive the organisation forward. A burnt-out worker is neither helpful to their co-workers nor an asset to the organisation. An overworked employee is also likely to not feel any sense of gratitude towards the company. Avoid creating an environment where the team feels less productive and gracious.
An Appreciation Space For The Team
Let employees know they are heard and can relay or cheer on each other. This can be done with something as simple as a mentorship program or a digital channel. People are likely to feel more appreciative of their environment when they feel supported and appreciated in return.
Acts Of Service
A little helping hand can go a long way in a workspace. These acts of service can be as simple as grabbing a cup of coffee for a busy coworker to offering a lending hand during a busy work season. You can ask your co-workers how they can be helped and go forward with their responses. People are also more likely to return with acts of service gestures.
Recover From Crisis With Gratitude
American Psychologist Professor Robert Emmons has stated how gratitude can help people through hard times. While gratitude comes easy on good days, when disaster strikes, gratitude is worth the effort. A culture of appreciation is the best way to help a workplace prepare for the stresses that you might have to face.
