Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the season, I love the food and I love stopping between craziness for gratitude. I suspect we all understand that expressing gratitude is great for the person on the receiving end. But it also has amazing impact for you – professionally and personally. Professionally, it is one of the things is that most highly correlated with employee engagement and retention. Yet I ask 100s of people in workshops each year if they have been thanked for their work in the last week and rarely do 10 percent or more say yes. I know employees get a paycheck, but it turns out that’s only one part of what people value in their work. When offered sincerely gratitude is a very low cost way of sharing recognition, meaning and impact with your team. To have the most impact, your thanks should be related to something specific and offered at the time of the action or as closely as possible. Here is more information on the relationship between employee recognition and engagement. Personally, it is also one of the very best things you can do for yourself. It turns out that feeling gratitude, no less expressing it can lower blood pressure, improve sleep, reduce depression and the impact of stress, and improve relationships. Here is where you can learn more about the science of gratitude
Here are five ways easy and un-time consuming ways to increase gratitude:
1) Write down three things you are grateful for in a journal once a day
2) Send a two sentence thank you email to a colleague or friend
3) Make it a practice to pay one genuine compliment to someone each day
4) Notice simple things that go right – your coffee doesn’t spill, you car starts, your kids do the dishes, etc.
5) take a few minutes at Thanksgiving to share the practice by asking each person at your Thanksgiving table to share something they are thankful for.
This year I am so grateful I get to help amazing clients expand their impact, grateful for the friends and family that I have had the chance to spend time with and all the lessons I learned from running for office. And I am extraordinarily grateful to the team that has made it all possible – Shannon Lynch, Steve Meyer, Yolanda Faulkner and the ICF team.
Make Sure You Are On Your Gift List
As you start focusing on gift giving and wrapping up 2016, make sure you include you. While you wrap up the year, don’t forget to put yourself on your gift list. We are hosting our third Don’t Await It, Create It WOMEN, January 15-17, 2016.
This year, we are planning a more intimate experience. We are dropping stages and the exhibits in favor of more customized content, time together creating plans, deepening relationships and strengthening our capacity for leadership. We are adding the opportunity to care for yourself physically, too with a HoSPAtality Suite on Friday before we get started. This year we are returning to Kimpton, with outstanding service, award winning food and the warm intimate environment that supports your work.Gift yourself a weekend to relax, recharge, renew and start the year with a plan to make it the best year yet. Make 2016 your best year yet. Plan to join us for this year’s Don’t Await It, Create It WOMEN 2016. Head to registration now. For a limited time, use promo code: Legacy to save $200 off the $497 registration cost.
Guys, we are cooking up something fun for you in spring 2016 as well, but in the meantime, is there a woman in your life or on your team that you know would benefit from some time to focus, to create clarity, to have fun and to get ready for success? Gift her with a registration!
