Gratitude Matters: Five simple ways to show appreciation

‘Tis the season for posts about gratitude. Thanksgiving is a great holiday to celebrate with family and friends. Gratitude can be an introspective exercise. I am grateful for a lot, and I try to reflect everyday on this. But showing gratitude, or appreciation, is connecting your self-reflection to action.

Showing gratitude, or appreciation, is connecting your self-reflection to action.

Appreciation should be shared. And in my experience, saying thank you is a good start, but there is a lot more to showing appreciation that can be explored. As leaders, letting our teams know how their efforts, candor, insights, contributions, lessons, and impact are not only visible, but valued, builds a community and culture of learning and belonging.

And one thing I’ve learned (and is powerful in helping me continue to flex my resilience muscles) is that an appreciative mindset should be cultivated every day. Not only does it feel great to acknowledge someone, but that sponsorship of a person or team lets them know they are seen— which creates a wonderful environment of inclusion. So in that vein, here are 5 things to build into your toolkit to demonstrate your appreciation.

Timing is everything. A person goes above and beyond at a meeting. Or perhaps they do you a favor and speak at an event. Writing a thank you note is a good start—but writing it within 24 hours shows true appreciation. Why? Wait too long and it seems like an afterthought. When I used to run conferences, my favorite time was when I blocked the 2 hours immediately following the event to write personal thank yous for speakers, planners and anyone who I wanted to thank from the heart.

Block time for recognition. My former boss Kara Underwood taught me this one. She has a block every week in her calendar for “recognition.” In it, she shuts her door, grabs a notebook she keeps on little and big things she noticed about people she worked with that week, and sends a note or gives them a call. Be generous in copying a person’s boss or other sponsor who would appreciate the positive feedback.

Loop back to tell people how their efforts impacted you. I am fortunate in having lots of smart, generous colleagues who will drop anything to help me when I ask. Appreciation isn’t just saying thank you, but days, weeks or months later, when that investment in you takes hold, I have tried to make a practice of circling back and sharing how things are going, and how much that help has meant.

Build kudos into your team norms. If your team does a regular retrospective, or closes out a big quarter, consider asking people to thank an individual who they felt made a big difference. Not only does this give people a chance to publicly thank someone, but it also lets every person speak and share. One team I coached was struggling across time zones and tight deadlines, so we introduced this practice in the retros. It ended up becoming a practice that deepened the psychological safety on the team, and also helped them focus on strengths as they celebrated moments large and small that made a difference.

Find hidden gems. And lastly, when thinking about showing appreciation, try to consider moving beyond your “go-to” list of people. The room set up is always perfect. Who makes that happen? Interns or new team members are quietly doing all the research which helped set the foundation for your strategy? Find out who they are and connect. Think about opening your sponsorship beyond your inner circle, and seek out people different from you, making sure they know you see and value their insights and contributions.

Moving from grateful self-reflection to sharing appreciation has been incredible. Too much of our time can be spent heads down in a firedrill or running from one thing to the next. Building a habit, practice and culture of appreciation is something that the best leaders can and should embrace.