Personal Gratitude & Team Gratitude
It’s not that difficult to wrap your mind around the power of gratitude. Think about the last time you were complemented, the last time you were recognized for your efforts, the last time someone wrote a card for you, the last time you took stock of what you’ve been blessed with.
Personally, gratitude makes you more appreciative of what is immediately in front of you. You are more content, and thereby more patient, and less prone to emotional sabotage.
For those you lead, expressed gratitude does several things:
Boosts Performance - Properly appraises activity that aids the team while implicitly discouraging negative activity.
Cultivates One-ness - Builds trust and reinforces the reality that this team is a unit that strives together, not against one another.
Increased Morale - The individual is more likely to enjoy their role on the team. This is great for their personal satisfaction and the team’s retention of top performers.
Personal Practices 👤
5-Minute Journal 📝
A throwback to our full entry on the process, when we were overviewing techniques for implementing a Morning Routine. This process includes the following gratitude components:
Writing 3 things you are grateful for.
Expressing gratitude for a particular attribute of God, or a personal affirmation expressed with gratitude to God.
End of Day / Recap - Write 3 things that went well during the day.
Spontaneous Expressions to Others 🗣️
As you go about your day in your role, you will cross paths with others (even if it’s merely digitally). Taking a moment to thank them for their role on the team is simple yet affective.
Bonus tip! You can also use this technique when you’re trying to get help. When I have to contact customer service, the minute they take my info and pause I say, “Thank you so much for taking the time to help me, I really appreciate it.”
You’ll find you get extra favor thrown your way 🙂
Team Practices 🤝🏼
Weekly Recap 🗓️
Having a regular pulse with your team is important for many reasons, but one that it enables is having a carved out space for doing team recognition organically as the weekly operations are appraised.
Written Cards ✍🏼
I like to write cards for my team at least 3 times a year (Middle of Spring, Summer, Holiday Season). Hand written cards show an increased personal element, and it gives you the opportunity to express thankfulness for particular projects, skills, and opportunities for the future.
Awards 🏆
We have two levels of awards that we give out annually. First is a general award that shows appreciation for tenure. We provide a custom sticker for each “year of service,” except for year three, where we give out a “3 Year Club Shirt” because we think it’s a big deal in the student volunteer world. Additionally we stop giving stickers after year 6, where the volunteer gets a special black and gold “Veteran Volunteer” version.
Second are special awards based on our core values. The team picks one guy and one girl for each of our three core values, and one MVP who has embodied them all throughout the year.
These awards feel special! Only a limited number can earn them each year, we make official certificates, publicly acknowledge what led to them winning the award, and the MVP one has a prize connected to it! Our team is thereby encouraged to embody our values year-round.
Holiday Gift Guide 2025 🎁
These items and more!
For a list of productivity oriented gift ideas, and a discount code to the T+P Designs store, look HERE
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In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty - Proverbs 14:23
