As Thanksgiving nears, we’re reminded of so many reasons to be thankful.
We started a tradition in 2012 to post a list of 50 Things We’re Grateful For… during each summer as one simple way to keep gratitude near and dear to our hearts. While we won’t duplicate those efforts in this post, we did want to share a few things that we’re thankful for this Thanksgiving.
#GivingTuesday is a national day of giving to kick off the generous holiday season. After Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, think about supporting your favorite charity or cause. Then, see how you can get more involved during the rest of the year. What’s your favorite charity or cause? Let us know in the comments below!
Our awesome clients and the CCC community make us smile every day. We appreciate every project, referral, comment, like, share and reader! We’re thankful to work with so many wonderful people who are doing good. If you’re reading this post, say hello!
The days are getting longer, baseball’s back and it’s time for the annual listing of 50 things I’m grateful for. This tradition started back in 2012 and is a post that I look forward to all year.
I’d love for you to add your list to the comments or share your blog post with us, so we can read and share everyone’s lists.
These two words are so simple yet so powerful. They can be the difference between a one-time customer and a loyal one, a vendor and a partner, a co-worker and a colleague.
It turns out that gratitude is not only good for you, but it’s good for business too. Showing gratitude to your customers, employees, vendors and partners makes them feel like they’re a part of something. They’re more engaged, more productive and more willing to go the extra mile for you.
At CCC, we try to show gratitude every day. That’s what led to our 50 Things I’m Grateful For… series, where we list 50 things we’re grateful for every year on our blog and encourage others to do the same. It’s been fun to read your lists!
It’s no coincidence that we publish our annual list at any time of the year except for Thanksgiving. It’s a reminder to show gratitude all year, not only when it’s a hot topic.
Whether it’s saying a genuine “thank you” when an employee does his job well or surprising a loyal customer with a gift you know she’ll love, take the time to be grateful this Thanksgiving and every day. Sometimes, the right thing to do can be good for you too. 🙂
What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving?
p.s. CCC is grateful to be spending time with our families on Thanksgiving, so we’ll be closed on Thursday. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you for your support!
Jaime
Let’s chat (about gratitude, turkey or otherwise):
The evidence is in, and there can be no doubt. Treating employees well and making them happy affects the bottom line. Let’s explore the dynamics, and see just how to achieve a kinder workplace and happier employees.
This “happiness map” is a generic guide to happiness. Nevertheless, it is as relevant in a workplace setting as anywhere else.
This way to happiness >> Happiness Map by Carol Preibis
Notice that the starting point is “Mindfulness.” Being mindful promotes compassion (kindness). Mindfulness also leads to “Appreciation” — it teaches us gratitude. Conclusion: To achieve happiness in the workplace, we would do well to:
Apply mindfulness to the workplace.
Foster gratitude across the organization.
Mindfulness
“SAKURAKO – Pick up the phone.” by MIKI Yoshihito via CCBY2.0
“Mindfulness is a way to live your life as if it really mattered. And that involves being in the present moment with open-hearted presence and kindness toward yourself.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn
Evidence suggests practicing mindfulness can help organizations by diminishing stress-related health care costs and increasing productivity. Kelley McCabe Ruff runs eMindful, a Vero Beach company that puts on virtual workshops for businesses. She has been able to quantify the effectiveness of eMindful’s programs, showing that they support behavioral change that leads to physical changes, such as reduced cortisol levels and lower blood pressure. “We actually supply employers a return on investment calculation.”
Kelley McCabe Ruff, eMindful CEO and founder, relates eMindful’s focus on reducing employee health care costs and increasing productivity. Live programs are offered via the internet, allowing eMindful to provide the most experienced and expert teachers in Mindfulness as well as other Mind-Body Programs. Presented by eMindful – http://www.eMindful.com
Reflecting before reacting is the first step in practicing mindfulness, and learning it is quite simple. Think of the acronym STOP:
Stop —Stand orSit Take a breath Observe Present – be in thepresent moment
Rhonda Magee explains the technique in this video.
Rhonda Magee, JD, is Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of San Francisco. In this talk from the “Practicing Mindfulness & Compassion” conference on March 8, 2013, Magee explores how to apply contemplative practices to our professional lives–and in doing so create more compassionate workplaces.
Sharon Salzberg, author of the book Real Happiness at Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement and Peace, believes mindfulness can be applied in any career. “It’s a great tool for coming back to the moment and remembering your intention,” she says. For example, practicing mindfulness at work could be pausing and planning before picking up a phone, or taking a deep breath and focusing on the desired outcome during a contentious meeting.
“Teaching and encouraging mindfulness in the workplace has become a part of corporate efforts to reduce the stresses that can lead to burnout. Increasingly, the practice has gone mainstream, buoyed by the recent endorsements of CEOs, educators, actors, and politicians who link mindfulness to improved psychological and even physical health.” ― Cindy Krischer Goodman, Working with ‘mindfulness’ reduces stress in the workplace
Gratitude
“Good Job on Sticky Note” by David Castillo Dominici via FreeDigitalPhotos.net
“To practice gratitude, we must practice mindfulness. When we are truly present in the moment, we see the beauty all around us. And the more joy we cultivate, the more we can practice our purposeful awareness and acceptance of the present moment. Mindfulness begets gratitude, gratitude begets mindfulness.” —Sarah RudellBeach,Mindfulness and Gratitude: A Celebration of Thankfulness
Foster an environment of gratitude across your organization. Gratitude in organizations is important—it can boost morale and increase productivity. To learn more about this dynamic, theGreater Good Science Centerdeveloped aquiz that measures the level of gratitude in an organization. An analysis of the results concludes: “In order to foster gratitude across an organization, it may help to maximize opportunities for people in low-level positions to make meaningful contributions, and ensure that their contributions are recognized—especially for employees who have been in a low-level position for many years. It may also be wise for organizations with high levels of stress to bring more awareness to how often—and to whom—expressions of gratitude are granted.”
A wonderfully effective way to recognize employee contributions is with an “office gratitude journal.” The Administration and Finance office of the University of California, Berkeley, created an appreciation platform that allows employees to recognize each other’s contributions, which feeds into a “Kudos” webpage that publicly highlights these contributions. A simpler and equally effect implementation of this same idea is a bulletin board known as a “wall of gratitude.” For details on these and other suggestions, see five ways to boost gratitude at work.
Kindness
“Business Team Discussing Ideas” by stockimages via FreeDigitalPhotos.net
“This is what I find most magnetic about successful givers: they get to the top without cutting others down, finding ways of expanding the pie that benefit themselves and the people around them. Whereas success is zero-sum in a group of takers, in groups of givers, it may be true that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” ― Adam Grant, Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success
There are so many ways to bring kindness into work. Here are a few suggestions:
Be friendly! Smile, give a compliment, speak a few kind words. Bring in a treat to share.
We all understand the importance of work-life balance. A booklet from Acas Publications offers expert advice on work-life balance and flexible working. It includes some real-world problem scenarios, and provides real-world solutions.
Employee Engagement
Photo credit: betterworks.com
“To win in the marketplace…you must first win in the workplace. I’m obsessed with keeping employee engagement front and center.” — Doug Conant
Employee engagement is crucial to the success of any organization, and it is management’s responsibility to make it happen! Managers, consider these tips:
Give your employees autonomy. Let them know what’s going on, and elicit their ideas for improvement.
Transparency is important to employees. Share long-term visions. Explain how their work fits into the big picture.
Give employees opportunities for growth. Offer them new responsibilities. Give them time to train and learn.
Employees love feedback, so give it often. If you have recommendations for improvement, offer to help them implement them.
Be nice! Let them know that you care about them as people, not just as employees.
It’s inspiring to think about individual pay it forward chains. It’s even more amazing to picture pay it forward webs. Each person in a chain has opportunities to fire off new chains. Most people are in multiple chains. Perhaps a web might look like a Tinker Toy project!
“Tinker Toys for Adults” by greenmelinda via CCBY2.0
“The best part of life is not just surviving, but thriving with passion and compassion and humor and style and generosity and kindness.” —Maya Angelou
The time is right. These ideas are becoming mainstream, and for good reasons. It’s an exciting time for all of humanity. Be mindful, be grateful, be kind. Watch kindness spread from heart to heart and share the joy, especially in the workplace.
This is part two of a two-part series, Kindness in the Workplace, by Carol Preibis of Ahh The Simple Life. If you missed part one last week, please click here. For more on Carol, keep reading. Thanks, Carol!
Carol is passionate about food, recipes and cooking.
Carol Preibis and her sister Michele value the Simple Life and want to help you shed the complicated nature of today’s world. They share insights on food, decorating, stress relief and living more simply, while actually enjoying day-in, day-out living. Looking for a scrumptious, healthy recipe? Trying to figure out how to have fun on a budget? Head to Ahh The Simple Life to start feeling better and getting more out of your life.
