Gratitude in the Workplace

Gratitude in the workplace increases pro-social behaviors, appreciation, and coping, strengthens social relationships, and fosters reciprocity. Dr. Stewart

Gratitude in the workplace increases pro-social behaviors, appreciation, and coping, strengthens social relationships, and fosters reciprocity. Dr. Stewart

It is not enough to ask leaders, employees, or students to befriend loners or victims of bullying and all of a sudden play friendly and be kind toward one another.  Primal responses to fear and abandonment create bully-type behaviors and reactions. These primal instincts that are fear-based become drives for humans to return to equilibrium or homeostasis during or after stressful events or pressures. Leaders, employees, and students often respond to this stress with unhealthy and sometimes unconscious internal drives to dominate and divide.  The unmet needs of individuals, organizations, and cultural groups must be addressed first so that instinctual impulses or the sympathetic nervous system arousal is not on automatic flight or fight. The question is, do you know the unmet needs of your leaders, employees, or students?

A sustained practice of gratitude takes a deliberate approach to caring for yourself when giving to others. In this podcast, we will explore the extraordinary in our lives and those events that led up to the foundation of the extraordinary, such as those that occur before receiving a much-needed miracle that opens up the possibility of awareness of an infinite number of miracles that support the foundation for the daily miracles in one’s life. Saint Augustine stated that “miracles are not in contradiction to nature. They are only in contradiction with what we know of nature” (Saint Augustine Quotes, n.d.). We often see this phenomenon as science catches up and is able to explain the process of the miracle. But sometimes, as many biblical texts and personal experiences are noted, miracles happen beyond explanation or understanding. Of course, we will explore the literature from a holistic and cultural perspective to provide multi meanings and value to the good that occurs in life. As always, the first step is to conduct a needs assessment of your wellness dimensions to ensure that unmet needs are addressed or at least identified. The second building block is based on developing a situationally aware practice of gratitude to avoid the pitfalls of the dark side of a practice of gratitude. Finally, we will explore the inner workings of sustaining healthy habits and how to embed a practice of gratitude and the acknowledgment of the extraordinary miracles that occur in life. Identifying the extraordinary events in our lives as part of our gratitude of practice  will also quickly expand our gratitude experience new dimensions. Also, if your gratitude practice seems a little stale or repetitive, identifying the extraordinary in life will add new excitement to your practice of gratitude.

A sustained practice of gratitude takes a deliberate approach to caring for yourself when giving to others. In this podcast, we will explore the literature review concerning how to build a practice of gratitude that contains the building blocks for developing a healthy approach to a practice of gratitude. The first step is to conduct a needs assessment of your dimensions of wellness to make sure that unmet needs are addressed or at least identified. The second building block is based on developing a situationally aware practice of gratitude to avoid the pitfalls of the dark side of a practice of gratitude. Finally, we will explore the inner workings of sustaining healthy habits and how to embed a practice of gratitude into your daily life.

Journaling is an activity that may reduce stress and help you organize your emotions, ambitions, self-care practices, and goals and dreams. According to the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (2023), journaling may improve mental health, increase self-confidence, and heighten performance in many areas of individual pursuit. 

In this podcast, the literature review will reveal what interferes with our best intentions to create and sustain a practice of gratitude. Additionally, we will explore personality types so that a gratitude calendar can be created that best suits our available time, habits, and preferred ways of expressing gratitude.

Gratitude can be expressed in many ways and may vary across cultures, demographics, socioeconomic and sociopolitical regions, and many other social groups. According to Anderson of Linguistics of America (2023), there are over 6,909 distinct languages, and that does not include urban dialects and  variations of vernacular English and slang. Within the possibilities of expressing gratitude, we may see various combinations of verbal, nonverbal, written, and visual forms of expressing gratitude within socially connected groups and individual self-care practices

In this podcast, suggestions for developing an attitude of gratitude were explored to help individuals and organizations implement a more consistent practice that leads to the sustainability of a culture filled with gratitude.

In this podcast, we will explore the literature review concerning indebtedness, social connectedness, and the effects of guilt and shame involved with social media platforms, crowdfunding, fundraising for charity, and other causes that pull at your financial resources and heartstrings.

Practicing gratitude during anxiety can provide brief moments of relief because of the shift in focus away from troubling thoughts. A practice of gratitude helps to train the brain or cognitively reconstruct the brain to step away from rumination and negative thought patterns.

Children have developmental stages that vary with age, genetics, health, and other demographics, as well as socioeconomic and sociopolitical resources and opportunities across regions; therefore, their ability to accept and practice gratitude will vary.

A practice of gratitude is a popular approach to positive psychology and may become ritualistic if one is not careful. For example, within the rhythm of gratitude, one seeks to find the good in each day and the source of that good. However, it is essential to recognize the typical negative aspects of each day for personal growth and development. In other words, a practice of gratitude does not mean we ignore our feelings and emotions.

There is a strong correlation between the personality traits or behaviors expressions of  both optimism and gratitude, and research had uncovered some interesting findings and connections between the two personality traits.

Research indicates that in a practice of gratitude when conducted in moderation, in a safe environment where unmet needs are met, and the basic needs of life are sustained, gratitude is correlated with life satisfaction.

Explore some of the health benefits of having a gratitude practice and how the relationship-building cycle of gratitude may promote reciprocity and positive social behaviors in others. 

100 Ways to Express and Promote Gratitude a free resource from the Workplace Gratitude Course. Determining whether these ideas are appropriate for your personal and professional use is essential. Integration into the workplace may require modification and careful assessment of the culture and demographics of the organization's members. If you are interested in the Workplace Gratitude Course or would like to receive the PDF version of this podcast, or would like to contact Dr. Stewart for guidance on how to implement workplace gratitude please email your request to [email protected]

Gratitude in the workplace increases pro-social behaviors, appreciation, and coping, strengthens social relationships, and fosters reciprocity. Dr. Stewart