Project Management

How Are You and Your Teams Practicing Gratitude?

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by Christian Bisson

I’m always trying to find ways to help my project teams forge connections with one another. And one of the things I’m trying is to incorporate expressing gratitude. Along with helping teams bond, it can help improve team performance, too, especially with all the uncertainty of today’s workplace. An October 2020 poll by Monster, for example, found the overwhelming majority of workers believe that expressing gratitude at work helps ease stress and anxiety (97 percent) and receiving gratitude motivates their daily work (94 percent).

Here are a couple ways you can get your project team to practice gratitude:

 

Thank You Card Retrospective

First, provide blank thank you cards and pens to your entire team. Then, allow several minutes for everyone to fill out a few cards, writing who they want to thank on the team, what action they’re thanking the person for and the positive impact it had on them. A variation on this would involve asking everyone to write at least one card to someone outside the team and delivering it to them after the activity.

Note that it’s important for people to specify the exact action and impact that it had. This allows for meaningful gratitude to be shared, as opposed to generic answers like: “Thank you for your great work.” 

 

Kudos Retrospective

Start by writing four titles over over “boxes” where people will be able to add notes. The titles might be something like:

  • Great job!
  • Very happy!
  • Congratulations!
  • Thank you!

Then, tell everyone to think about latest sprint and write notes that align with those four boxes. Once that’s is done, have everyone take turns presenting what they wrote.

I’ve found this so effective that I now use it as part of all my retrospectives to close out on a positive note.

Simple activities like these can help people share gratitude they would most likely keep to themselves. These exercises, as well as recognizing the great work of your team, helps the team grow together and strive to continue doing outstanding work.

What activities have you used to practice gratitude among your team?

 


Posted by Christian Bisson on: February 10, 2021 01:09 PM | Permalink

Comments (2)

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Manuel Ancizu Program Manager Wind Energy| Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
This is so important, gratitude and just a "thank you" can make a real difference for the person that gives it and the one who receives it. It's a win-win situation.
Offering praise is equally relevant.
And it's even more relevant in virtual teams where people don't see one another face-to-face (in this cases, a smile thank you together are even more powerful )

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Stephen Robin Project Analyst Trainee| Ministry of Works and Transport Arima, Ari, Trinidad and Tobago
Simple but effective. A display of gratitude bolsters greater team morale and spirit than more people realize.

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