The power of gratitude, compassion, and positivity at work

The sad fact about us humans is that we are not as POSITIVE as we might think we are. Science shows that we are quite NEGATIVE and positivity does just not come by itself, we have to actively work on it, here are some facts:

About 50% of our time awake is spent DISTRACTED.

About 80% of our thoughts could be considered NEGATIVE

About 90% of our thoughts could be considered REPETITIVE

This means we are very often in a distracted mode, between tasks, with a negative attitude, and almost not innovative at all, we are thinking the same thing again and again.

So how can we change that? Well, first of all, we need to be aware of these facts and understand that there are simple methods you could do to increase the overall positivity in your self and at work and that is to start with increasing Gratitude and Compassion with active actions.

Mindfulness with the amazing Kevin Reeder was to start for me, to venture into this field with my passion for company culture.

Gratitude

The single thing that can increase our happiness in life tremendously is by practicing gratitude in the present, this means appreciating what you have where you are and how you are. So much anxiety, so much self negativity created by our thoughts of things we did not do, and things we do not have, active gratitude will increase both positivity and our health.

Research shows that only:

10% express gratitude in work with their colleagues

7% express gratitude with their leaders

60% expressed gratitude never or very seldom at work

It means, for example, saying "Thank you", "I really appreciate your work" and so on. Imagine how much we could increase positivity at our workplace if people more actively showed gratitude. If you want a great company culture Positivity is one of the important pillars as described by Chris Dyer in his book The Power of Company Culture, and it is much easier to have positivity no matter how hard decisions we take at work, in a positive-minded culture.

At my current mission, in the last Christmas dinner, everyone had to make a post-it of someone they felt gratitude for. I had only been there for a few months, I was expecting zero, I felt into that negative 80% thought. They were handed out some days after and received more than 0, one of them said something like this "I really appreciate that you challenge! You are brave", the other post-it in a similar phrase. Before this note, I was questioning if it was the right decision to join a big corporate again, my mind was on maybe going back to do a Startup again, the notes totally changed EVERYTHING, I knew now I was needed and I was appreciated. I have never questioned my decision to join since that day.

The most beautiful thing about gratitude is that it is contagious, so start NOW. I encourage you to leave a gratitude note to one or more colleges the next time you are at work. If you work remotely, send them a message :)

Snehal R. Singh, my book coach, was the one that inspired me to start to write this article showing her gratitude to me online, she sent me a personal video message, how much she appreciates that I mention her here on the network, my writings I do. Imagine how it felt for me getting that message when I had taken a break from writing, because of family and health, so that very evening I wrote a draft for what is the article you are reading right now. Her gratitude action of just sending me that message lifted me from where I was to be able to find the strength to do my writings again. THANK YOU SNEHAL.

Compassion

For creating a positive culture, compassion and gratitude go hand in hand and compassion is not something that just is, because to truly feel compassion you need to be able to let go of your ego and be able to put others in the center and for sure be capable of feeling empathy.

Compassion goes beyond just work. It's a way of life. Whether we are connecting with friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, or even strangers. Can you imagine any customer support team with no compassion or empathy for their clients? What a disaster it would be.

Under this COVID-19 crisis, a huge amount of people were asked to work from home, and at the same time, schools and kindergarten closed. Imagine a company expecting the same productivity from their remote staff when they have to handle both work and take care of their children at the same time. I am so proud, our company managed the transition so well and there was a huge understanding we could only do our best.

The reason I give this example is that compassion creates compassion, it creates loyalty, it creates a feeling of belonging that is greater than any bonus check or other monetary benefits you could ever give. With this act of compassion, how our company handled the crisis, if something goes bad for us if we hit a bump on the road, I will for sure not to abandon the ship so easily.

Have you ever yelled or shown a negative attitude towards a colleague who was probably late for a meeting? How about being curious and showing some compassion? Asking - What happened? Have you never been late ever?

A great tip to create long-lasting compassion and gratitude within your company is to treat every new employee as you would treat a guest coming for dinner. How many times have you not been standing there in the company restaurant on your first day ALONE, looking where to sit? Tell me, how did that feel in your stomach? Did you feel welcomed and content? No, you probably felt that unpleasant feeling in your stomach, what am I doing here? What you do is that you put a rule, that every new person on the first day, besides shaking hands and greetings on the team they are going to work with, to be treated as a guest coming for dinner for the first time.

So how do we do it at our workplace?

Create awareness

I would say that the first step is to create awareness, bring a good coach/speaker on this topic where both leaders and other people will be present if you are not already having one in your organization. In Norway, I would recommend Kevin Reeder, Malcolm Larri, Nadia Ghouas, and many others in my network. Search for “wellbeing, happiness, etc…” through my contacts. The facts and research of the importance of this at work are hard to debate, an external speaker can empower to start to act, but you must do the work.

Implement it in practice

The easiest thing to do is to have a value or values, that reflects gratitude & compassion, in Fremtind, our values are Modige, Nysgjerrige, Enkelt, Sammen = Brave, Curious, Simply, Together. It is much easier to implement it when a value can reflect it.

If you want a real change, make sure that leadership starts to practice it, as with company culture, the leaders are the flag carriers and the others will follow.

Give gratitude openly constantly, for example in general meetings with others attending, give openly gratitude to the people involved in that delivery, or something you are proud of. Send a thank you mail, write a note when you feel gratitude to someone that did something you really liked.

Bonus the people that live the culture and others look up to, create prizes for example “College of the year”, “Positivity spreader of the year” and so on, lift them up because they are your influencers others follow an imitate their actions and words.

Measure, measure, measure, and work with the data.

A Gratitude@WORK exercise by Kevin Reeder

Gratitude has to be practiced to be developed.

Sit comfortably, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and let it out… Rest a moment…

WHO? Think of someone at your workplace that you really appreciate or are grateful for their efforts (maybe they inspire you in some way).

WHY? Reflect: What exactly is it about this person that I appreciate - what do they do, say, represent? 

NOTICE! How you feel in their presence/when you think about them.

SHARE! Imagine meeting them and sharing your gratitude: what do you say? What happens?.

Open your eyes, make some notes.

GO FOR IT! Dare to share your gratitude (email, message, phone) with the person or with someone else.

Conclusion

Being aware of our negative thoughts, practicing actively gratitude and compassion, will both increase your personal happiness and health, but also for your whole company. Remember that the opposite is contagious too, hate and negativity, maybe even more because it is our autopilot.

There are so many people in my life I have gratitude for, my family for always believing in me, everyone that helped me out of my burnout some ten years ago, everyone I ever worked with, all companies I ever worked for, everyone here in LinkedIn that encourages me and takes the time to read my writings, a big THANK YOU, MUCHAS GRACIAS, do not forget to show your gratitude here online but also in real life and take the time have compassion before you judge.

This work is dedicated to Snehal R. Singh, an awesome writing coach on LinkedIn and Kevin Reeder a storyteller and mindfulness coach that enlightens hope in so many people, including me, I suggest you connect and follow them.

Do it now :)

I encourage you to write gratitude to someone or some of your LinkedIn connections here in this article's comment section. Do the Gratitude@WORK practice, and let someone know in real life with voice, email, or post-it, you have gratitude for them. I wish you the best in your journey for more positivity in life and at work.

About me

I am an explorer and writer of life, with a big passion for technology, culture, wellbeing, and similar topics, to create awesome digital organizations. Currently, I am at Fremtind in Norway, working with tech and culture, besides doing events, lecturing, and mentoring.

I hope to get my first book out this year, and most of my articles are based on my still not published book writings, I hope you enjoy my other work:

How I found my inner peace

Riding the Entrepreneur roller coaster

And many others here ...

Muchas Gracias

Eduardo Ibacache Rodriguez

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/eduardoir/