TC 273: Praise and Gratitude at Work

In this week's Transformation Cafe podcast, host Robin Masiewicz welcomes her sister Amy Frost and Amy's husband Major Ross Bryant, USA Retired, to discuss praise and gratitude in the workplace. Ross and Amy both have extensive experience working with and leading teams. Currently Ross is the Director of Veterans Services at UNLV, and has built his team from the ground up. In the discussion, Ross stresses the importance of communication, respect, not punishing people for honest mistakes, accountability, and other characteristics to build an effective team. "Praise is good, but it has to be grounded in a sense of reality and teamwork and accomplishment that brings value to where people are really energized about being part of the team." "Gratitude produced the most purely joyful moments that have been known to man". G.K. Chesterton Amy shared a gratitude exercise that she learned at a workshop held by Dr. Lynn Johnson on Healing with Happiness. Gratitude exercise 1: Jot down some people who have been kind to you.  What did they do for you? Why was that important to you? Now, pick one person who lives within driving distance.  Write them a 1 - 2 page letter of appreciation. Laminate or frame it. Take it to that person, read the letter to them, and leave it. Gratitude exercise 2: Another simple exercise is taking an index card and give it to each of the people you work with and have them write three things that motivate them. You end up with three ways to help inspire and motivate them.   When you show appreciation toward someone, you want to do it in a way that they value instead of what we think they want. We recommend you read The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People by Gary Chapman and Paul White which applies the love language concept to the workplace. . In the video below Dr. Bob Nelson talks about Employee Motivation, Reward, and Recognition. We've included links to a couple of Dr. Nelson's books below. Recommended Books Links TC 258: Positive Psychology and Authentic Happiness from June of this year. Learn more about veterans services at University of Nevada, Las Vegas Office of Veterans Services ACEP: Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology at Energypsych.org Dr. Lynn Johnson's Enjoylifebook.com We'd love to hear your thoughts about teamwork, praise, or gratitude at work. Share your ideas by leaving a comment! amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_enable_interest_ads = "true";