Words for the Workplace: A Deep Dive into Emotional Communication at Work - Day 5 - Gratitude

Send us a text

Ever wondered how you can bring more gratitude into your workplace? As we wrap up our enlightening mini-series on words for the workplace, we shed light on the importance and methods of expressing appreciation to colleagues. From casual verbal acknowledgments to more formal accolades, we discuss how these actions can make people feel valued and included. This isn't simply about saying thank you - it's about fostering an environment of respect and understanding.

Drawing upon insights from Brené Brown and Erica Dhawan's book "Digital Body Language", we delve into the vital role respect plays in the digital workspace. We discuss how attention to detail in emails and honoring people's time and schedules can contribute to this respect. Trust us, it's the small acts of kindness that can make a big difference. So, join us as we conclude our mini-series, and continue our journey towards a more empathetic and understanding professional environment.

Laughter, Love, and Blessings,

Heather

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

• Digital Body Language - Erica Dhawan
• Atlas of the Heart - Brene Brown Ph.D.

Support the show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gratitude is an emotion that reflects our deep
appreciation for what we value,what brings meaning to our lives
and what makes us feelconnected to ourselves and
others.
Brené Brown.
Talking about emotions canbring up a lot of emotions, and

(00:21):
broaching this subject in theworkplace can add another layer
of complexity to theconversation, but it doesn't
have to be that way.
This mini series will coverfive words or word categories
that we can start bringing intothe workplace to help
communicate our emotions in morespecific and helpful terms.
Hello and welcome.
To Connect the Dots, lead theWay.

(00:42):
I'm your host, heather Balseric.
I am a white female with short,strawberry blonde hair, red
glasses and I'm wearing a grayt-shirt.
Today I am sitting in front ofa teal wall that is covered with
multiple pieces of art, and itis day five of the mini series.
We have made it to the last day.
Thank you so much.
If you've been following along.
I really appreciate it.

(01:03):
I'm really excited about today'stopic because it's gratitude.
I love gratitude.
It's probably one of myfavorite things.
We talked a little bit aboutgratitude in day one when we
were focused on the word happy.
In that episode I said as aleader, you should be practicing

(01:25):
gratitude, showing it to yourteam, your peers and leader.
Honestly, we all need to rightno leader title required.
How do we bring gratitude intothe workplace?
We can thank people.
We can tell people that we'regrateful for them.
Is that really going far enough?

(01:45):
Probably not.
When you are showing gratitude,it needs to be genuine, real,
get to know the person andexpress gratitude in a way that
is meaningful to them.
Maybe you've been thinkingabout that this week.
If you've been listening along,maybe you've been thinking a

(02:06):
little bit about like, well gosh, how can I show gratitude?
How can I be genuine with mygratitude?
The first thing that you can dois remember that gratitude
starts with you.
It's a practice.
Brunay in Alice of the Heartsays an attitude is a way of

(02:27):
thinking.
Practice is a way of doingtrying, failing and trying again
.
Think about how you are workingto show a deep appreciation for
the individuals that you valuein this life.
You're not always going to getit right.
As you learn that person, asyou build connections with them,

(02:48):
you get to know them.
You can try again.
It's a practice.
Do it, try it Fail, try again,then continue this cycle.
The next thing that I want youto think about is don't be
afraid to say it or chat it.
I feel like sometimes peopledon't talk about how grateful

(03:13):
they are for other peoplebecause they're not sure how
they want to express it.
They may think the other personcould take it the wrong way or
insert any other number ofreasons here.
Find a way that you'recomfortable sharing gratitude If

(03:33):
you aren't good with saying itin the moment.
Send a chat.
If your company has a kudosboard or an accolade or whatever
, send that If you remember atan odd hour, because I know I do
that a lot.
Schedule the message if youhave the ability to do so, or
set a reminder to yourself to doit the next day.

(03:55):
If you have the opportunity tocall it out in a meeting and say
thank you or show yourgratitude on the spot, do it.
If you aren't sure, though,what do I do or where do I start
?
I say thank you to people, butI don't know how else can I show
gratitude.

(04:16):
There's a website calledrandomactsofkindnessorg.
You can check it out.
I really encourage you to checkit out.
It's got a ton of really goodstuff out there.
It talks about all kinds ofways to be kind and being kind.
It's part of the practice ofgratitude.

(04:37):
It's hard not to showappreciation for someone or
something when you're being kindto them.
There's another website that Iused before that would generate.
You would go to it and it wouldlike generate like something

(04:58):
for you to do, and it focused onlike in the digital workplace,
and I can't find it.
I could not find it, and Isearched for a little while
while I was preparing for thepodcast, and I don't know.
I've got to go look for it.
I know there's one place.
I know I sent it to somebody,but I could not find it via my

(05:19):
phone, so I've got to look onthe computer tomorrow, and so
I'll keep looking and I'll letyou know if I find it in the
future.
I'll talk about it in anotherepisode, or I'll put it update
the notes for this one too, butyes, it's a different website
that you can just.
When you go on it, it justrandomizes and gives you

(05:39):
something that you could do likein the digital world, which I
think is like super awesome,especially if you work virtually
with your teams.
Another part of showinggratitude, though, is also
showing respect, and I'm goingto share a little section from
Erica's book on digital bodylanguage that I talked about
yesterday, and this addressesthe ways that we can show

(06:03):
respect and specifically how wecan show respect in the digital
space here.
But she writes respect meansthat others feel appropriately
valued, included or acknowledged.
Respect means proofreading youremail before sending it.

(06:23):
Respect means honoring otherpeople's time and schedules and
not canceling meetings at thelast second.
There's a couple others thatshe mentions, but I'm going to
stop it right there, because Ithink those are some pretty good
ones in the digital place interms of communication and
making sure that people feelappreciated, that they feel like

(06:46):
you're grateful for them.
Their time is huge in theremote workplace, making sure
they feel included, acknowledged, valued and I think about the
proofreading your email beforeyou send it right A base that,

(07:06):
like one of the most basic signsof respect that you can do is
spell a person's name right.
If you're sending them an email,it's probably up in the two
field.
Spell their name correctly.
If they have a name thatauto-corrects double-check it.
I know for me my boss's name isthe same as my sister's and

(07:28):
they are both spelled differentways and I told my boss very
early on.
I said hey, I'm just gonnaforewarn you If I'm typing
really quickly, if I'm typingsomething to you really quickly,
I may accidentally type yourname in the wrong spelling,
because I had done it almost acouple times.
I'd caught myself every time,but it kind of like gave her

(07:51):
that forewarning, but really,like, respect starts there
spelling somebody's namecorrectly.
So many other things I couldadd here, but I really do.
I want to keep this short.
I really appreciate if you'vebeen following along.
If you just happened upon dayfive, go back.
There's four other days beforethis that you can go.

(08:14):
This is the August mini-series,which was focused on words for
the workplace.
We have talked about happy, wehave talked about creativity,
we've talked about burnout, wetalked about connection and then
, obviously today, we talkedabout gratitude, and I am
incredibly grateful to you thoseof you who have listened, who

(08:39):
have commented and engaged inover on Substack and on my
Instagram pages.
I just appreciate you so muchand it means so much to me to
hear from you and just thank youfor that.
Thank you for coming back againand again.
I'd love to know how you showgratitude in the workplace.

(08:59):
So I'm going to ask right,could you do me a little favor?
Head on over to my Substackwith the link that is in the
description.
That way you can comment andlet me know how you show
gratitude in the workplace.
Make sure that you check outall the links in the description
to learn more about EricaDuan's book Digital Body
Language how to Build Trust andConnection, no Matter the

(09:20):
Distance, and Brené Brown's bookAtlas of the Heart.
That's.
I was about to say I'll be backtomorrow, but I won't because
this is day five.
So I really enjoyed this littlemini-series on words for the
workplace.
I will be back, though, nextWednesday with the next

(09:41):
regularly scheduled episode, sountil then, remember you are
loved, you are worthy and thereare great things ahead for you
in this life if you trust andbelieve in the Lord.
Bye.