February 28, 2023 • 36 mins
In this episode of Culture Secrets, we're talking about the importance gratitude place in building strong workplace culture.
When employees feel valued and appreciated, they are more engaged, motivated and committed to their work. Gratitude is a powerful tool that can be used to create a positive and productive workplace.
I'm joined by Kevin Monroe in this episode. He's the world's gratitude coach, as well as a keynote speaker, consultant, global gratitude ambassador, and creator of the Grateful App.
Grab my free e-book "How to Attract and Hire Productive Employees" at https://www,chelliephillips.com/talentattraction
Connect with Kevin: https://www.kevindmonroe.com/
Thanks for listening. Grab the book the podcast is based on at https://mybook.to/culturesecrets . Check out my website www.chelliephillips.com for more great content. Follow me on LinkedIn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Chellie Phillips (00:06):
If workplace culture is your jam, you're in
the right place. Check out thisepisode of culture secrets, the
podcast dedicated to creatingworkplaces where both employees
and the companies thrive.
Welcome to today's episode ofculture secrets, I'm your host
Chellie Phillips and today we'retalking about the importance of
gratitude plays and building astrong workplace culture. Many
(00:28):
people believe that gratitude isa feeling that is only relevant
in our personal lives. However,gratitude can also have a
significant impact on theworkplace culture of any
organization. In fact, I believeit's such a key driver in the
strength of your culture. Idevote a whole chapter to the
concept in my book, whenemployees feel appreciated and
valued, they're more engaged,motivated and committed to their
(00:49):
work. Gratitude is a powerfultool that can be used to create
a positive and productiveworkplace culture. So what is
gratitude? Gratitude is the actof expressing appreciation and
thankfulness for the things wehave in our lives in the
workplace. This can mean showingappreciation for our co workers,
bosses and the work that we dowhen leaders take the time to
show gratitude to theiremployees. They create a culture
of appreciation that fosterspositivity, motivation, and
(01:12):
productivity employees who feelappreciated are more likely to
go above and beyond in theirwork, resulting in higher
quality work and better outcomesfor the organization. Gratitude
can take many forms, includingsaying thank you. Recognizing an
employee's hard work orproviding a small token of
appreciation may seem small, butthey can have a significant
(01:32):
impact on employee morale andoverall workplace culture.
Furthermore, gratitude not onlybenefits the recipient, but also
the person expressing it. Whenwe express gratitude, it creates
positive emotions that can boostour mental health and well
being. This positivity can alsospread to those around us,
creating a ripple effect ofpositivity throughout the
(01:53):
workplace. In addition,gratitude can also help to
create a culture of teamwork andcollaboration. When employees
feel appreciated, they are morelikely to work together and
support each other. This canlead to better communication,
problem solving, and moreinnovative ideas. So how can
leaders implement gratitude inthe workplace culture? For the
(02:14):
answer to this question, andmore, I've invited Kevin Monroe
to be a part of thisconversation. Kevin is the
world's gratitude coach. He isalso a keynote speaker,
consultant, global gratitudeambassador and creator of the
grateful app. Welcome, Kevin.
Why is gratitude such animportant component to have?
Kevin Monroe (02:37):
So Chellie? I heard myself say this about five
months ago, that BC beforeCOVID. Right? Granite, many
people saw gratitude as anoption. And it was it was
something those particularlyperky or positive people did.
But I think as we are movingthrough COVID, and going beyond
(03:00):
COVID, I actually see gratitudeis now an essential skill. And
one of the reasons I say that,what have we noticed, we are now
two years, five months into thepandemic. And increasingly
people, workers part of thisgreat resignation. People feel
unseen, unheard, and not valuedor under appreciated. And so
(03:25):
gratitude is that and one of thethings we see gratitude builds
connection more quickly than anything else. And so I just
believe it's this it's now anessential skill for life and
war. Now I have a friend andI'll the book is it's not all
strawberries and cream. Butthere's some wonderful moments,
(03:45):
Patty black stuff. This is herdefinition that she used for
gratitude. And she gave mepermission to share appreciation
for all that we have all that weare and thankfulness for our
ability to show love andkindness to others. Now, one of
the reasons I use thatdefinition, I grew up in the
(04:06):
south like you did, right. And Iwas taught gratitude as part of
good manners to say pleased tosay thank you. But when I
started having gratitudepractices, it seemed like it was
all about gratitude for stuff,being thankful for stuff, you
know, I mean, for years, I wouldsay I'm thankful for my wife,
our children, my home, my job,those kinds of things. But what
(04:29):
if, what if we expand gratitudeto be that all that we are and
when you talk about in theworkplace, this is where I think
it gets powerful in theworkplace, that we're not just
saying thank you for the workyou did. But we're saying thank
you for the worker you are,thank you for the skills, the
(04:50):
talents, the abilities you giveto our you, you know, you invest
in our company every day youdon't give them there's an
exchange there, but that youbring your whole self talk bob
chapman, CEO of berry wine.
Miller said this one time, hesaid, Gosh, for years and they
don't they do manufacturing. Hesaid for years, we paid people
for their hands. And they wouldhave given us their heads and
(05:16):
their hearts if we only knew howto ask, right. And so gratitude
all of a sudden, when you justwent, it's not just thank you
for that task. But when we'resaying I appreciate you, or I'm
grateful for you, for yourskills, I'm grateful for you for
the effort you invest for goingthe extra mile for for staying
(05:37):
longer for caring about ourcustomers, our clients. Right? I
mean that. That's way beyond atransaction. So and that's
something else that I would sayI've realized, saying thank you
can be in often is verytransactional, expressing
gratitude becomestransformational.
Chellie Phillips (06:00):
So if you had a CEO that called you up and
said, Okay, I want to getserious about this. And I want
to get into their heads andtheir hearts not just using
their hands for the work thatthey're doing. How do they go
about this? How do they go aboutinstilling it first in
themselves, so that it doesn'tcome across as as fake? Because
(06:22):
you know, being authentic issuper important in this day and
time? Well, all the time, notjust now. But it's super, like
everybody's going, Are you real?
Are you not now? You know? Sohow do you how do you do this in
a way that comes across asauthentic and real, and not just
as words coming out of yourmouth?
Kevin Monroe (06:41):
So let me give you a couple of ways to answer that
one. We launched a campaign acouple of months ago that it's
just called I'm grateful foryou. But as we were launching
that, I realized, simple plussincere, equal significant,
right. So if we are simple, sojelly for us. I mean, it's, it's
(07:05):
this, we have two versions ofthe card, but what is just
business card size, and it justsays I'm grateful for you and
the back is blank, where peoplecan just write a note. The other
is a note size card, if you'rerecognizing somebody for some
achievement, or they're gettingan award, write a longer note, I
promise, you know, one who getsthis card throws it away. Right,
(07:28):
this becomes a keeper somewhere,people are telling us these I
mean, I've got a CEO inCalifornia gave this to a
friend, her friend, when shegave it to her son, I'm putting
it on my refrigerator and nevertaking it down. Three weeks
later, one day, she was at herrefrigerator saw and she called
her said, You know what, I sawthat card today. And I thought
of you. And I'm grateful foryou. And that cards never coming
(07:49):
off my refrigerator. I mean,people keep these things. But if
somebody, this is a very simplemessage, I'm grateful for you.
But if I add some sincerity intothat expression, and into that
communication, it becomessignificant. Likewise, if I'm
(08:10):
shallow, because I can see thishappening, I've worked for
leaders that if if our company,we're doing this like okay, so
I'd go in on Monday morning tothe team meeting, attached to
the meeting agenda would be oneof these cards. And item one on
the agenda would be gratitude.
And the leader would say Hey,everybody, you don't look at
your card, look at look at youragenda attached to the agenda is
(08:31):
a card, I'm grateful for you,you know that you you know, I'm
grateful for you. Okay, let's goon to what's next. Right? And
what would that would I mean,that would be a gimmick. So
simple. Plus shallow is agimmick. And that's what so the
first thing I would be doingwith that, see, tell me what
gratitude looks like in yourorganization today? Who, who's
(08:53):
involved in the expression ofgratitude? Where's it happening?
How often does it happen? Andwhat's it look like? Right? And
we would just do this informalassessment. I mean, you can do
it more formally. One of thethings I've heard from so a few
months ago, a couple of monthsago, it really hit me because so
many people think gratitude is atheoretical and nebulous and I
(09:16):
can get that. And then it hitme. It's like, what if we look
at gratitude at the intersectionof experience, whether that is
employee experience, customerexperience, patient experience,
if you're in healthcare,whatever that or people
experience, as some people callit, but experience, appreciation
and recognition, so that we'remaking sure that because here's
(09:40):
what I've had, experienceleaders and HR leaders tell me,
we've invested in a recognitionsystem and nobody uses it. Or
we've invested in a recommend ina recognition system and an
employee appreciation system.
And it seems formal. And in therecognition, have somebody
(10:05):
submit something, and it's weeksor months after the event
happened. And now somebody'sbeing recognized for something.
And oh, yeah, I kind of rememberthat. But what if, you know, to
quote, Ken Blanchard catchpeople doing something, right?
And when you catch somebodydoing something, right, what if
(10:27):
in that moment, you stop themand go, You know what, what you
just did was amazing. The way Isaw you turn that situation
around, right? If you're in acall center, you're listening to
that, you know, there actuallysome leaders that listen in on
calls, there's some companiesthat require the leaders to take
those calls once a month, orsomething, and you but you hear
(10:50):
somebody doing something reallywell. And they had an irate
customer. And in that moment,you go over, and you are
specific. You go, Hey, Michelle,I heard I saw how you handle
that situation with an iratecustomer. And wow, the empathy
and compassion you showed, wasamazing. And you diffused what
(11:13):
was a very negative, and youknow, volatile situation with
kindness, and compassion. Andwow, I'm so glad you're
representing our company. Now,what's Michelle doing when she
goes home at night?
Chellie Phillips (11:27):
She's absolutely sharing what happened
at work today. You won't believethis. And she's gonna tell her
friends and she's gonna tell herfamily and...
Kevin Monroe (11:35):
Exactly, I mean, it's that kind of thing. And
what was it was just in themoment, recognition. Right now,
maybe she does get an awardthree months later. But in the
moment when we like, say, as KenBlanchard said, catch people
doing something, right, or whenyou see people living out the
values, you recognize them, andyou say, Wow, the way you just
(12:00):
honored your commitment to acustomer, you kept your word,
you kept our word, as a company,we value that, right. So it's
these little things that areexpressions of gratitude. But if
they're specific, and they'resincere, and there's an example,
it's not just you did greatwork, that's nice, but it
(12:20):
doesn't really get anything. Sowhen it's when it's that, Hey, I
saw you do this, and I'm not Ijust don't, I'm grateful for it,
I appreciate it. We value,right? So it's all that it's
helping people's, just theopposite of what's happening.
It's helping people be seen forwho they are, and what they
(12:45):
bring to the work, not just thetasks they do, but what they
invest of themselves. You talkedabout Gary Ridge and WD 40.
Company, you know, they foryears now, they have had 96 plus
percent employee engagement,which is so far off the charts.
I mean, they are just thisoutlier, but it's because people
(13:06):
feel appreciated, people feelvalued. People feel respect, and
it goes a long way.
Chellie Phillips (13:12):
But if your company isn't doing anything
towards building that cultureand growing, growing that value
that we're talking about, howcan I as an individual, bring
that to my cubicle and startspreading it from there? Oh,
Kevin Monroe (13:28):
and I love that you're focusing on that. Right?
Do you know the Heath brothersChip and Dan Heath, they've
written several books, one ofthem was stick made the stick.
They're both college professors,one in North Carolina, and one
in California. But one of theirbooks, they talked about being a
bright spot. Right. So whatyou're talking about is how
(13:51):
you're one person with justtheir cube their office, or
their team can do this andbecome a bright spot. In other
people. Well, what's happeningover there? What's happening
with that group? Right, theythey have these higher results.
They have more camaraderie, theyhave lower recidivism, I mean,
(14:15):
turn over recidivism. Wow, howdid I get to prison work out of
that, but that you become abright spot. So some of this is
you just expressing gratitude.
And I'm going to tell you, I'mvery I may be weird about this.
I sign my emails with this withwith some kind of gratitude, in
gratitude, gratefully withgratitude or something, but it's
(14:37):
not part of a standardsignature. Because I want to
type it every time. Right? Imean, I want to actually pause
for that moment and think I amgrateful for this person. I am
grateful for this conversation,this opportunity. So it's not
just part of the you know, Thedefault signature I purposely
(15:00):
want to add it in. So what ifWhat if people just start,
whatever their words are, I'mnot trying to put words in
people's mouths, but whether yousay with gratitude, or
gratefully or I'm grateful foryou, whatever those are, when
you just start signing all ofyour emails like that, well,
people will notice. People willnotice. And when that positive
(15:23):
perspective, so one other thingyou asked earlier, why is
gratitude matter? Now, one ofthe so here's what I've come to
understand. What gratitude doesis it changes how we see the
world. Right? Gratitude is thisperspective and sense making
skill we have. So if you knowDeWitt Jones from National
(15:47):
Geographic, he was aphotographer with them for
years. And he talks about it,his whole message is what's
right with the world, right? Andif we go looking for what's
right with the world, and what'sthe good in the situation, or
what is there to be grateful forit, it changes the way we see
(16:08):
things. And as Nan said, wedon't see the world as it is we
see it as we are right. Soyou've got those negative Ned's
and negative Nellies that nomatter what happens, it's
there's always somethingnegative about why that well,
they have that negative outlookon life. Likewise, if we if
we're looking for the good,we're looking to find something
to be grateful for in thesituation, we will find it. And
(16:31):
it will direct what where we goand what we find. And it creates
that kind of positivity. Andpeople want to be around those
people. People want to work in awork group that's led by
somebody that's positive anduplifting and encouraging. And
you know, that that celebratesthe good Gallup, one of their
findings, is that what whatcontributes to workplace
(16:55):
engagement is having a bestfriend at work. So maybe, maybe
you're not part of a great team,but you have at least one
colleague, right. And you canencourage you, you and that
colleague, encourage one anotherone of the things I love about
what you said, no one has togive you permission to be
grateful. Right? I mean, if youwant to be great, be grateful.
(17:15):
And no one can stop you frombeing grateful. Either they
can't come back. Well, gosh,Charlie, stop being so cheerful.
They may criticize you. Butthey're right. They can't sit,
you can't be grateful. So it's apersonal choice. Nobody can stop
you. And what if you startedjust, you know, infusing as
well. Here's a story. The lady'sname is Heidi. She was a
(17:39):
teacher. And she was in this wasat a time during an election
cycle when it got really toxicand negative. And she said the
teaching lounge, had just it hadbeen a place of refuge, it had
become a place that she didn'twant to go, there was so much
negativity and toxicity. And youknow, maybe I mean, all that
going on all the time. Shewanted to do something about it.
(18:01):
She does not ask permission fromanyone. She takes a poster board
and goes in day, first day of amonth and writes, what are you
grateful for, and sticks it upthere and she writes something
on the note, maybe one or twoother people do that first day?
The next day, she goes back putsup another poster board, same
question, what are you gratefulfor today, she did this every
(18:22):
day, for a month by thebeginning of the second week.
There were lots of peoplefilling in on the poster board.
She said by the beginning of thethird week, the atmosphere in
the teacher's lounge hadchanged. She didn't ask
permission. She didn't have a itwasn't a company sponsored
(18:44):
initiative. She just put up aposter board every day. What are
you grateful for? I've seenpeople that that just go in and
write it on the whiteboard in acommon in a, you know, a big
common conference area. They'lljust write what are you grateful
for and people just come in andstart responding. And it just
spreads? Right? And it's thesimple things that cost no
(19:05):
money. Now you can do formalprograms, which could be good
for you. But you can start withnothing. And one person. Heidi
made a difference in thatschool. Because she just she was
she was fed up with it right?
She goes on putting the posterboard every day. So whatever
(19:26):
that however that works. But oneperson can make a difference.
And what if a team says we'reokay, so here's another one.
What if we started our teammeetings with what do we have to
celebrate this week? Rather thanwhat what went wrong? What you
know what was what happens wasso many team meetings people
(19:48):
come in with that last customerencounter they had or that, you
know, the team, the colleaguethat wasn't doing what they're
supposed to do and it becomes agripe session from the big Any
Well, what if instead, somebodygoes, Hey, let me tell you what
just happened. And the mostamazing thing that happened to
me today was jelly. What was themost amazing thing that happened
(20:10):
to you? What was the best clientencounter you had so far? And it
changes the atmosphere? And it'sa simple question. Right? And
you can ask that question somany different ways. It's not
just what are you grateful for?
It's what was the best part ofyour day? You know, what went
really well? Where did you havea surprise, any of those? And
it, it just ripples. The rippleeffect is amazing.
Chellie Phillips (20:36):
It's nice that something can be infectious in a
positive way.
Kevin Monroe (20:40):
Right? Yeah. And I mean, you just see what people
do what one person can do. A lotof companies now in the EMC
World Do you all have use Slackor something like Slack or
Yammer, or they have,
Chellie Phillips (20:57):
we have an internal comms system? And then
of course, we got teams and allthat kind of stuff. Now say,
yeah.
Kevin Monroe (21:03):
So two years ago, when when we first started doing
gratitude challenges, and wewere just doing this by email,
there was a lady she was the COCEO of Scrum Alliance, her
name's Melissa. And they useSlack. She started just posting
whatever the prompt of the daywas in email, she started
posting it on their Slackchannel. And same thing like
(21:26):
with Heidi, it didn't take offovernight. But some people
started responding peoplestarted responding. About three
months later, Melissa Tolmie,author, people started starting
the prompt. And then all of asudden, it's just like, several
times a week, somebody just doesa shout out, Hey, what are you
grateful for now? Or what's thebest thing that happened to you
(21:48):
today? And these things justautomate, I mean, sporadically
ripple throughout the company,because anybody has the power on
a slack channel or you know, itthat kind of internal comms
messaging, anybody can postothers post, what's their
favorite, inspirational quote,or motivational quote of the
(22:09):
day? There's opera, and Domino'sis a Latino family services
organization in New Mexico, theystart with a mindfulness moment
in every meeting, and I've beenin been part of several of their
meetings, I've been fortunate towork with him. Different people
bring the mindfulness moment,right. It's a point they read,
(22:29):
or a daily devotion orinspiration piece, somebody and
they just come and read it tothe group. And there's this
beautiful thing. But it's justsome they they take two minutes,
the start of a meeting, and haveone of these uplifting,
encouraging. It changes thetone. It's so simple.
Chellie Phillips (22:50):
So what is the countermeasure to the corporate
guy sitting there going, Oh,this is just mindset. This is
hoodoo. Voodoo like this is notgoing to have any kind of real
impact. What's your answer tothat guy?
Kevin Monroe (23:03):
I would first off to ask what what measurements
are important to you in thiscompany? Right? Because every
company is measuring something,what is it that you're
measuring? And let's see whatpositivity, gratitude how it
will impact that measurement?
Right? If it's employeeengagement, you will watch that
number go up. If you'reconcerned about turnover, you
(23:26):
will watch turnover go down. I'dhad some statistics from
something else. 70% of employeeswould feel better about
themselves if their boss weremore grateful. 81% would work
harder. Glassdoor, right. Sogosh, you're concerned about
productivity. Well, let's watchhappen. Let's do a do a study.
(23:50):
See what happens. over a monthperiod. When we start with
gratitude and we embracepositivity. I think it's going
to move any number in the rightdirection, right, the good
numbers, it's going to move inthe right direction. Here's
another one that when I saw thisone, a friend shared it with me
59% of people have never had aboss who truly appreciates their
(24:14):
work. Good thing not six out of10 people have have have always
been undervalued is what theirsare taken for granted. Oh my
gosh. Right. So what are some ofthe measures I mean,
discretionary effort, whichreally means going the extra
mile going above and beyonddoing more than required
(24:36):
Discretionary Effort shootsthrough the roof when people
feel appreciated. One of myfavorite studies shows that
there are three groups of peopleimpacted when appreciation or
gratitude is expressed threegroups the person expressing the
gratitude the person to whom thegratitude is expressed. We get
(24:57):
that right. But I mean, just ifyou explain, so one of the
studies had people writing agratitude letter, and a decent
percentage of the people nevermailed the letter. But they
still had a boost of positiveemotion because they wrote the
letter. And then if they wrotethe letter, that and other
(25:18):
people that had the most thebiggest booths were the people
that actually read the letter tothe person, they wrote it. But
there is a third group and thinkabout this in the workplace,
think about this, the peoplethat see a leader or a peer
appreciating someone else in thecompany, anybody that sees that
has a positive response to it.
(25:42):
And they are more likely to sayyes to a project, or to go the
extra mile when they feel thatkind of effort is appreciated
and rewarded, just because theysaw it happen. They go, Oh,
well, Charlie's Bosco, okay, he,he or she is the kind of person
(26:03):
that recognizes and appreciateseffort. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna
invest more effort. So peoplethat just see it happen are
impacted in a positive light,that one I love. And I've got a
friend Nick works in. Gosh, Nickwould talk to you if you want to
talk to Nick runs the he'sgeneral manager of Hilton Garden
(26:27):
in Albany Medical Center,Albany, New York. So the hotel
is connected to the hospital.
And so they have a lot of peoplestaying in the hotel who have
family or are going into thehospital themselves for surgery
or something. And he has so manystories, but the pandemic wiped
their team out wiped theirbusiness out and he's been
rebuilding and Nick is rebuiltwith gratitude and expressing
(26:50):
gratitude and and he justwatches it permeate the team
permeate the facility. Right andsees all of this impact and and
sees it transform some reallydifferent, really difficult
guest encounters and sees peoplechange. I mean, he called me a
(27:14):
couple of weeks ago to tell meabout this guy that was just so
in his face, and he was so madabout something. What happened.
They were playing some baseballtournament Little League
baseball tournament, his son gothit in the head, had some
accident was rushed to thehospital by helicopter. He and
his wife are rushing in the cartrying to get there you know,
and they're all upset, don'tknow what's going on don't know
(27:36):
what's going to happen and a lotof emotion and they take it out
on something that just didn't gothe way they felt. The next day
this guy came to INEC was justas gracious as he could be and
apologetic and grateful. Thenext day this guy looked him up
and apologized, said man, youknow I overreacted. But it
diffused a negative situation.
(28:00):
Let me Vicki O'Grady Longo, sheworks for Pfizer. She's a Pfizer
rep in New York City. She's gotthese cards, she gives them out
every single day. In hospitals.
She had four encounters over atwo week period that all had the
same thing happened to nurses.
If I if I if I've got the third,fourth person, right, two
(28:22):
nurses, one physician, I thinkthe fourth story she felt was a
barista at Starbucks. She wasgoing through picking up coffee
for a meeting. And she gave themeach a card wrote something on
the back in these four peopleall had the same response. They
read the words on the front ofthe card. I'm grateful for you.
They took it flipped it overrent, what was she? The word she
(28:44):
had jotted on the back, tearsbegan filling their eyes jelly.
And every each of these peopletook the card and pressed it to
their heart was the way theyresponded. Is that not? Wow. Are
you talking about making amoment just expressing
(29:07):
gratitude, expressing yourappreciation for the in the lady
at Starbucks. She was having abad day. And in Vicki had this
big order. Vicki justcomplimented her for the way she
delivered. And you know, shesaid you were a great
representative of Starbuckstoday. And the lady took the
card and grabbed one of theStarbucks stickers and Vicki
(29:30):
just said hey, you can pass thecar along to someone and she can
No no, no. She took the stickertaped it to the cash register.
And I've heard this statement.
I've heard other You made myday, in 30 second or 6o second.
I mean, think about how manytimes they're there. So we've
had the what's the opposite ofthis when a person in the
(29:52):
workplace comes unglued? Andwhether it's justified or not?
unjustified range somebody inthe workplace, you know, the
ripple effect of that negative,it, it permeates the culture
like crazy.
Chellie Phillips (30:13):
What is it?
How many positive encountersthat you have to have to
counteract that one negativeencounter?
Kevin Monroe (30:18):
It's five, seven, I mean, different studies, but
it is from five to 12. I'veheard right. What do you if, you
know, instead, you're you're theperson that's creating these
positive ripples. And my friendGinny has calls it the gratitude
reservoir, right? What if all ofthe all of these times you're
(30:40):
expressing gratitude in the goodtime, you're just filling up the
reservoir, and then I mean, youall you you live in, or you work
in a business where thishappens, storms hit, and all of
a sudden, people are working outrageous overtime, to restore
power to communities? Well, ifpeople feel appreciated, and
(31:05):
people feel recognized for allof it, when those storms hit,
people are proud to be outthere, representing the EMC and
going so far and above andbeyond to, to restore and to
know that we are a vital serviceto our community. But if people
feel neglected, and overlookedand ignored, they're not they're
(31:28):
not out there with any joy. Inthose moments, they're
begrudging, right? That they'rehaving it, but I, I see these
people, I don't want to say,guys, but I see these. You can
tell they love what they do. Andthey get to be a hero. And when
we appreciate them for thatheroism, it fills their tank to
(31:48):
get
Unknown (31:48):
Some through those long nights and bad weather. Right,
so appreciate your time doingthis with me,
Kevin Monroe (31:55):
Gosh, I mean, the fact that you're, you're writing
a third book, and what I lovedis how there's this sequencing
or stair stepping of thesebooks. I mean, there's a
journey.
Chellie Phillips (32:08):
Yeah, they built on each other, like one is
the personal and then one'sprofessional. And then now this
is corporate. And so they reallyhave played on top of each
other. And they've reflected alot of me and my journey, you
know, like, now, that's what I'mgetting to really focus on the
internal atmosphere here. Imean, I'm still communications
and still doing all that kind ofstuff that normally people think
(32:28):
this culture thing is an HRfunction. Yeah. And we're
totally going about it adifferent way. We're doing it
through PR and communications,like the internal comms side,
like that's what really makes adifference. And you know, the
research that I've gotteneverything really, one of the
things that really stood out,when we started putting this
program together is when peopleleave a job, they were doing
(32:48):
exit interviews, it was probablyGallup because they have a lot
of their research andeverything. But they talked
about the reason that they leftis because no one ever showed
them how they were part of thesuccess journey for the
organization, or how their jobwas going to have any impact on
the success the organizationhad. And that just really stood
out with me is that, you know,we we have these companies and
(33:10):
every, you know, nobody wouldhave started them if they didn't
think they were doing greatthings. And why are we not
taping the people that aremaking it happen for us? Or for
the community or for theorganization or whatever? Why is
that such a hard thing for forus? And do it and letting them
feel that ownership and thatcontribution? Can that yes, you
(33:34):
do make a difference to it?
Well, we could not do thiswithout you know, there's only
so when you really start lookingat it, I mean, it really does.
It's very cyclical, like, youknow, like my personal success
journey has really gotten towhere it is because, you know,
I've found the place where Ifeel like I've been breathed
into like, you know, I've beenencouraged, I've been allowed to
(33:56):
grow and develop and do thosekinds of things. And then you
know, working with a sororitywomen seeing their struggles,
getting noticed getting hiredshowing that value in the
workplace, and that kind ofthing. And I don't want to send
them someplace to go to workthat's not going to treat them
well and not going to you know,develop them and not give them
opportunities to, to, you know,develop personally and
(34:16):
professionally. And, you know,in my mind, it's like it's all a
big circle like it's each pieceand without any one piece. The
whole thing just falls apart.
And it's been it's been a fun, afun learning journey for me, I
guess.
Kevin Monroe (34:34):
Thank you for I just, you know, I love. I love
the conversation. I love theopportunity to contribute to a
work like this and just growgratitude. Well, thank you
Chellie. And yeah, if you needsomething else, email me,
whatever. You know how to get ahold on me.
Chellie Phillips (34:55):
All right.
Thanks so much, Kevin. Thanksfor listening to culture, seek
rates. If you liked what youheard today, subscribe, drop me
a rating and share the link witha friend. If you want to learn
more or perhaps have become leada discussion with your company
or organization, visit mywebsite at
WWW.ChelliePhillips.com That'sch e ll ie p h i ll ips.com.
(35:16):
Remember, building a valueculture is your competitive
advantage and the backbone ofany successful organization.
If workplace culture is your jam, you're in
the right place. Check out thisepisode of culture secrets, the
podcast dedicated to creatingworkplaces where both employees
and the companies thrive.
Welcome to today's episode ofculture secrets, I'm your host
Chellie Phillips and today we'retalking about the importance of
gratitude plays and building astrong workplace culture. Many
(00:28):
people believe that gratitude isa feeling that is only relevant
in our personal lives. However,gratitude can also have a
significant impact on theworkplace culture of any
organization. In fact, I believeit's such a key driver in the
strength of your culture. Idevote a whole chapter to the
concept in my book, whenemployees feel appreciated and
valued, they're more engaged,motivated and committed to their
(00:49):
work. Gratitude is a powerfultool that can be used to create
a positive and productiveworkplace culture. So what is
gratitude? Gratitude is the actof expressing appreciation and
thankfulness for the things wehave in our lives in the
workplace. This can mean showingappreciation for our co workers,
bosses and the work that we dowhen leaders take the time to
show gratitude to theiremployees. They create a culture
of appreciation that fosterspositivity, motivation, and
(01:12):
productivity employees who feelappreciated are more likely to
go above and beyond in theirwork, resulting in higher
quality work and better outcomesfor the organization. Gratitude
can take many forms, includingsaying thank you. Recognizing an
employee's hard work orproviding a small token of
appreciation may seem small, butthey can have a significant
(01:32):
impact on employee morale andoverall workplace culture.
Furthermore, gratitude not onlybenefits the recipient, but also
the person expressing it. Whenwe express gratitude, it creates
positive emotions that can boostour mental health and well
being. This positivity can alsospread to those around us,
creating a ripple effect ofpositivity throughout the
(01:53):
workplace. In addition,gratitude can also help to
create a culture of teamwork andcollaboration. When employees
feel appreciated, they are morelikely to work together and
support each other. This canlead to better communication,
problem solving, and moreinnovative ideas. So how can
leaders implement gratitude inthe workplace culture? For the
(02:14):
answer to this question, andmore, I've invited Kevin Monroe
to be a part of thisconversation. Kevin is the
world's gratitude coach. He isalso a keynote speaker,
consultant, global gratitudeambassador and creator of the
grateful app. Welcome, Kevin.
Why is gratitude such animportant component to have?
Kevin Monroe (02:37):
So Chellie? I heard myself say this about five
months ago, that BC beforeCOVID. Right? Granite, many
people saw gratitude as anoption. And it was it was
something those particularlyperky or positive people did.
But I think as we are movingthrough COVID, and going beyond
(03:00):
COVID, I actually see gratitudeis now an essential skill. And
one of the reasons I say that,what have we noticed, we are now
two years, five months into thepandemic. And increasingly
people, workers part of thisgreat resignation. People feel
unseen, unheard, and not valuedor under appreciated. And so
(03:25):
gratitude is that and one of thethings we see gratitude builds
connection more quickly than anything else. And so I just
believe it's this it's now anessential skill for life and
war. Now I have a friend andI'll the book is it's not all
strawberries and cream. Butthere's some wonderful moments,
(03:45):
Patty black stuff. This is herdefinition that she used for
gratitude. And she gave mepermission to share appreciation
for all that we have all that weare and thankfulness for our
ability to show love andkindness to others. Now, one of
the reasons I use thatdefinition, I grew up in the
(04:06):
south like you did, right. And Iwas taught gratitude as part of
good manners to say pleased tosay thank you. But when I
started having gratitudepractices, it seemed like it was
all about gratitude for stuff,being thankful for stuff, you
know, I mean, for years, I wouldsay I'm thankful for my wife,
our children, my home, my job,those kinds of things. But what
(04:29):
if, what if we expand gratitudeto be that all that we are and
when you talk about in theworkplace, this is where I think
it gets powerful in theworkplace, that we're not just
saying thank you for the workyou did. But we're saying thank
you for the worker you are,thank you for the skills, the
(04:50):
talents, the abilities you giveto our you, you know, you invest
in our company every day youdon't give them there's an
exchange there, but that youbring your whole self talk bob
chapman, CEO of berry wine.
Miller said this one time, hesaid, Gosh, for years and they
don't they do manufacturing. Hesaid for years, we paid people
for their hands. And they wouldhave given us their heads and
(05:16):
their hearts if we only knew howto ask, right. And so gratitude
all of a sudden, when you justwent, it's not just thank you
for that task. But when we'resaying I appreciate you, or I'm
grateful for you, for yourskills, I'm grateful for you for
the effort you invest for goingthe extra mile for for staying
(05:37):
longer for caring about ourcustomers, our clients. Right? I
mean that. That's way beyond atransaction. So and that's
something else that I would sayI've realized, saying thank you
can be in often is verytransactional, expressing
gratitude becomestransformational.
Chellie Phillips (06:00):
So if you had a CEO that called you up and
said, Okay, I want to getserious about this. And I want
to get into their heads andtheir hearts not just using
their hands for the work thatthey're doing. How do they go
about this? How do they go aboutinstilling it first in
themselves, so that it doesn'tcome across as as fake? Because
(06:22):
you know, being authentic issuper important in this day and
time? Well, all the time, notjust now. But it's super, like
everybody's going, Are you real?
Are you not now? You know? Sohow do you how do you do this in
a way that comes across asauthentic and real, and not just
as words coming out of yourmouth?
Kevin Monroe (06:41):
So let me give you a couple of ways to answer that
one. We launched a campaign acouple of months ago that it's
just called I'm grateful foryou. But as we were launching
that, I realized, simple plussincere, equal significant,
right. So if we are simple, sojelly for us. I mean, it's, it's
(07:05):
this, we have two versions ofthe card, but what is just
business card size, and it justsays I'm grateful for you and
the back is blank, where peoplecan just write a note. The other
is a note size card, if you'rerecognizing somebody for some
achievement, or they're gettingan award, write a longer note, I
promise, you know, one who getsthis card throws it away. Right,
(07:28):
this becomes a keeper somewhere,people are telling us these I
mean, I've got a CEO inCalifornia gave this to a
friend, her friend, when shegave it to her son, I'm putting
it on my refrigerator and nevertaking it down. Three weeks
later, one day, she was at herrefrigerator saw and she called
her said, You know what, I sawthat card today. And I thought
of you. And I'm grateful foryou. And that cards never coming
(07:49):
off my refrigerator. I mean,people keep these things. But if
somebody, this is a very simplemessage, I'm grateful for you.
But if I add some sincerity intothat expression, and into that
communication, it becomessignificant. Likewise, if I'm
(08:10):
shallow, because I can see thishappening, I've worked for
leaders that if if our company,we're doing this like okay, so
I'd go in on Monday morning tothe team meeting, attached to
the meeting agenda would be oneof these cards. And item one on
the agenda would be gratitude.
And the leader would say Hey,everybody, you don't look at
your card, look at look at youragenda attached to the agenda is
(08:31):
a card, I'm grateful for you,you know that you you know, I'm
grateful for you. Okay, let's goon to what's next. Right? And
what would that would I mean,that would be a gimmick. So
simple. Plus shallow is agimmick. And that's what so the
first thing I would be doingwith that, see, tell me what
gratitude looks like in yourorganization today? Who, who's
(08:53):
involved in the expression ofgratitude? Where's it happening?
How often does it happen? Andwhat's it look like? Right? And
we would just do this informalassessment. I mean, you can do
it more formally. One of thethings I've heard from so a few
months ago, a couple of monthsago, it really hit me because so
many people think gratitude is atheoretical and nebulous and I
(09:16):
can get that. And then it hitme. It's like, what if we look
at gratitude at the intersectionof experience, whether that is
employee experience, customerexperience, patient experience,
if you're in healthcare,whatever that or people
experience, as some people callit, but experience, appreciation
and recognition, so that we'remaking sure that because here's
(09:40):
what I've had, experienceleaders and HR leaders tell me,
we've invested in a recognitionsystem and nobody uses it. Or
we've invested in a recommend ina recognition system and an
employee appreciation system.
And it seems formal. And in therecognition, have somebody
(10:05):
submit something, and it's weeksor months after the event
happened. And now somebody'sbeing recognized for something.
And oh, yeah, I kind of rememberthat. But what if, you know, to
quote, Ken Blanchard catchpeople doing something, right?
And when you catch somebodydoing something, right, what if
(10:27):
in that moment, you stop themand go, You know what, what you
just did was amazing. The way Isaw you turn that situation
around, right? If you're in acall center, you're listening to
that, you know, there actuallysome leaders that listen in on
calls, there's some companiesthat require the leaders to take
those calls once a month, orsomething, and you but you hear
(10:50):
somebody doing something reallywell. And they had an irate
customer. And in that moment,you go over, and you are
specific. You go, Hey, Michelle,I heard I saw how you handle
that situation with an iratecustomer. And wow, the empathy
and compassion you showed, wasamazing. And you diffused what
(11:13):
was a very negative, and youknow, volatile situation with
kindness, and compassion. Andwow, I'm so glad you're
representing our company. Now,what's Michelle doing when she
goes home at night?
Chellie Phillips (11:27):
She's absolutely sharing what happened
at work today. You won't believethis. And she's gonna tell her
friends and she's gonna tell herfamily and...
Kevin Monroe (11:35):
Exactly, I mean, it's that kind of thing. And
what was it was just in themoment, recognition. Right now,
maybe she does get an awardthree months later. But in the
moment when we like, say, as KenBlanchard said, catch people
doing something, right, or whenyou see people living out the
values, you recognize them, andyou say, Wow, the way you just
(12:00):
honored your commitment to acustomer, you kept your word,
you kept our word, as a company,we value that, right. So it's
these little things that areexpressions of gratitude. But if
they're specific, and they'resincere, and there's an example,
it's not just you did greatwork, that's nice, but it
(12:20):
doesn't really get anything. Sowhen it's when it's that, Hey, I
saw you do this, and I'm not Ijust don't, I'm grateful for it,
I appreciate it. We value,right? So it's all that it's
helping people's, just theopposite of what's happening.
It's helping people be seen forwho they are, and what they
(12:45):
bring to the work, not just thetasks they do, but what they
invest of themselves. You talkedabout Gary Ridge and WD 40.
Company, you know, they foryears now, they have had 96 plus
percent employee engagement,which is so far off the charts.
I mean, they are just thisoutlier, but it's because people
(13:06):
feel appreciated, people feelvalued. People feel respect, and
it goes a long way.
Chellie Phillips (13:12):
But if your company isn't doing anything
towards building that cultureand growing, growing that value
that we're talking about, howcan I as an individual, bring
that to my cubicle and startspreading it from there? Oh,
Kevin Monroe (13:28):
and I love that you're focusing on that. Right?
Do you know the Heath brothersChip and Dan Heath, they've
written several books, one ofthem was stick made the stick.
They're both college professors,one in North Carolina, and one
in California. But one of theirbooks, they talked about being a
bright spot. Right. So whatyou're talking about is how
(13:51):
you're one person with justtheir cube their office, or
their team can do this andbecome a bright spot. In other
people. Well, what's happeningover there? What's happening
with that group? Right, theythey have these higher results.
They have more camaraderie, theyhave lower recidivism, I mean,
(14:15):
turn over recidivism. Wow, howdid I get to prison work out of
that, but that you become abright spot. So some of this is
you just expressing gratitude.
And I'm going to tell you, I'mvery I may be weird about this.
I sign my emails with this withwith some kind of gratitude, in
gratitude, gratefully withgratitude or something, but it's
(14:37):
not part of a standardsignature. Because I want to
type it every time. Right? Imean, I want to actually pause
for that moment and think I amgrateful for this person. I am
grateful for this conversation,this opportunity. So it's not
just part of the you know, Thedefault signature I purposely
(15:00):
want to add it in. So what ifWhat if people just start,
whatever their words are, I'mnot trying to put words in
people's mouths, but whether yousay with gratitude, or
gratefully or I'm grateful foryou, whatever those are, when
you just start signing all ofyour emails like that, well,
people will notice. People willnotice. And when that positive
(15:23):
perspective, so one other thingyou asked earlier, why is
gratitude matter? Now, one ofthe so here's what I've come to
understand. What gratitude doesis it changes how we see the
world. Right? Gratitude is thisperspective and sense making
skill we have. So if you knowDeWitt Jones from National
(15:47):
Geographic, he was aphotographer with them for
years. And he talks about it,his whole message is what's
right with the world, right? Andif we go looking for what's
right with the world, and what'sthe good in the situation, or
what is there to be grateful forit, it changes the way we see
(16:08):
things. And as Nan said, wedon't see the world as it is we
see it as we are right. Soyou've got those negative Ned's
and negative Nellies that nomatter what happens, it's
there's always somethingnegative about why that well,
they have that negative outlookon life. Likewise, if we if
we're looking for the good,we're looking to find something
to be grateful for in thesituation, we will find it. And
(16:31):
it will direct what where we goand what we find. And it creates
that kind of positivity. Andpeople want to be around those
people. People want to work in awork group that's led by
somebody that's positive anduplifting and encouraging. And
you know, that that celebratesthe good Gallup, one of their
findings, is that what whatcontributes to workplace
(16:55):
engagement is having a bestfriend at work. So maybe, maybe
you're not part of a great team,but you have at least one
colleague, right. And you canencourage you, you and that
colleague, encourage one anotherone of the things I love about
what you said, no one has togive you permission to be
grateful. Right? I mean, if youwant to be great, be grateful.
(17:15):
And no one can stop you frombeing grateful. Either they
can't come back. Well, gosh,Charlie, stop being so cheerful.
They may criticize you. Butthey're right. They can't sit,
you can't be grateful. So it's apersonal choice. Nobody can stop
you. And what if you startedjust, you know, infusing as
well. Here's a story. The lady'sname is Heidi. She was a
(17:39):
teacher. And she was in this wasat a time during an election
cycle when it got really toxicand negative. And she said the
teaching lounge, had just it hadbeen a place of refuge, it had
become a place that she didn'twant to go, there was so much
negativity and toxicity. And youknow, maybe I mean, all that
going on all the time. Shewanted to do something about it.
(18:01):
She does not ask permission fromanyone. She takes a poster board
and goes in day, first day of amonth and writes, what are you
grateful for, and sticks it upthere and she writes something
on the note, maybe one or twoother people do that first day?
The next day, she goes back putsup another poster board, same
question, what are you gratefulfor today, she did this every
(18:22):
day, for a month by thebeginning of the second week.
There were lots of peoplefilling in on the poster board.
She said by the beginning of thethird week, the atmosphere in
the teacher's lounge hadchanged. She didn't ask
permission. She didn't have a itwasn't a company sponsored
(18:44):
initiative. She just put up aposter board every day. What are
you grateful for? I've seenpeople that that just go in and
write it on the whiteboard in acommon in a, you know, a big
common conference area. They'lljust write what are you grateful
for and people just come in andstart responding. And it just
spreads? Right? And it's thesimple things that cost no
(19:05):
money. Now you can do formalprograms, which could be good
for you. But you can start withnothing. And one person. Heidi
made a difference in thatschool. Because she just she was
she was fed up with it right?
She goes on putting the posterboard every day. So whatever
(19:26):
that however that works. But oneperson can make a difference.
And what if a team says we'reokay, so here's another one.
What if we started our teammeetings with what do we have to
celebrate this week? Rather thanwhat what went wrong? What you
know what was what happens wasso many team meetings people
(19:48):
come in with that last customerencounter they had or that, you
know, the team, the colleaguethat wasn't doing what they're
supposed to do and it becomes agripe session from the big Any
Well, what if instead, somebodygoes, Hey, let me tell you what
just happened. And the mostamazing thing that happened to
me today was jelly. What was themost amazing thing that happened
(20:10):
to you? What was the best clientencounter you had so far? And it
changes the atmosphere? And it'sa simple question. Right? And
you can ask that question somany different ways. It's not
just what are you grateful for?
It's what was the best part ofyour day? You know, what went
really well? Where did you havea surprise, any of those? And
it, it just ripples. The rippleeffect is amazing.
Chellie Phillips (20:36):
It's nice that something can be infectious in a
positive way.
Kevin Monroe (20:40):
Right? Yeah. And I mean, you just see what people
do what one person can do. A lotof companies now in the EMC
World Do you all have use Slackor something like Slack or
Yammer, or they have,
Chellie Phillips (20:57):
we have an internal comms system? And then
of course, we got teams and allthat kind of stuff. Now say,
yeah.
Kevin Monroe (21:03):
So two years ago, when when we first started doing
gratitude challenges, and wewere just doing this by email,
there was a lady she was the COCEO of Scrum Alliance, her
name's Melissa. And they useSlack. She started just posting
whatever the prompt of the daywas in email, she started
posting it on their Slackchannel. And same thing like
(21:26):
with Heidi, it didn't take offovernight. But some people
started responding peoplestarted responding. About three
months later, Melissa Tolmie,author, people started starting
the prompt. And then all of asudden, it's just like, several
times a week, somebody just doesa shout out, Hey, what are you
grateful for now? Or what's thebest thing that happened to you
(21:48):
today? And these things justautomate, I mean, sporadically
ripple throughout the company,because anybody has the power on
a slack channel or you know, itthat kind of internal comms
messaging, anybody can postothers post, what's their
favorite, inspirational quote,or motivational quote of the
(22:09):
day? There's opera, and Domino'sis a Latino family services
organization in New Mexico, theystart with a mindfulness moment
in every meeting, and I've beenin been part of several of their
meetings, I've been fortunate towork with him. Different people
bring the mindfulness moment,right. It's a point they read,
(22:29):
or a daily devotion orinspiration piece, somebody and
they just come and read it tothe group. And there's this
beautiful thing. But it's justsome they they take two minutes,
the start of a meeting, and haveone of these uplifting,
encouraging. It changes thetone. It's so simple.
Chellie Phillips (22:50):
So what is the countermeasure to the corporate
guy sitting there going, Oh,this is just mindset. This is
hoodoo. Voodoo like this is notgoing to have any kind of real
impact. What's your answer tothat guy?
Kevin Monroe (23:03):
I would first off to ask what what measurements
are important to you in thiscompany? Right? Because every
company is measuring something,what is it that you're
measuring? And let's see whatpositivity, gratitude how it
will impact that measurement?
Right? If it's employeeengagement, you will watch that
number go up. If you'reconcerned about turnover, you
(23:26):
will watch turnover go down. I'dhad some statistics from
something else. 70% of employeeswould feel better about
themselves if their boss weremore grateful. 81% would work
harder. Glassdoor, right. Sogosh, you're concerned about
productivity. Well, let's watchhappen. Let's do a do a study.
(23:50):
See what happens. over a monthperiod. When we start with
gratitude and we embracepositivity. I think it's going
to move any number in the rightdirection, right, the good
numbers, it's going to move inthe right direction. Here's
another one that when I saw thisone, a friend shared it with me
59% of people have never had aboss who truly appreciates their
(24:14):
work. Good thing not six out of10 people have have have always
been undervalued is what theirsare taken for granted. Oh my
gosh. Right. So what are some ofthe measures I mean,
discretionary effort, whichreally means going the extra
mile going above and beyonddoing more than required
(24:36):
Discretionary Effort shootsthrough the roof when people
feel appreciated. One of myfavorite studies shows that
there are three groups of peopleimpacted when appreciation or
gratitude is expressed threegroups the person expressing the
gratitude the person to whom thegratitude is expressed. We get
(24:57):
that right. But I mean, just ifyou explain, so one of the
studies had people writing agratitude letter, and a decent
percentage of the people nevermailed the letter. But they
still had a boost of positiveemotion because they wrote the
letter. And then if they wrotethe letter, that and other
(25:18):
people that had the most thebiggest booths were the people
that actually read the letter tothe person, they wrote it. But
there is a third group and thinkabout this in the workplace,
think about this, the peoplethat see a leader or a peer
appreciating someone else in thecompany, anybody that sees that
has a positive response to it.
(25:42):
And they are more likely to sayyes to a project, or to go the
extra mile when they feel thatkind of effort is appreciated
and rewarded, just because theysaw it happen. They go, Oh,
well, Charlie's Bosco, okay, he,he or she is the kind of person
(26:03):
that recognizes and appreciateseffort. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna
invest more effort. So peoplethat just see it happen are
impacted in a positive light,that one I love. And I've got a
friend Nick works in. Gosh, Nickwould talk to you if you want to
talk to Nick runs the he'sgeneral manager of Hilton Garden
(26:27):
in Albany Medical Center,Albany, New York. So the hotel
is connected to the hospital.
And so they have a lot of peoplestaying in the hotel who have
family or are going into thehospital themselves for surgery
or something. And he has so manystories, but the pandemic wiped
their team out wiped theirbusiness out and he's been
rebuilding and Nick is rebuiltwith gratitude and expressing
(26:50):
gratitude and and he justwatches it permeate the team
permeate the facility. Right andsees all of this impact and and
sees it transform some reallydifferent, really difficult
guest encounters and sees peoplechange. I mean, he called me a
(27:14):
couple of weeks ago to tell meabout this guy that was just so
in his face, and he was so madabout something. What happened.
They were playing some baseballtournament Little League
baseball tournament, his son gothit in the head, had some
accident was rushed to thehospital by helicopter. He and
his wife are rushing in the cartrying to get there you know,
and they're all upset, don'tknow what's going on don't know
(27:36):
what's going to happen and a lotof emotion and they take it out
on something that just didn't gothe way they felt. The next day
this guy came to INEC was justas gracious as he could be and
apologetic and grateful. Thenext day this guy looked him up
and apologized, said man, youknow I overreacted. But it
diffused a negative situation.
(28:00):
Let me Vicki O'Grady Longo, sheworks for Pfizer. She's a Pfizer
rep in New York City. She's gotthese cards, she gives them out
every single day. In hospitals.
She had four encounters over atwo week period that all had the
same thing happened to nurses.
If I if I if I've got the third,fourth person, right, two
(28:22):
nurses, one physician, I thinkthe fourth story she felt was a
barista at Starbucks. She wasgoing through picking up coffee
for a meeting. And she gave themeach a card wrote something on
the back in these four peopleall had the same response. They
read the words on the front ofthe card. I'm grateful for you.
They took it flipped it overrent, what was she? The word she
(28:44):
had jotted on the back, tearsbegan filling their eyes jelly.
And every each of these peopletook the card and pressed it to
their heart was the way theyresponded. Is that not? Wow. Are
you talking about making amoment just expressing
(29:07):
gratitude, expressing yourappreciation for the in the lady
at Starbucks. She was having abad day. And in Vicki had this
big order. Vicki justcomplimented her for the way she
delivered. And you know, shesaid you were a great
representative of Starbuckstoday. And the lady took the
card and grabbed one of theStarbucks stickers and Vicki
(29:30):
just said hey, you can pass thecar along to someone and she can
No no, no. She took the stickertaped it to the cash register.
And I've heard this statement.
I've heard other You made myday, in 30 second or 6o second.
I mean, think about how manytimes they're there. So we've
had the what's the opposite ofthis when a person in the
(29:52):
workplace comes unglued? Andwhether it's justified or not?
unjustified range somebody inthe workplace, you know, the
ripple effect of that negative,it, it permeates the culture
like crazy.
Chellie Phillips (30:13):
What is it?
How many positive encountersthat you have to have to
counteract that one negativeencounter?
Kevin Monroe (30:18):
It's five, seven, I mean, different studies, but
it is from five to 12. I'veheard right. What do you if, you
know, instead, you're you're theperson that's creating these
positive ripples. And my friendGinny has calls it the gratitude
reservoir, right? What if all ofthe all of these times you're
(30:40):
expressing gratitude in the goodtime, you're just filling up the
reservoir, and then I mean, youall you you live in, or you work
in a business where thishappens, storms hit, and all of
a sudden, people are working outrageous overtime, to restore
power to communities? Well, ifpeople feel appreciated, and
(31:05):
people feel recognized for allof it, when those storms hit,
people are proud to be outthere, representing the EMC and
going so far and above andbeyond to, to restore and to
know that we are a vital serviceto our community. But if people
feel neglected, and overlookedand ignored, they're not they're
(31:28):
not out there with any joy. Inthose moments, they're
begrudging, right? That they'rehaving it, but I, I see these
people, I don't want to say,guys, but I see these. You can
tell they love what they do. Andthey get to be a hero. And when
we appreciate them for thatheroism, it fills their tank to
(31:48):
get
Unknown (31:48):
Some through those long nights and bad weather. Right,
so appreciate your time doingthis with me,
Kevin Monroe (31:55):
Gosh, I mean, the fact that you're, you're writing
a third book, and what I lovedis how there's this sequencing
or stair stepping of thesebooks. I mean, there's a
journey.
Chellie Phillips (32:08):
Yeah, they built on each other, like one is
the personal and then one'sprofessional. And then now this
is corporate. And so they reallyhave played on top of each
other. And they've reflected alot of me and my journey, you
know, like, now, that's what I'mgetting to really focus on the
internal atmosphere here. Imean, I'm still communications
and still doing all that kind ofstuff that normally people think
(32:28):
this culture thing is an HRfunction. Yeah. And we're
totally going about it adifferent way. We're doing it
through PR and communications,like the internal comms side,
like that's what really makes adifference. And you know, the
research that I've gotteneverything really, one of the
things that really stood out,when we started putting this
program together is when peopleleave a job, they were doing
(32:48):
exit interviews, it was probablyGallup because they have a lot
of their research andeverything. But they talked
about the reason that they leftis because no one ever showed
them how they were part of thesuccess journey for the
organization, or how their jobwas going to have any impact on
the success the organizationhad. And that just really stood
out with me is that, you know,we we have these companies and
(33:10):
every, you know, nobody wouldhave started them if they didn't
think they were doing greatthings. And why are we not
taping the people that aremaking it happen for us? Or for
the community or for theorganization or whatever? Why is
that such a hard thing for forus? And do it and letting them
feel that ownership and thatcontribution? Can that yes, you
(33:34):
do make a difference to it?
Well, we could not do thiswithout you know, there's only
so when you really start lookingat it, I mean, it really does.
It's very cyclical, like, youknow, like my personal success
journey has really gotten towhere it is because, you know,
I've found the place where Ifeel like I've been breathed
into like, you know, I've beenencouraged, I've been allowed to
(33:56):
grow and develop and do thosekinds of things. And then you
know, working with a sororitywomen seeing their struggles,
getting noticed getting hiredshowing that value in the
workplace, and that kind ofthing. And I don't want to send
them someplace to go to workthat's not going to treat them
well and not going to you know,develop them and not give them
opportunities to, to, you know,develop personally and
(34:16):
professionally. And, you know,in my mind, it's like it's all a
big circle like it's each pieceand without any one piece. The
whole thing just falls apart.
And it's been it's been a fun, afun learning journey for me, I
guess.
Kevin Monroe (34:34):
Thank you for I just, you know, I love. I love
the conversation. I love theopportunity to contribute to a
work like this and just growgratitude. Well, thank you
Chellie. And yeah, if you needsomething else, email me,
whatever. You know how to get ahold on me.
Chellie Phillips (34:55):
All right.
Thanks so much, Kevin. Thanksfor listening to culture, seek
rates. If you liked what youheard today, subscribe, drop me
a rating and share the link witha friend. If you want to learn
more or perhaps have become leada discussion with your company
or organization, visit mywebsite at
WWW.ChelliePhillips.com That'sch e ll ie p h i ll ips.com.
(35:16):
Remember, building a valueculture is your competitive
advantage and the backbone ofany successful organization.
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