The Significance of Showing Appreciation: A 2024 Retrospective
Consider moving through an entire year's worth of experiences - personal life, family, work, moments of confidence, instances of self-doubt, victories, defeats, and everything else in between. As the year comes to a close, it often serves as a mirror to examine what improvements can be made in the upcoming year to surpass the current one's achievements. However, it's essential to take a pause before making plans for the future.
Whether this yearly transformation involves yourself, another person, or a whole industry, if at any point, external resources play a significant role in your success, demonstrating appreciation should be a priority. In numerous success stories, you can't reach your destination without the assistance of others.
What are external resources?
External resources augment and enhance your internal resources.
Your internal resources may include colleagues, students, faculty, solutions, finance, connections, experts, and much more. Reflect on, "Who from outside your team facilitated and streamlined this year's accomplished success?"
For instance,
- A faculty member who clarified a contentious topic through a legacy perspective
- A vendor who strengthened your team during a significant project and made the impossible possible
- A solution that drastically increased productivity, service, and user experience in various business sectors
- A student who transparently critiqued a process and pinpointed the ideal path for improvement moving forward
What does expressing gratitude feel like?
As the individual expressing gratitude, you may experience feelings of indebtedness, vulnerability, even weakness. The initial act of placing yourself in the background to recognize and appreciate those who assisted in your achievements can be intimidating. However, by overcoming your self-doubts, the sensation of expanding your support network to share in a shared, positive outcome can be quite rewarding.
On the other hand, the recipient perceives themselves as valued. Who does not appreciate feeling valued?
What does expressing gratitude sound like?
To those on "Team You," it sounds like a sign of collaboration and assurance in your capabilities. To those less supportive, it might appear as a display of weakness or even failure. To the recipients of gratitude, there is appreciation for the timely and essential support they provided.
Jim Kwik, a brain coach, advised in his book, "Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life," that "Don't let criticism from someone you wouldn't take advice from affect you." In other words, when someone is not on your side, never allow their negative or judgmental criticism to impact your capacity to express gratitude.
What are the consequences of expressing gratitude?
- The Giver: An acknowledgment of the positive repercussions that resulted from seeking help. Unfortunately, there are many individuals across the world who feel ashamed to ask for help. Embracing this reality will make the journey smoother for everyone.
- The Recipient: A sense of value and an increased drive to continue their support. If you ever require their assistance again, they will likely be available.
- The Audience: You are always under the scrutiny of individuals with varying shapes, sizes, and colors. How you ask for help, receive help, and express gratitude for it significantly impacts how you pay it forward. By modeling gratitude, you instill this positive attribute in others, making it easier for them to emulate and perfect the basic act of expressing thanks.
Are we referring to people, places, or things?
In short, yes.
Let me use my 2025 as an example.
- People: My colleagues, who are an integral part of my professional growth every step of the way. Regardless of my position on the corporate ladder, I am always grateful to them for their contributions in some capacity.
- Places: These are the strategic partnerships we count on regularly. Operating in a business that chooses to run lean generally means cultivating valuable, mutual, authentic partnership relationships. In 2025, I am grateful for partners like Oxford Global Resources (thank you, Danielle, Wayne, Helen), who helped steer our Salesforce journey in the right direction; F3, whose focus on integrations will significantly boost our 2025 goals; and Envision, who made networking a seamless experience across 130+ acres.
- Things: A variety of collaboratively selected solutions will propel us to truly remarkable heights in 2025 - Momentus for scheduling optimization, Square for top-notch culinary and payment processing, and Orange Logic (thanks, AVP!), which will streamline digital asset management. Even though you might find these systems mundane, they will bring an unparalleled sense of magic to our environment in 2025.
- Conclusion: Acknowledging people, places, and things and showing appreciation is a leadership trait: EXCELLENT. It perpetuates a productive fire, ensuring that it is rekindled consistently. My recommendation - highly recommended.
Do you recognize yourself in any of the above examples? I bet it stirred some thoughts and even helped you recall a time when you sought help, received help, and flourished as a result. If that is not the way to kick off a new year, I do not know what is - here's to continuing to express gratitude in 2025!
In light of the year's end, reflecting on the external resources that significantly contributed to your success is essential. Expressing gratitude towards a faculty member who clarified complex topics, a vendor who boosted your team's capabilities, or a student who suggested improved strategies, shows appreciation for their assistance in achieving victories.
As a leader, demonstrating gratitude towards colleagues, strategic partners, and collaborative solutions reinforces positive relationships and sets an example for others to follow in expressing thanks. This practice not only benefits the recipient but also creates a culture of appreciation throughout your network.
