HUMAN RESOURCES Transition to Business By Paul Falcone
Leadership by Gratitude May is National Military Appreciation Month, and what better way to celebrate spring than by honoring those active military and veterans who continue to give so much to our country? I typically write about leadership, communication, and teambuilding, whether in the context of effective hiring or performance management. Today, however, I’d like to share a story that I tell in all business classes that I teach—not so much because it’s a “business story,” per se, but because it’s such an integral part of leadership and team dynamics. So often, business leaders question how to pierce employees’ hearts and make them want to perform at their highest level—not because they have to but because they want to for themselves. Part of that responsibility will always lie with the team leader, of course, in creating a workplace where others can motivate themselves. Motivation is internal, not external, so a key wisdom in the workplace can always be found in creating the right environment where people can thrive according to their own internal motivators (that hopefully mesh with your organization’s external motivators).
In my experience as a human resources executive and business school lecturer, when it comes to building strong teams, nothing comes close to teaching the importance of thankfulness, appreciation, and gratitude. My instruction to student leaders (i.e., operational business leaders) is to take time to discuss the importance of gratitude as well as its opposite: “not enoughness.” Gratitude is a matter of perspective, of course, and your key responsibility as a team or department leader is to help people change their perspective, which in turn changes their perception. In other words, if their perspective is clear and purposeful, their experience of everything around them will be cast in a different light. Here’s an example to make that point: An oncologist at a prestigious cancer center was diagnosed with a malignant tumor himself. He explained that when he and his wife first got the tragic news, his initial reaction was one of pure thankfulness. “After all,” he reasoned, “I work around cancer every day—pediatric oncology, in fact—and I see how difficult it is for parents to shepherd their children through the trials and tribulations of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. I feel for them so much, and I always say a prayer of thanks that my children are healthy.”
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WWW.HomelandMagazine.com / MAY 2021