What is the main message of Leading with Gratitude?

The main message of Leading with Gratitude is that gratitude is a powerful tool for effective leadership.

How long does it take to read Leading with Gratitude?

The reading time for Leading with Gratitude varies, but it typically takes several hours. The Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.

Is Leading with Gratitude a good book? Is it worth reading?

Leading with Gratitude is worth reading as it provides valuable insights on how gratitude can enhance leadership effectiveness.

Who is the author of Leading with Gratitude?

The authors of Leading with Gratitude are Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton.

Leading with Gratitude Summary of Key Ideas and Review

Name: Leading with Gratitude
Rating: 4.4 (107 reviews)
Author: Adrian Gostick

Introduction

What’s in it for me? Learn how gratitude can boost employee performance.

What comes to mind when you think about motivating your staff? Maybe it’s an incentive scheme, with an annual cash bonus. Perhaps it’s a monthly team lunch, or a fabulous end-of-year party. But did you know that there’s a far more powerful tool you can use to make your team’s productivity go through the roof? And better still, it won’t cost you a cent.

So, what is this secret super-tool available to every leader in every organization?

It’s gratitude.

You might believe that you already thank your team for their hard work, and maybe that’s true. But the reality is, very few leaders know how to express gratitude in an effective way.

If you’re skeptical about the value of gratitude in the workplace, consider this statistic. Eighty-one percent of employees say that they’d work harder if their boss made them feel more appreciated. That’s the vast majority of your team!

The good news is that harnessing the power of gratitude isn’t difficult. You just need insight into how it works, and the commitment to practice it every day.

These blinks will guide you through eight simple approaches to gratitude that will transform your workplace into an energized environment, overflowing with goodwill.

In these blinks, you’ll discover

what avocados teach us about gratitude;
why fancy watches don’t always cut it as rewards; and
how a childhood action figure motivated a team.

Key idea 1 of 8

The best way to glean solutions from your employees is to do it in person.

No doubt you’ve heard the proverb, “Two heads are better than one.” But what about a whole team of heads, or a whole organization of them? Would we then be moving into “Too many cooks spoil the broth” territory? Well, it turns out that when it comes to soliciting ideas in business, “The more the merrier.”

The key message here is: The best way to glean solutions from your employees is to do it in person.

Employees are a font of knowledge because they’re at the frontline of your business. They’ll often have insights that you won’t be aware of, like which items on your restaurant’s menu are left half-eaten on the plate. So, what’s the most effective way of tapping into this great resource?

Start by getting in touch with your staff in person, and actually listening to them. This is the policy of Kent Taylor, the founder and CEO of the hugely successful restaurant chain, Texas Roadhouse. With almost 600 establishments and a team numbering nearly 60,000, you wouldn’t think Taylor would have the time to talk – let alone really listen – to employees. But this is exactly what he does. Every week, he calls a store at random and asks servers for customer feedback. All his store managers have his cell number, too. That’s how he found out his mac and cheese wasn’t hitting the spot. He learned of this after an area manager’s daughter made a book about why she didn’t like it! If Taylor didn’t encourage open communication, he might never have known.

Implementing staff ideas is a huge motivator because it shows that you value what your employees have said. If you realize an idea isn’t viable, use the opportunity to explain why. This makes the employee feel respected, so they won’t be put off offering ideas in the future.

Finally, make sure you take the time to thank employees for their contributions. The simple gesture of gratitude increases staff confidence – a vital quality for innovative thinking. Taylor makes a point of writing thank you notes to employees who’ve come up with great ideas. If he can manage it with 60,000 staff members, the rest of us have no excuse not to.

Key idea 2 of 8

To create an environment based on trust you must give staff the benefit of the doubt.

Imagine it’s Monday morning. Your star employee asks for a quick word, and you’re happy to oblige. After all, you owe her a lot. Then she drops a bomb. She’s resigning. Turns out she’s been unhappy for a long time. And worse, everyone knew except you.

The key message here is: To create an environment based on trust you must give staff the benefit of the doubt.

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Key idea 3 of 8

By practicing empathy in the workplace, you significantly improve overall performance.

What drives your team’s productivity? Is it pressure, perhaps, or that end-of-year cash bonus? Well, no. Surprisingly, a team’s main motivator is empathy.

The key message here is: By practicing empathy in the workplace, you significantly improve overall performance.

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Key idea 4 of 8

Celebrating small successes is a powerful way to motivate your team.

When we were kids, our parents often used small incentives to encourage good behavior: pocket money if we’d done our chores, or ice cream if we’d eaten our vegetables. But as adults, we’re often forced to delay gratification, which can leave us feeling deflated.

The key message here is: Celebrating small successes is a powerful way to motivate your team.

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Key idea 5 of 8

Consistent, positive reinforcement compels a team to keep working hard.

What do gratitude and avocados have in common? Do you give up? The answer is that neither of them keep. Unless you eat it while it's ripe, your avocado won't be good for anything but the compost. Similarly, appreciation loses its power if you don’t express it straight away.

The key message here is: Consistent, positive reinforcement compels a team to keep working hard.

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Key idea 6 of 8

To be effective, expressions of gratitude must align with an individual’s values.

Think back to a time you were rewarded for outstanding work. It’s likely your company presented you with a cash bonus, voucher, gift, or plaque. And you were probably grateful for the acknowledgment. But did your reward actually match your interests or ambitions?

The key message here is: To be effective, expressions of gratitude must align with an individual’s values.

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Key idea 7 of 8

Gratitude can be used to connect company values with day-to-day work practices.

Does your team know what your company values are? Could they explain how those values relate to their tasks? Or are those values merely lofty ideals that don’t mean much in the face of the daily grind?Company leaders often invest a huge amount of time carefully crafting their organization’s core values. But typically, these values fail to reflect the reality of daily office life, and they become nothing more than platitudes.

It’s interesting to learn, then, that a Johns Hopkins University study found that 95 percent of job-hunters rank company culture over financial compensation. That’s right – almost every candidate is more interested in what your company stands for than what it pays.

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Key idea 8 of 8

The best teams are made up of coworkers who take the initiative to thank each other.

One day, the leader of an IT department noticed something important was missing from his desk: his childhood G.I. Joe action figure. He assumed his team found Joe weird and had quietly made him disappear. But he was wrong. They loved Joe so much that they’d turned him into a trophy, to acknowledge a colleague who’d supported a team member. A few days later, the winner presented Joe to another colleague, recognizing their contribution to the team’s goals.

This anecdote is a wonderful example of the positive energy that’s generated when teammates take gratitude into their own hands. This injects fun and humor into the workplace, counterbalancing the inevitable stress and pressure we all feel from time to time. Goodwill flourishes between employees when they feel appreciated by their teammates, which in turn fuels motivation.

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