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This article is inspired by the book:
“Grateful Leadership using the Power of Acknowledgement” by Judith W. Umlas.
What is a Grateful Leader?
A person who is generous with acknowledgement is the key to Grateful Leadership. It is:
- One who expresses appreciation for employees’ and other stakeholders’ contributions.
- One who acknowledges, supports, and engages his/her people profoundly on an ongoing basis.
- One who wants to know his/her employees and other stakeholders as people.
What is Acknowledgement?
“Acknowledgment is a heartfelt and authentic communication that lets a person know their value to the organization and the importance of the contribution that they make.” From ‘The Power of Acknowledgment’ by Judith W. Umlas.
What are the reasons to be a Grateful Leader?
There are many reasons to be a grateful leader. Why?
- It creates a positive work environment.
- When people are appreciated, it engages and retains them with an organization.
- Motivates stakeholders and even suppliers will give better products and services if you can express gratitude towards them.
- It creates superior results.
- Self-actualization on the top of the Maslow pyramid means being satisfied and nurtured by all that one does. Self-transcendence is seeing to it that others feel self-actualized.
Tools to help you be a Grateful Leader
Here are some tools suggested by the author:
- Consciousness – become aware of acknowledgments
- Choice – you can still always choose yes or no
- Courage – needed when we deliver an authentic acknowledgement and feel vulnerable
- Communications – figure out the best way to reach your recipient and communicate your gratitude and appreciation profoundly and authentically
- Commitment to being a grateful leader, when you witness the benefits of grateful appreciation like people taking initiative and work with passion and engagement.
Grateful Leadership will help you align with your true mission, goals, and purpose.
According to Judith Umlas there are some proven effects of acknowledgement on employees. They are:
- A sense of self-worth
- Excitement, joy
- Purpose for living
- Sense of contribution
- Documented physical changes – both for giver and receiver
- “Pay it forward” types of behavior
Not only for leaders, but for any person in general, gratitude, defined as:
‘The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness’ -
will lead to many advantages as proven by research.
- In an experimental comparison, those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer negative physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events.
- A related benefit was observed for personal goal attainment: Participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress toward important personal goals (academic, interpersonal and health-based) over a two-month period compared to subjects in the other experimental conditions.
- A daily gratitude intervention (self-guided exercises) with young adults resulted in higher reported levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy compared to a focus on hassles.
- Participants in the daily gratitude condition were more likely to report having helped someone with a personal problem or having offered emotional support to another, relative to the hassles or social comparison condition.
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2 Responses to Leadership Style: The Power of Grateful Leadership
Projects Software
January 21st, 2013 at 10:41 pm
You present an interesting angle in regards to a grateful leadership and its consequences. Thanks for the article and hope to read from you again. Nice work Linky.
Judith Umlas
January 25th, 2013 at 6:10 am
Linky, I am so moved and honored by the way in which you represent the work I have been trying so hard to bring forth in the world. You have gotten it so completely that it really inspires me. It allows me to know in my head what I have always felt in my heart — that acknowledgment is a basic human need that transcends all cultures, genders and industries. You in South Africa totally comprehend what I am trying to get across from my outpost in New York. There is a constant need for leaders to be grateful for their stakeholders’ contributions. Linky, I am so pleased to have you on my “team.” Together you and others like you will help me in my mission to make the world a better place. Please join me in my one hour free webinar on February 14 at 9:00 am ET, on the subject of Grateful Leadership. To check it out, go to http://www.gratefulleadership.com/?page_id=2310 Hope to see you and your readers there! Best, Judith