Serve Customers and Employees by Cultivating Gratitude

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.Gilbert K. Chesterton, A Short History of England

As we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving next week in the US, reflecting on what we’re thankful and grateful for over the last year is the norm.

But, it’s important to regularly reflect on gratitude and thankfulness as individuals and as organizations. Too often we take employees and customers for granted. Yet, it is those employees and customers that we owe our success to.

As a customer, it often seems that the only time I’m thanked by a company is a monthly email from my cell phone provider thanking me for being a valued customer by trying to upsell me.

Saying thank you is a lot easier than being genuinely thankful. And, to genuinely thank others we have to reflect on what we’re thankful for. 

People that regularly reflect on their own blessings are more likely to naturally help others.¹ When you live with personal gratitude, it motivates your behavior, which is what thankfulness really is all about. 

Before we thank our customers, we must thank the people we work with. If we don’t care for our employees, when they go to thank the customers, it will lack genuineness. And, the people that contribute the most are often the ones that need it the most: the highest performers in an organization are often those that feel the most lonely.²

It’s important to reflect on gratitude regularly. If we don’t take the time to actively do it, we become desensitized to satisfaction and dull to feeling gratitude.³

By actively reflecting on gratitude, we become happier and become more likely to serve others. And, the ultimate goal of any organization should be to serve its customers and employees.

Thank you for reading our blog.

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