How to Express Gratitude in a Virtual World

Last November we wrote a blog called 4 Ways to Recognize Your Employees This Holiday Season. The end of the year season reflects the success and challenges faced as a team. Organizations plan to celebrate their efforts as individuals and as a team. A year ago, we suggested the following 4 ways to recognize your employees:

1. Leaders may dedicate quality time to employees.

2. People in the team could send gifts with a meaningful note.

3. People may offer help with the workload or teach something new.

4. Leaders may express words of affirmation to the positive impact employees bring to the organization.

In the new realities of work during a global pandemic, expressing gratitude may be challenging, especially while working remotely. Members of your organization likely miss the times when they met at the office, scheduled meetings, or had coffee while sharing market news, etc.

So how can we still express gratitude in this virtual world? We have 3 tips that are simple and mindful.

1. Let us be grateful for ourselves - our physical and mental health. Working remotely has brought stress, and many changes in our work style and personal preferences. We created ways to better collaborate with our team, planned meetings based on web platforms, and some met at a safe distance. We also exerted patience with this new normal and accommodated to casual calls - although baseball caps on video off may not look professional.
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2. Let us be grateful for our empathy with one another while remaining productive in the organization. Leaning on our teammates when the workload became overwhelming, changing roles and responsibilities as needed, and optimizing resources during times of uncertain financial and budgeting outlooks.
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3. Let us be grateful for the creative opportunities raised under current circumstances. Fortunately for us, Ignite has further strengthened the team and onboarded new consultants. We innovated new change management solutions for clients with smaller budgets to continue to deliver a path tailored to their organizational change efforts.

As we embark on this season, especially Thanksgiving Day. Let us be grateful for the physical and mental health we have, the support of our families, the people we work with, our clients we have, and the new opportunities that we can all build together.

You can continue to be thankful by:

1. Listening to the needs of your employees.

2. Sending meaningful notes of appreciation to your coworkers.

3. Offering a hand when work becomes stressful.

4. Recognizing the individual strengths each person brings to your organization.

Happy Thanksgiving!