Curtis A. Carver
A simple "thank you" can go a long way. Most of all, an expression of gratitude and the recognition of a job well done can reinforce an organizational culture of collaboration and transparency in an organization.
That kind of culture doesn't just emerge automatically. It requires conscious and deliberate behaviors aimed at making sure people know how much they're valued. On IT teams where I've served in a leadership role, I've developed a simple system for making sure accolades get amplified, resulting in organizational communities built on respect and thankfulness.
In this chapter, I'll explain what it involves because I believe any team or organization could implement it overnight.
We call it Praise and Progress.
At its heart is the Praise and Progress meeting, which we hold once every month. In that meeting, each team in my organization receives two minutes of everyone's attention. They can use that time use to explain something important they recently accomplished; that's the "Progress" part. Then they can publicly thank someone who made a difference to their work. That's the "Praise" part—and it's the most important.
During this portion of the meeting, employees often take time to personally thank—in front of their peers—individuals who helped them and made an impact on their work. Sometimes, participants will thank people who aren't at the meeting: People on other teams or in other departments. When that happens, I send those folks emails to let them know our team has recognized them, and I add my own personal thanks to the note. I also send a copy to their managers.
Occasionally, people will simply thank co-workers who are making a difference in their professional lives. And that kind of gratitude can be extraordinarily powerful. For example, when I initiated Praise and Progress at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, someone came forward to express gratitude for the mentorship he continues to receive from someone who isn't even in his department—a former, exemplary boss who continues to take an interest in his life and wants to help him navigate his career. And as I always do, I contacted that manager to let him know his former employee had thanked him publicly at our meeting and continued to speak so warmly about him. The response I received taught me so much about a new member of my own team.
Overall, the benefits of this monthly community tradition have been amazing. For example:
- Praise and Progress builds a culture of innovation. Every month, we're talking together about our successes and new projects, and that fosters both a sense of forward movement and a spirit of accomplishment.
- The meetings build a culture of gratitude and teamwork within the company. As everyone becomes more comfortable with the Praise and Progress ritual, they open up more—and that culture of gratitude gets even more deeply entrenched.
- As a leader in the organization, I find Praise and Progress meetings extraordinarily educational because I not only hear teammates' perceptions of the projects they're working on but also often learn things I never even knew my organization was doing!
- Discussing our work publicly is a great way to foster transparency across the organization. Since we're sharing our successes and the stories of the challenges that led to them, we can often help one another and lend immediate guidance.
But even more surprising to me was the effect that Praise and Progress had on my organization's relationships with external teams and stakeholders. These simple gestures engage an entire community around an IT project, which helps build communities of practice throughout and across organizations. And that leads to true cultural change. But apart from helping everyone feel appreciated for their hard work, Praise and Progress also helps build "mini-champions" for the IT organization among all the campuses and departments we serve. The tradition leads to situations in which people are talking about all the good things they hear the IT organization is doing. It builds tremendous goodwill, allowing me to kill poisoned seeds before they ever sprout.
When you're trying to change an organization, make sure the organization itself remains your priority. Any change you initiate should be about the organization; it's not about you. It's about the customers you're serving (students, in my case) and what you're equipping them to do (again, in my case, changing how they think about the world).
Doing that can be difficult. But for open leaders, the best way to do it is to get a community of dedicated professionals involved and, one-by-one, convince them that they can be an agent of innovation.
Engage them in building the relationships and provide the scaffolding so that they can openly collaborate on building the next generation of leaders, and you will.
Constructing a culture of gratitude is a great first step in doing that.
It's amazing what a simple "thank-you" can help you do.