Gratitude helps leaders to activate Servant Leadership and makes teams more productive

Gratitude helps to facilitate Servant Leadership and makes leaders successful and teams more cohesive. It helps us to make teams stronger and more successful.

Servant Leadership is a phrase that was first coined in the early seventies by Robert Greenleaf, a leadership consultant and author. It flips the traditional top-down leadership model on its head. This modern business model focusses on putting employees first and helps to build stronger, more successful teams, enabling them to maximise their potential.

In contrast to the 'command and control' model of leadership with its reliance on authority and commands; servant leadership leads through empathy, support and real care for employees. Take care of your team and they will take care of you and your corporate objectives.

To make servant leadership successful there are several tenets that need to be employed and gratitude can empower each of them.

One of the first things we need to put into practice is active listening; listening to really understand what people are trying to say and not just listening to prepare our responses. When we practice deep gratitude, we will create a psychologically safe environment, which makes active listening flow naturally.

Active listening will help us to be more empathetic, we can use gratitude to help put ourselves in the position of the other person by valuing their kindness and seeing when they are struggling and show them kindness.

This grateful attitude will help our fellow team members and ourselves to achieve a state of emotional and psychological wellbeing. We start by looking inwardly and thinking about what we are grateful for, we become more self-aware and more aware of the impact we have on those around us.

Gratitude is infectious and we can use this grateful attitude to encourage and persuade others, to build a consensus rather than commanding them. We can make decision making more of a team effort.

We can use the power of gratitude to balance the short term and long-term objectives. Targets will seem more achievable if we are bonded through gratitude.

When we express gratitude for the effort that others have contributed, even if the outcome is unfavourable. We will learn from failure together as a team, without apportioning blame, and use the learning experience to ensure we enjoy success in the future.

The power of gratitude strengthens the relationships within the team. Each person will grow and develop individually, knowing that their colleagues have their back; this in turn will help the help the team to become stronger as a collective.

The power of gratitude helps to create a sense of community, and this togetherness creates a mutual respect between team members and makes goals seem more achievable.

When we live gratefully, we become better team players; we will put the team first and this will make the team stronger and more productive. Leading these teams will no longer be a chore but an absolute joy! Let us make our work life more enjoyable and more productive by practicing deep gratitude and putting appreciation at the heart of everything we do!