A Culture Of Thanks
I took last week off from writing to be with my family and celebrate Thanksgiving. It was awesome to take a minute and see the literal steps my 1 year old nephew took, and the more metaphorical steps everyone else had. We need that type of time to step away from the treadmill and find room for giving thanks. Additionally, we can also find places to work it into our day-to-day lives.
Thanking others
As ArchiveSocial was growing, every day we would get together across departments to stand in a circle and celebrate our wins. More importantly, we gave thanks to each other. When our sales team closed a deal the two questions they needed to answer were “Where did they come from?” and “Why did they buy?” Announcing what person helped bring in that new customer, this celebrated marketing and the people on the sales team making calls. Explaining why the customer bought, we directly thanked the product team for the features they had built and operations work that made everything possible. There was a direct line between work and impact.
This extended across our departments. When our customer team had good or bad interactions with users, they would present those situations. When you work with such a large portion of the municipalities across the US, the news stories you’re reading about quickly become work stories. Making those connections and thanking the people who came together to make something happen can gradually build into a culture of thanks.
Being Thankful
Stopping and taking time to be thankful can help us see how far we’ve come. Pausing and catching our breath can give us time to put our accomplishments into perspective and see the distance we have traveled. That pause allows us to see the impact the day after day of little actions have had.
Not only did we do this daily through our standup ceremonies, we also came together weekly through team lunches, and quarterly through kickoffs where we put a spotlight on successes across the company. When we hit milestones we’d take the time to celebrate the win and come together with people who made that win possible. Virtually, we gave people opportunities to highlight when someone has helped us and publicly give thanks through Slack feeds of shoutouts and kudos, even for the little things.
Sometimes these pauses can also help us reaffirm the relationships we have with other people. Happy hours and outings can connect us in a way that makes a group of people more than a team who clock-in together. They give everyone the space to form lifelong friendships and build trust. Each of these connections is made stronger when we give credit to others, whether it’s one on one or in front of the entire group.
Be generous with thanks
As we go into the rest of the holiday season, find opportunities to tell other people how their work impacted successes you’ve had. Nothing big is accomplished alone, the teams we’re a part of only work because everyone pushes in the same direction. If we’re not closing those loops and giving credit for that success we lose out on seeing just how far we’ve pushed.
Thanking others costs nothing, but means everything. It helps us connect to our purpose and brings us closer to the people we care the most about. It is the glue that holds our communities together. So one action item for everyone: find opportunities over the next month and into 2024 to strengthen those ties and happy Thanksgiving to everyone!