On Being Thankful

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Less commercialism, advertising. I take some time to be on my own to focus on those aspects of my life, the people in my life, the wealth of adventures and experiences, and feel thankful, really thankful.

This year in March I replaced the plastic mat in my study. I tried to break the old one to put it in a trash bin. I folded the old mat, started to stand on it, and immediately recognized my mistake. I was like a lumberjack on a rolling log. Down I went onto a concrete patio. Fortunately my muscle memory retains doing parachute landing falls in my younger years. My body turned as I fell. I landed hard but my organs and head were fine. MRIs showed my right arm and shoulder had seven torn tendons. My rotator cuff had two that were not repairable. How am I? My body is learning to live with some new physical limitations but my spirit remains joyous and loving. I am thankful for so very much. 

Thankfulness deserves an ingrained place in our cultures, including our workplaces. Ed Locke in a classic review of job satisfaction decades ago found that one of most important sources of job satisfaction was simply feedback, especially positive feedback. In the course of our days and weeks, there will be times when we will be glad for the work of others, the contributions of others. In short, we will be thankful for our colleague or colleagues. As managers we may be thankful for the work of our direct reports. Let them know. Let them know you appreciate their work, their contribution. It is great to be thankful of another. It is even better to let them know.
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​ © John Ballard, PhD,  2024. All rights reserved. Partially modified from my blog of 11/23/2012.

Image by ijmaki. Obtained from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/social-social-network-1206610/
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Decoding the Workplace “Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Available as ebook, hardback, paperback, audiobook, and audio CD. The best-selling audiobook, and CD, are narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon.