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self-esteem, happiness, empathy, and a better response to stress and negative feedback. And the benefits affect both the person expressing their gratitude and the person receiving it.
on the team, which fosters an atmosphere of appreciation and teamwork.”
During the holidays, there’s so much you can do for those in need in your area. Simply raising money for a local food bank or donating turkeys will go a long way for a family during Thanksgiving. Holding a companywide fundraiser brings your team together and gives them a sense of purpose that’s much more powerful than a paycheck alone. Certainly, the power of donating to a worthy cause is reason enough to participate in some philanthropy this holiday season. As a bonus, companies that engage in outreach projects consistently demonstrate higher levels of employee engagement and retention, which goes to show what happens when you get the upward spiral of gratitude in motion.
Other companies have a thank-you wall or shoutout email chain where employees can share their kudos. The most important thing isn’t the method you use, but that you make it an important part of company culture. It starts with leadership. If you aren’t taking the time to recognize and appreciate people, how can you expect that anyone else will? Instilling a culture of gratitude within your company doesn’t require intensive training or extensive investment. All you need to do is encourage a certain perspective and approach.
EVERYDAY APPRECIATION
During the holidays, it’s easy to take a moment to say thank you to the people who’ve made a difference in our lives over the past year. Sharing your appreciation, however, is just as important in March or August as it is in November. Gratitude begets more gratitude, creating what researchers Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough call an “upward spiral.” Once you set the spiral in motion at your workplace, you’ll see an attitude of gratitude multiply and spread. The easiest way to start is to create a public forum where employees can acknowledge one another. “We have an all-hands meeting once a week, and we finish the meeting by ‘giving props,’ which is recognizing people on the team for their accomplishments that week,” says Badger Maps CEO Steven Benson. “Anyone on the team can give props to anyone else
OUTSIDE THE OFFICE
GO FORTH GRATEFULLY
Businesses don’t operate in a vacuum. They’re all part of the communities they inhabit, and your company’s sense of gratitude should reach beyond your staff and customers. Community
Creating a culture of gratitude and appreciation will benefit your company long after the last piece of pumpkin pie has been eaten. So take a moment this year to say thanks and show love to your team. And don’t stop doing it, even after the holidays have passed.
outreach is the best way to show your neighbors that you care about them.
3 True Crime Shows You Have to See Move Over, Sitcoms, There’s a New Trend in Town
‘THE STAIRCASE’ Did Michael Peterson kill his wife? Did the American justice system tear apart the dream it so righteously attempts to protect? What is considered fact in a murder trial? These are just a few of the questions you’ll contemplate as you go on a 16-year journey told over 13 gripping episodes. Questionable expert testimony and crime scene evidence are juxtaposed with a competent defense team and a convincing defendant, making for a story that begs viewers to take sides. In the end, the only fact you’ll know to be true is that you can’t trust your intuition.
There’s a genre of entertainment that many Americans are afraid to admit is their secret obsession. It’s as if you’re hiding a secret that you desperately want to confess, but you’re afraid of the judgment and concerned looks from your friends. Then one day, you muster the courage to casually mention a docu-series you watched — hoping for absolution but concerned the jury won’t understand — and the floodgates open. Suddenly your closest friends and family have passionate opinions on the justice system and can tell you they know exactly who murdered who and how. Deep down inside, everyone loves a good mystery. Here are three of the best. ‘MAKING A MURDERER’ Directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos take viewers through an experience that feels like the most maddening game of ping pong
ever played — in any given episode, your view may bounce from one polarizing opinion to another. After watching 10 mind-bending episodes of Steven Avery and his attorneys going back and forth during the trial, you’ll have questions that demand answers. So many, in fact, that Netflix has confirmed the production of a second season and a spin-off series titled “Convicting a Murderer.” murders make for one compelling HBO series. Robert Durst goes under the spotlight after speaking for the first time about the death of three people connected to him. A web of lies, convolution, and gritty storytelling comes to one bone-chilling conclusion that will make your jaw drop. ‘THE JINX’ Forty years of conflicting reports on three
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