Can A Little Bit Of Gratitude Improve Our Productivity?

Source: DHgate, Tag: Dropshipping

We all love praise, but when it comes to being shown gratitude for a job well done, can a little bit of praise increase our productivity?

Let’s be honest, we all love a compliment from time to time, especially if it is in recognising for doing a good job. As an e-commerce business owner, this could simply be a 'thank you' email from a happy customer, or a 5-star review lavishing praise on the quality of your products. But when it comes to being shown gratitude, can a little bit of praise motivate us in our productivity?
What is gratitude?
According to Google, gratitude is ‘the quality of being thankful and showing appreciation for and to return kindness’. Sound familiar? Well, when it comes to the workplace, probably not so much. For when it comes to performing our every day and frequently mundane tasks, gratitude often gets replaced with expectation.
Customers expert their products to be delivered on time, suppliers expect to be paid on time, you get the picture.
While many of us can recognise this behaviour as just getting on with what we are paid to do without any fuss or need for praise, a little bit of gratitude from time to time for a job well done can make a world of difference.

Why gratitude can work for you
A lot of us who work in the e-commerce sector do so because we love what we do. E-commerce business owners don't expect praise for the service that they provide, however, feedback from customers is always welcome, as it allows businesses to improve their product and service while always striving for customer satisfaction.
But while gratitude is normally never sought, a little bit of appreciation can make us feel a sense of appreciation. This acknowledgement of a job well done, can not only make us feel good at the moment, but it also has the motivational effect – incentivising us to work even harder to keep that positively and momentum going, and of course, has a significant effect on our productivity.
For example, if a customer were to give you praise for the service that you provided them, not only would the compliment make you feel good, but it would actively encourage you to always keep your work ethic consistent. This sign of gratitude from the customer would have motivated you to continuously prove excellent customer service, while at the same time, ensuring the success of your business.
But it’s not just productivity that can increase with gratitude, as the art of practising gratitude has also been found to increase our overall happiness and mental health, well also providing additional health benefits.

How to practice gratitude
Practising gratitude may take a while to adapt and put into practice, especially when working to the best of your abilities has become the norm. But when it comes to showing gratitude towards others, how can this be done? Little gestures like going out of your way to say 'thank you' can make a person's day can be the difference between them having a bad day or making them feel good about themselves.
So, who does an e-commerce business owner meet on a day-to-day basis? Well, probably not a lot of people actually, but practising gratitude doesn't just have to be face-to-face interaction. From the manufactory on the receiving end of an email to a shipping company on the phone, by just showing small signs of gratitude, you could be making a big impact on someone's day.