Summary

According to Psychology Today, gratitude is, “the expression of appreciation for what one has. It is a recognition of value independent of monetary worth. Spontaneously generated from within, it is an affirmation of goodness and warmth”. Additionally, studies show that people can deliberately cultivate gratitude—and there are important social and personal benefits to doing so. The emotion of gratitude generates a climate of positivity that both reaches inward and extends outward.

This session is designed to encourage you to show gratitude to people different than yourself. This learning experience focuses on the three concepts that influence Gratitude: Leveraging Cognitive Diversity, Connected Understanding, and Respectful Empathy. Cognitive Diversity explores diverse thinking styles and approaches to problem-solving. Connected Understanding requires getting behind the curtain of others and allows for a deeper understanding of everyone. Once established, better listening and communication/dialogue allows the listener to be more attentive to others and Respectful Empathy is different from sympathy, which is honoring someone by exhibiting care, concern, or consideration for their needs or feelings. It enables you to be more understanding, appreciative, mindful, and thoughtful as it relates to the circumstances of others; and trying to deeply understand what someone else is feeling or what it is like to be in their situation.

We will share the importance of integrating gratitude into our daily interactions with others and deepening our understanding of the intersection of bias and gratitude. You will be equipped to leverage cognitive diversity as a tool to demonstrate gratitude and practice connected understanding to accelerate building a culture of gratitude. You will also learn the power of respectful empathy and how it can be practiced to ignite and illuminate gratitude, which helps you to become more intrinsically inclusive.

Resource Article: Why Remote Work has Eroded Trust Among Colleagues: www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210315-why-remote-work-has-eroded-trust-among-colleagues