Ep.038: Gratitude At Work

This episode breaks down gratitude as a real leadership system, not a holiday mindset. We talk about why teams will meet expectations for a paycheck but give extra effort when leaders notice the details, call out wins, and make people feel seen. You will hear practical habits that strengthen culture, raise performance, and keep people connected to the mission.

We cover what healthy appreciation looks like in day-to-day work. Things like giving public credit, respecting creative work, feeding your team when the schedule is stacked, and sending simple handwritten notes that land at the right time. You will also hear a quick gratitude exercise you can run in any meeting and a three-note challenge that builds momentum across your whole team.

The episode centers on ownership. When leaders set the tone, teams follow. Clear and consistent gratitude tightens feedback loops, fuels collaboration, and shapes the experience your customers feel on the other side. We walk through timing, tone, and how to link appreciation to behaviors that match your values.

If you want a practical framework that helps you build stronger teams, better culture, and a more intentional leadership rhythm, this conversation will give you tools you can use today.

Transcript

Year-End Updates And Schedule

SPEAKER_00 0:14

All right, Benji Bra well, Brady's not here today with us. I'm so you know, I'm so used to saying that. But welcome to episode 38. Today is just uh Benji and I. We are throwback to the end of the year. Throw back. Roll it back, roll it back to season one, just the two of us. Um, but yeah, we're getting uh there's a lot going on. Um, we're getting ready to wrap up toward the end of the year, and so Brady has some stuff that he needs to get done today and kind of getting to that schedule, man, where if we don't get these recorded, we're gonna be in trouble. So we don't want to leave y'all hanging. Um, we're excited because we've got one more for 2025 uh that we're gonna record for you guys uh and get that out, and then we'll take a little bit of a break. Christmas is crazy. Um, I know me with the church, there's so much going on. We got Christmas experience, we got Christmas events, you got stuff going on, travel, so we'll take a little bit of a break and then we'll roll it back uh in uh January, probably about mid-January. We'll roll it back with episode 40. So we've got one more left for 2025.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

So yeah, I'll tell you, man, getting getting dialed into uh episode 40, um, kicking off season four. You don't want to miss it. We're not gonna spoil the thunder, but yeah, it will be a little bit different look, uh, a little bit different feel, but I think you guys will like it, especially those that like to show this YouTube on your team meetings and what have you. Um gonna get a little more intimate with the group. So more to come on that in January of 26.

Thanksgiving Theme And Setup

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Yeah. It'll be good. It'll be good. Crazy to think 2026 is coming fast. It's it feels like it's moving.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Uh is it just you or does it seem like it's actually been six years ago that the COVID like shut the world down.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Well, I mean, if you so 2026, so I started with y'all in 2028.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Uh that's when I 2018, 2018, not 2020.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

I'm sorry, 2028. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

George Jetson here.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

I'm trying to jump ahead. Yeah, 20 2018, uh about two years before COVID. Yeah, we had COVID. It was a wild year. Oh, yeah. Um, but yeah, I mean, it's it's crazy. I'm I'm excited to see what they're gonna do when we get to you know 10 years since then. Like kind of stuff goes on, but it's moving, it's moving quick, but we're uh we're excited. It is Thanksgiving week. Yeah. Uh, and we know that we've got um a lot to be thankful for. This is something we've done uh each season as we get to Thanksgiving. Just kind of roll out some different things and one, how you can relate it toward your business, uh, but also just kind of talk through some of the things you know we're grateful for, uh kind of a fun episode just to dive into some of that stuff. So uh we're excited to kind of kind of break this down. Look, when Brady's away, we just gonna play. We're gonna have fun. We're gonna have fun.

Traditions, Football, And First Responders

SPEAKER_02 2:59

People don't really think of you know Thanksgiving. By the way, consider this like a special edition of Thanksgiving episode, as Adam mentioned. Um, people don't really think of Thanksgiving of their business. And so today we're gonna we're gonna kind of name this Gratitude is a growth strategy because it is, and here's what we mean by that. But but actually, before we get in, just a couple of Thanksgiving. We could never go without having some fun, as you mentioned, Adam. Um what what do you like better? Pumpkin or pecan pie? Either one pecan pie. Pecan pecan pecan. Pecan pie. Oh, that's right. In the south, it's pecan. That's correct. Especially if you're from Georgia. Thank you for those listening and watching from Georgia. I don't like pumpkin pie. Ugh. Just doesn't sit.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Sit down pumpkin anything. Even pumpkin spice latte, any of that stuff. I'm a I'm a I'm a give me that pecan.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Do you like uh do you like sit-down dinners, football games? What's your what's your Thanksgiving tradition?

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Rather, so we're football, we're a sit-down family at the at the house. My mom tries to keep it traditional. Last year was the first time I ever convinced her for the love of all of everything to quit using the really fancy silverware and plates for things. I'm like, mom, it's just us. Let's do paper plates, let's make this go faster.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

No cleanup, let's clean up, brother.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Let's clean up. Like this isn't this isn't some like 17-course meal. Let's let's make it simple. I don't know anybody listening. That's me. The simpler the better. I want to eat and I want to sit. So um, for me, Thanksgiving's great because it's kind of like that little bit of disconnect before summer turns or uh Christmas turns in. Um, I was talking to some neighbors the other day, and we were just talking about the holidays, and I was like, you're gonna think I'm a terrible person and a terrible Christian, but I hate Christmas and I hate Easter from a creative standpoint because man, it is nonstop.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Yeah, for sure. I could have I I know I've seen you in action. It's it's it's a lot. But for those, but I will say this more importantly, for those in the South, it is Alabama Auburn hate week. That that is it's coming up Saturday, the big game, Iron Bowl, 6 30 kickoff. So we know you're Bama. We're Auburn. We'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

By the way, leave it to Alabama to be in the worst spot ever where they just lost the or they just lost to Oklahoma. Playoff contentions are on the line, yeah. And Auburn for the 17th time in four years has nothing left to lose.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

Yeah, well we're fighting for a bowl of eligibility, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:31

I mean, that's what that's essentially what's happening. Look, I'm kind of hoping they they lose, so maybe we can do the Birmingham Bowl again. Yeah, there you go. Maybe, maybe I mean we you know, we we do the Birmingham Bowl, we get to honor a responder. Um, our team out in Dallas gets to do the Frisco Bowl. They honor, um, they honor they're honoring a police officer this year. Yep. Um we're honoring a firefighter. So I'm you know, I'm like, man, they'd be love to have Auburn at the game and to do some of that photos and things.

Gratitude As A Leadership Habit

SPEAKER_02 5:57

So big, big crowd. But and and by the way, as Adam mentioned, excuse me, thank you to all our first responders out there. Um, gratitude. We give it to you. You guys 247-365 protect us, keep us safe. Uh, you're there in time of need, uh, especially in those times of need when people need are needed the most if they're going through something trauma traumatic wise. So thank you all for that. But um, again, as as we get kicked off here, um, again, we just like to have a little fun with you guys. Think of think of gratitude as a leadership habit, okay? Think of it that way. What gets appreciated gets repeated. Now, Brady, he's not on the episode, so we're gonna have some fun, maybe, maybe with without him today, too. Look, look, like I said, it's all it's not gonna be all business when like when Brady's here. Um so he he says this all the time. Uh, there's a quote from one of I think it's John Maxwell, what gets measured gets done. Think of it this way: gratitude. What gets appreciated gets repeated. If your people will work, if they they will work for a paycheck, but they will go above and beyond the for leaders who see them for who they are. So it's not just about just the paycheck. Owners, managers, think about that. We did an episode, um, I don't even remember the number now, several episodes ago about the five growth, uh, five greatest habits of a leader and five greatest coaching habits of a leader. And one of those is thank your employees because they every single day, the more you tell them thank you, they may not be getting that at home or for that matter at church or in their local marketplace, wherever they may be, help them, thank them. That those things go a long way with people. I think you could probably relate to that too, Adam, that you know, it it it it does, it does boost productivity and retention in your people. You know, we've had people tell us even at our office that look, we love, we love when our paycheck every other Friday. We love the fact that we get to work for an organization who has a fantastic culture, but more importantly, we like our leadership team who tells us thank you.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's really important. That's one of the things um that I've really been appreciative of uh being at the church. Our church has a culture. We we sat down um recently and kind of went through some of the things we're good at, and that was what hospitality um was one of the biggest things. And we we don't feel like it's just for first-time guests. We talk about it being for you know our serve team. We uh, and I know you guys are in the same position, but you know, we're we're church about you know somewhere between six and seven hundred. Oh my gosh, I did it, and I shouldn't have thought waiting on you to say it.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

I'm not doing it, I'm not doing it today.

Culture, Hospitality, And Thanking Volunteers

SPEAKER_00 8:35

But uh let's see what I said it click. But um somewhere around there, but we have a lot of people that serve in multiple positions. So um, like even my own team, um, you know, I have a lot of um I have a lot of young adults, um, like one or two high school kids, and then I got one or two adults that help me from a media standpoint, like capturing photos, videos. Um, but they serve in multiple places, and so we always want to make sure we honor that and thank them. I mean, we filmed um our end of the year video this week, um, and my counterpart, our director of worship and and um broadcaster names Alex. She and I did everything together. She recorded live, I did the video, but man, we there's just no way we could have made that work without our without our team. Yeah and uh outside of like myself, Pastor Meg and Alex, I mean, all of it was served team. And we had like we had like 12 people there. And so, you know, if it was just on the people that were doing that, I mean, that that was a big thing for us. And so we're just really big on making sure that we honor them and thank them and you know, make sure we let them know, you know, we we what's really cool as part of our budget every month is we get to take people out to eat. It's one of the things, or just we have a food budget just to say thank you.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

And it's just to do that. Go spend time with your serve team. You know, I told each of them, I said, hey, I'm gonna take you guys out. We got to find some time, let's get some coffee, let's get something to eat. And I just because I never want that, I never want those things to go unnoticed or feel like, you know, they're doing it just to do it, or you know, I'm I'm using someone to get what I need. We want to thank them because they're giving up time. They're giving up, it was a you know, the Monday evening. Mm-hmm 80% of them have families, they're giving that up. So we want to make sure that we we do that. And we try to do that every year. We try to give like a Christmas gift, whether it's a shirt or something like that to our serve team. You know, we do some different things, nothing huge, but just enough to say, hey, you know, we we appreciate it, you know. Thank you for doing that. So I think gratitude goes uh a long way. I think if you're somebody that you continue to not thank someone or you just don't ever, you know, I I I'm not somebody that you know, words of affirmation are something I I have to have, but it just it's great because it's like, okay, I'm doing the right thing, I'm doing the right job. And sometimes you need that. And I think even those can be a big part of gratitude.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Yeah, that's that's a great point. I mean, you you just you go above and beyond sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't even have to be listeners, it doesn't have to be a gift, it can be a simple thank you. So we're gonna we're gonna do something right here, Adam, called gratitude and action. We're gonna put our money where our mouth is. All right, this is not comfortable for you. It will be very comfortable for me. So we're gonna give this a go around. Sarah Brady's not here. I'm I'm gonna make a statement. This is this is to you listeners, take something like this, use it with your team. Uh-huh. Uh, we're gonna call it a gratitude speed round, okay? So I'm gonna give you a category. You have to say someone's name out loud. The first one that pops in your mind. Okay? All right, here we go. A teammate who made you laugh recently.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Jesse. Spending time with him on Friday.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

A client who Sunday night. A client who believed in you early.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Mac Davenport.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Oh, Mac Davenport up in Missouri. Great listeners.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

First Survey that ever hired me outside of you guys.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

Yeah, thank thank you, Mac, for what you do in the SurvePro community. A mentor who helped shape your leadership. You and Brady. Oh man, thank you. Thank you. That is fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

I mean, it's where I literally I was I was talking to your wife the other day, and she was she just she sent me a message and she's like, Hey, I just want you to know where like, I guess I know where you're doing a speed round, but she I posted something and she literally was like, Hey, just want to let you know we're proud of you. Like, we're seeing this content you're sharing from the church. And I was like, I mean, it's because you guys let me do it if you hadn't let me learn.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

So it's fantastic. No, I appreciate you saying that. I mean, and by the way, you and okay, I know we're in a speed round. We're gonna go off topic here. Breaking up.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

It's a fun episode.

Gratitude Speed Round In Practice

SPEAKER_02 12:24

So look, for those employees, you tell your you tell a supervisor or a leader in your life, a mentor in your life how much they mean to you, like what you've done for them. That just fuels me to want to keep doing it. So we're gonna talk about that here in a minute. But one last one a moment you almost missed, but you're glad you didn't. Oh man, I don't that one that's hard to do. I don't miss moments. Actually, oh hey, speed speed around right there. So we're our point, our point here is to everyone take a moment, use it with your team. It can be simple things like this. You can make up your own. But the point of this is this gratitude doesn't slow down the business, it just fuels it. So the more that you can can think of people that come to mind in your organization that you are thankful for and what they've meant to you, teammates, leaders, mentors, whatever the case is, again, I just talked about it. It fuels, it it wants, it wants to make you do it more. I will never forget before that book that I that I read, the uh five coaching habits of a great leader. Man, I when when I read number five about thanking people, it hit me right in the gut because I was not good at doing that at all. And I remember I was like, I have to change the narrative. Is it gonna be awkward to tell someone thank you? Like, thank you, Adam, for what you do. It it it sometimes it can be a little awkward, but the more you do it, the more it fuels you and it fuels the people around you. So that that is don't take that for granted. Again, it does not matter what business structure you're in. Okay. So here's just a little bit of a challenge for you guys out there, Thanksgiving. I know some of you might not be watching this on Thanksgiving Day when the Detroit Lions or the Dallas Cowboys are about to play their their big football game every week. But take a moment, okay, sometime this week, and write this, write this down. We're gonna give you a little fun uh leadership challenge, okay? Write or maybe use your phone, you know, take a voice message and write three thank you notes this week. Someone to your team, one someone on your team, one to a peer, and check this out one to a customer or a vendor. Because most people don't do that, me included. I'm challenging myself with this this week. Okay. So if you tell our customers, think about this, Adam, they tell us thank you. How? One of your favorite things in the world. How do they tell us thank you? You did a great job. Huh?

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Oh, well, I was gonna say, well, sure they pay you, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

But what's the what's the thing people look at nowadays when they're going to look for another service?

SPEAKER_00 14:57

I mean, any when I see somebody share our content stuff, and um I what I and I and you don't have to do this, I'm just throwing this out there for people that are posting. But when they tag tag me or something like that, I always love there's no to me, you don't even have to tell me thank you. Nothing means more to me than when you post a photo and you have that little cred that it was taken by such and such person. There's to me as a creative, um, because that's my that's a big not only that, uh, two two things happen with that. You are sharing to your audience who did this. One, you put it on your profile in a place that's gonna stay, which these days that's that's a portfolio's. Yeah. And two, by tagging me, you're letting people know, hey, you should trust this person as well. Um so nothing means more to me. And then not sticking, um, and then not putting filters over the photos that I work on.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Yeah. Oh gosh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Little, you mean the little uh glossy, starry look on top, maybe. Emily's best friend Jayna knows that she doesn't get pictures anymore. I get sent to her husband.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

You made that mistake one time. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

But think about this from a customer's perspective, they're always giving us Google reviews too, right? They're writing us a five-star whatever. Yeah. Well, how how cool would it be for us to send them something? Thank you for choosing our company. Thank you for visiting our church. Thank you for coming to our store. People don't do that a lot. So here's the idea behind this. The best leaders aren't just thankful, they're noticeably thankful. They do things a little bit different. I the great Nick Saban of all time, we know it's Alabama Auburn hate week, we we do, but the greatest leader in coaching of all time, he says, you know, you've got it figured out when ordinary people do things extraordinary. They do the little things that take you above everybody else.

Thank-You Notes And Customer Appreciation

SPEAKER_00 16:48

And you know, I I'm gonna throw this out there because maybe somebody's listening to create it because I'm not smart enough to create it. But my buddy Matt Powers, he talks about how often we get reviews from customers. It'd be great. And now he was saying it for the opposite because they get if they get negative ones, but how much cool would it be if we could rate customers as well? So you're like people could decide, like, hey, do I want to work with this person? But when you have a great customer, yeah, you could do the same thing, right? You could say, hey, this person was great to work with, they communicated. Hey, even in times where maybe like we had some issues, they were so understanding, uh, you know, they really worked with us. But he he talked about that a lot when we work out in the morning. He's like, I need somebody to create is kind of like the Uber model, right? Like, yeah, for sure. You rate the driver and you rate the rider. So it's like, hey, if I don't have a good enough rating as a rider, then I can't ride anymore. Well, you know, but hey, and it's not a bad idea. It's not a bad idea. I'm just saying, how cool would it be to be able to thank um on the flip side for those of us in customer service, and we do have that customer that's tough to work with, and they leave us a negative view. But on the other side, we get more of this than the other because our team does such a great job. But it would just be kind of cool sometimes to be able to like on Google, like rate your interview, your person that's leaving your view. Hey, the you know, the Thompsons were great to work with, they had an issue in their home. You know, they were always available. We needed to call, they let us in their home, they did everything. So total, total side note. But you're talking about that, it'd just be cool sometimes to be able to, you know, thank our customers like they thank us.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Yeah, and note to self Matt Powers, if you're uh thinking that, you better start doing something about it now because I'll never forget it was probably 10 or 12 years ago. I was like, man, how cool would it be to take your debit card or credit card and swipe it in the soda soda machine, like the Coke machine, we call it the Coke machine. Is like, how cool would it be to do that? Nobody carries cash or you know coins anymore. And I'll be dang like two years later, they came out with it. I was like, I'm well, I'm sure this thing's been in patent mode for years, but Matt, you better get on that because I'm telling you, somebody's gonna do it, and you can make a lot of money doing it.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Do it. So I need so that's the reason I'm throwing it out there, is I'm not smart enough to figure it out. I need somebody to.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

Yeah, for sure. And and maybe it's an AI, maybe it's an AI feature, Matt.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Something somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

So think about this. Don't think of gratitude as just during different seasons. A lot of people a lot of people relate Thanksgiving to being thankful, and we should, but it should be a 12-month 365 thing.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

It needs to be, it needs to be year-round. I think it it's kind of like I joke about with um with Valentine's Day. I was like, I don't need one day a year. Yeah, I need to show my wife I love her year-round. Yep. Same thing with this. I need to be able to show my team that um and and and do those things. I and that's something again, just to continue to brag on some of the folks that with us at the church. I mean, like even Pastor Caleb and Pastor Ashley for our kids, our student ministry. Man, if we have like a long weekend, I'm like, I'm staffed, and they still send me a thank you card. Yeah, like I'm sitting three feet from him, and especially right now because our church is under construction, so there's six of us in one room. But I still and then here's the thing he doesn't hand it to me, he doesn't do anything, it shows up in the mail. And so I'm like, so it's just funny because he's literally sitting enough where I can turn and talk to him, but I'll still get something in the mail from him and Ashley saying, Hey, you didn't have to come film all weekend, you didn't have to do that, or any really big event. They do that, and that's really across the board. So I sometimes too, those handwritten notes uh go such a long way. Pastor Summer, our kids pastor, um, Emily gets notes several times a year and just says, Hey, thank you for serving in kids. I mean, and here's the thing, like you said, Benji, there's I mean, yeah, sometimes it's great they give like a you know, they give a Starbucks card, hey, have some coffee on us. We know it's tiring. And then other times they they don't at all. There's other times where it's just a card saying thank you.

Make Gratitude Year-Round And Modeled

SPEAKER_02 20:37

For sure. No, it's great because it's don't don't make it seasonal, make it strategic year-round. It has to be, gratitude has to be a year-round thing into your build it into your culture, right? You you just talked about it. Maybe your team has daily huddles, and maybe that, maybe one of your pastors didn't want to actually hand it to you. They wanted to mail it to you. That's extraordinary. He could just hand it to you, but in that daily huddle, maybe it's a performance review you're doing with an employee, or create feedback loops, right? Let let people in your organization tell you how thankful they are and why, or there's some things that may need to be worked on in your business. So think that take that for what it's worth. It has to be modeled from the top. Our leadership sets the tone to everything that we do. Don't get complacent. We've talked about that. If you want to build a grateful team, we as leaders have to go first. We cannot wait because what happens is we get in the mindset of just doing the same things over and over and over. Routines are great, don't get me wrong, but the bad routines are the ones that set up for not success. So you've got to go first as a leader, and that's important to you and your team. Um, just as we hey, look, again, this is a this is a shorter episode because we know it's Thanksgiving. You're about to get around the table.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

It's your appetizer before your main meal.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

I love it. Don't forget, listen, don't forget, as you're eating that turkey and dressing, or what do they call it? Stuffing in the north. Oh, don't go, don't go into a coma.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

I'm about to. You're talking about stuffing right now, and it's all I think. I'm like, I need to let not eat for at least a week or two?

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Yeah. Because you're gonna throw down. We all do.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

I'll tell you this, as you as you get into that, I'm a I'm a ham over turkey. Like I don't need, I'm not a turkey guy. Now, what's funny is I love turkey meat. Like we we use that instead of like regular beef and stuff in a lot of our meals. But when it comes to Thanksgiving, I man, I need I need that, I need that ham. Just give me ham. Yeah.

Closing Thanks And Ways To Connect

SPEAKER_02 22:40

Yeah, just again, we just want to tell you all we're so grateful for you that show up. We have listeners that will send us notes. Uh, we have listeners that will respond on YouTube and the chat. We just want to say how thankful we are for you showing up every single episode. Grow with us. Look, share the higher up vision. This is bigger than just Benji and Brady and Adam, okay? We want you to help share that, share the vision. Um, we're gonna, you know, if if you want to send in a note to us, tell us who you are thankful for this year and why. We're we're thinking about maybe in uh season four of doing an episode on fan-submitted voice notes. And what we're talking about doing maybe is having these things folded up. We unfold them and we read them like without even looking ahead of the show, just real time. Oh Lord. Uh, just like we did the the uh the fast-paced action a minute ago. So gratitude turns into routines, excuse me, gratitude turns routines into rituals. We just talked about routines a minute ago, and workplaces into communities. So look, again, we're we're just so thankful. I know, Adam, you are as well, and and we just want to tell you guys that's you mean so much to us. Um, we we will have, as Adam mentioned, one more episode for Christmas coming up. Uh, as always, you can connect on any social media platform out there. Where you can go to higheruppodcast.com. You can find and subscribe to any your favorite podcast uh platform, YouTube, whatever. Subscribe there. Uh, and as always, go out and choose to live a higher up life. We'll see you next time.