Gratitude as strategy in business

Wow! Third quarter of 2016 ended and now we are moving into last quarter. Please, let me use this opportunity to say thank you for reading Business Day newspaper every day. Thank you for investing your time and precious life on my writings and advice. Thank you for following on social media and even for your patronage. I am very grateful.
I am also grateful to our editorial and production team in BusinessDay that made it possible for many entrepreneurs dream to stay alive.
The reality is that gratitude as an attitude usually exposes you to what is working around you and how important are the people around you. The best way to audit your personal life on earth is to begin with what is working well for you. An example is the fact that your legs are still functioning but you have tendency to complain that you could not get the shoe that is classic for the red carpet event attended by other entrepreneurs. Alright, for a man on wheel chair, a gratitude for life and hope of walking with legs are motivations not the classic shoe.
The advantage of gratitude for what we have helps to see life from optimistic point of view. In business, optimism is a key factor to starting a business, sustaining the business and making it a profitable venture. Gratitude is a valuable emotional and intangible value for improvement both in personal and business life.
Dear entrepreneur, you have every reason to be grateful to God who created you and inspire you with creative idea for business. I also will say it is important to show gratitude to your family members who sacrifice time for you to come home late and support you by putting your working tools in good order. What about just saying thank you to your son who recognised that daddy’s best working tool is his laptop and chooses not to pour water on the keyboard.
Our associates deserve appreciation for every objective contribution towards business improvement. Someone with the ideas that rescued the business from bad debt is among reasons for the business to stay alive and profiting. You should be grateful.
The factory workers who kept to quality control policy do deserve immense appreciation. This is because it saves lives of consumers and preserves the joy of family that could have been thrown into mourning because of death of relative. A reasonable leader will recognise that the lowest cadre workers are the most vulnerable people to compromise on processes that could result into massive disaster. Therefore there is need to specially appreciate them for staying strong for all.
“In fact, gratitude may be one of the most overlooked tools that we all have access to every day. Cultivating gratitude doesn’t cost any money and it certainly doesn’t take much time, but the benefits are enormous.”- Amy Morin, a psychotherapist.
There are benefits of gratitude and I will quickly mention three here.
1. Gratitude improves relationship
What we don’t appreciate naturally depreciate in value. The truth is that people are comfortable where they are appreciated. Gratitude is one of the ways for keeping your quality employee. The emotion of gratitude keeps alive relationship at any level. If you have to reduce staff turnover then gratitude will be one of the strategic decision to employ. I have seen people walk out of employment, though good wage, resigned because the leadership do not value their professional input.
2. Gratitude keeps you in humility state
To be proud is to blow your personal estimation beyond reality. Self overestimation is first step to self destruction. When a business leader realises that without customers who buy the finished product her wealth creation venture is useless then gratitude to every customer will keep her in business. Thank you to customer is the best word that can come out from the mouth of business leader.
3. Gratitude improves confidence.
A 2014 study published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology found that gratitude increased athlete’s sense of worth which is an essential component to optimal performance. Other studies have shown that gratitude reduces social comparisons.
Grateful people are able to envision what is possible also in their business as they appreciate the good things happening in the environment.
Dear friend, there are so many reasons for you to be grateful to God. You should be grateful for gift of life and a good state of mind. As we get into last quarter of the year, I will encourage that you celebrate with family, friends, associates, suppliers, staff members for every business opportunity. As you celebrate, pay attention to other people and your imagination because that state of mind provides opportunity to see good things that are possible.

Victor Mamora
Mamora Victor, MSMEs advisors, speaker, consultant