As a leader, one of your primary responsibilities is to empower your team to do their best work. Studies show that gratitude has a positive impact on the moral part and added value of relationships. Gratitude is also effective in teams. It’s important, now more than ever, to thank you. 

Here are some ways to show this much-needed appreciation and recognition at this critical time when we are living and generate “virtual hugs” in your team and co-workers. 

Here are five ways to show gratitude that can positively influence your workplace culture: 

1. Make a sincere and consistent acknowledgment: Yes, showing gratitude is as simple as saying “thank you.”  You can also show that you care about giving your thanks in a different way. Some people love public accolades and others enjoy a pat on the back. Once you are determined to make a personalized recognition, take a certain time to get to know the person you intend to surprise. Understanding how your team members like to be recognized shows that you really care about them. 

2. Give a personalized gift: A common way to show appreciation for your employees or co-workers is to give a physical or monetary gift. If you can’t find the right words, then give a personalized gift to that person on your team who deserves your recognition. Prepare a beautiful package and show them how grateful you are for your efforts at work.  First of all, take the time to think about what would really make this person happy and would be useful to them. 

3. Engage your team: Showing gratitude doesn’t always have to come in the form of verbal or gift recognition. Thanking others by involving your team in important projects and tasks directly affects the perception of them can add value to the team. Employees feel valued when they can participate in decision making and their skills are being used for the benefit of the company. The next time you get the opportunity, maintain the correlation between gratitude and appreciation by involving your employees and team members in projects and tasks that show and strengthen your skills. 

4. Listen with intent: as a leader, we sometimes assume that we should lead all conversations. That assumption is not true. One of the main purposes of expressing gratitude is to show your appreciation for the other. So there is no better way to show appreciation than to listen carefully to the ideas, dreams and feedback of your team. 

5. Create a culture of gratitude: Your weekly team meeting can have a 10-minute thank you session where anyone on the team can recognize a colleague for doing something different that week, you can even do this by creating for example on Slack a #grateful channel for anyone to give a shout-out to a coworker. 

Give thanks and watch your team’s productivity prosper.