The Power of Gratitude in Leadership and Workplace Culture

“And I want to thank you

For giving me the best day of my life

Oh, just to be with you

Is having the best day of my life”

Thank You by Dido. (Click here for the song)

Designed by Freepik  www.freepik.com

What is gratitude?

Researchers have found it difficult to define gratitude. It has been described as an emotion, an attitude, a moral virtue, a habit, a personality trait, and a coping response. It relates to personality as well as to subjective and moral well‑being. Gratitude is both a trait, a general tendency to appreciate others, and a state, the feeling of thankfulness in a specific moment. These displays of character strengths are often powerful enough to evoke a strong emotional response, like chills or warm feelings in the chest.

Isn’t gratitude just reciprocal altruism?

Recent research has demonstrated that gratitude does more than prompt someone to return a favour. It also brings people closer. According to the Find‑Remind‑And‑Bind Theory, gratitude supports reciprocal helping, and it strengthens bonds. It shifts relationships from simple exchanges to more communal ones. Studies consistently find that people feel both the urge to repay kindness and the desire to deepen the connection. Researchers have also found that simply witnessing good deeds can create a warm and uplifting feeling that motivates people to act kindly themselves.

Even when the benefactor isn’t present, gratitude can guide someone toward others who contribute to the community, helping new relationships form. Interestingly, researchers have found that when it is impossible to directly repay or interact with the benefactor, gratitude recipients are still motivated and will undertake pro-social behaviour towards others.   

The Impact of gratitude in the workplace

To understand gratitude more fully, it helps to look at the broader family of emotions that arise when we witness excellence, kindness, or strength in others.

Researchers describe three distinct responses, elevation, admiration, and gratitude, each shaping our motivation and relationships in different ways.

Elevation arises when we observe moral excellence that doesn’t directly benefit us. It creates a sense of warmth, openness, and a desire to act kindly. This emotion is calmer and often accompanied by a physical “warmth in the chest,” sometimes linked to oxytocin release, which supports trust and reduces stress.

Admiration is sparked by witnessing skill, talent, or perseverance. Rather than soothing us, it energises and motivates personal growth.

Gratitude, however, is unique. It emerges when someone’s excellence is directed toward us. It strengthens closeness, encourages reciprocity, and deepens relationships.

While these emotions may not always lead to immediate behaviour change, they shift how people think, feel, and relate to others.

As  Sara B. Algoe and Jonathan Haidt explain, “Elevation, gratitude, and admiration are not just flavours of happiness.” They are catalysts for better relationships, better behaviour, and better communities.

Benefits of Gratitude

For Employees

·       Lower burnout

·       Higher job satisfaction

·       Greater emotional well‑being for both the giver and the receiver

·       Better workplace relationships

·       More autonomous motivation at work

·       Improved task performance

·       Greater humility

·       Increased patience

·       Stronger feelings of embeddedness in the organisation

·       Reduced turnover intentions

·       Higher overall satisfaction with one’s job

For Workplace Culture & Teams

·       Stronger sense of connectedness among employees

·       Greater cohesion within teams

·       More helping behaviour across the organisation and towards stakeholders

·       Better customer ratings of employees

·       Reduced antisocial behaviours, including incivility and ostracism

·       Reduced competitiveness and fewer unethical behaviours

·       More prosocial motivation

·       Energising effects for leaders

·       Affiliative behaviour even among observers of gratitude

·       Wider circles of connection

---

“When expressing gratitude, people avoid pessimism, unhappiness, complaints of malaise and pain, toxic emotions such as anger, hurt, and fear, feelings of loneliness, isolation, and lack of engagement. A grateful individual focuses on positive practices of solidarity and attention to others and gains a sense of well-being in return.”  

Diniz G, Korkes L, Tristão LS, Pelegrini R, Bellodi PL, Bernardo WM

---

Practical things a leader can do:

Researchers have found that small moments of gratitude accumulate and matter. Leaders who consistently show responsiveness, notice needs, offer support without expecting anything in return, and act with integrity create the conditions for gratitude, elevation, and admiration to grow. These emotions strengthen teams, deepen trust, and inspire people to be their best.

In a study of an organisation under extreme stress, employees described the following leader behaviours as expressions of gratitude:

• Management and colleagues showed care and support during a difficult time

• Management demonstrated understanding and removed barriers so people could succeed

 • Small acts of support from leaders were noticed and appreciated

Genuine gratitude from leaders reinforces upward spirals of mutually responsive behaviour, placing everyday gratitude at the heart of strong relationships.

Researchers found that when an observer witnesses gratitude for benefits perceived as legitimised, the expression signals that support is governed by clear rules rather than favouritism.  

A word of caution

Researchers found that when an employee has an abusive leader, showing appreciation may have a detrimental effect because it leads the employee to tolerate a situation they should not otherwise accept, and thus, in this instance, gratitude is deemed inappropriate and excessive.

Researchers have found that when gratitude is used incorrectly, it may cause more harm than good. When gratitude is expressed for benefits perceived as discretionary, it signals that resource access is contingent on idiosyncratic relational favour, inherently unattainable for some employees.  It is under these specific conditions that gratitude acts as “salt in the wound,” transforming a social signal into a threat to self-esteem.

Sadly, many organisations are characterised by unequal access to supervisors, differential task visibility, and increasing reliance on discretionary recognition systems. There is ambiguity around resource allocation and reward, and recognition policies. Hierarchical power dynamics amplify the symbolic impact of gratitude, with expressions from high-power actors more likely to trigger perceptions of favouritism in stratified contexts.  In this context, gratitude is likely to be a sign of preferential treatment, not communal strength.

So what about my client?

My client decided to follow his boss’s example and look for opportunities to express gratitude and to encourage others to do so.

Readers challenge:

Please email me some examples of when you’ve expressed or received appropriate gratitude at work.

A note of thanks:

Last week I had the privilege of meeting some of my readers, and it reminded me just how much support and encouragement I’ve received over the years. I can’t fully express my appreciation for every like, share, email open, and direct feedback I receive.  I’m genuinely grateful for the way you, my readers, continue to engage with my work and inspire me to continue to write.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

To subscribe to my blog, please click here: https://www.balkincoaching.com.au/leadership-blog

To set up a meeting with me, please click  here: https://calendarbridge.com/book/tamarbalkin/

----------------------------------

References:

Algoe SB, Haidt J. Witnessing excellence in action: the 'other-praising' emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admiration. J Posit Psychol. 2009;4(2):105-127. doi: 10.1080/17439760802650519. PMID: 19495425; PMCID: PMC2689844.

Algoe, S.B. (2012), Find, Remind, and Bind: The Functions of Gratitude in Everyday Relationships. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6: 455-469. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2012.00439.

Shen, J., Zhang, B., & Huang, W. (2026). Commentary on Hong and Thoroughgood (2025): Gratitude as Mirror, Not Salt: Re-Centering Legitimacy and Structure in the Study of Witnessed Workplace Gratitude. Group & Organization Management, 0(0).

Diniz G, Korkes L, Tristão LS, Pelegrini R, Bellodi PL, Bernardo WM. The effects of gratitude interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Einstein (Sao Paulo). 2023 Aug 11;21:eRW0371. doi: 10.31744/einstein_journal/2023RW0371. PMID: 37585888; PMCID: PMC10393216.

 Elena-Gabriela Nicuță, Cristian Opariuc-Dan, Diaconu-Gherasim, L.R. and Constantin, T. (2025). Linking trait gratitude to employees’ performance and work motivation: A two-wave longitudinal study. Personality and Individual Differences, 246, pp.113310–113310. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2025.113310.

 ‌Sekaja L, Tully CA, Mahlangu S, de Freitas K, Tyelbooi LN, Mjojeli BPL, Mokhethi ME, Mabitsela T. Thankful employees: The manifestation of gratitude at work during a pandemic in South Africa. Front Psychol. 2022 Jul 22;13:941787. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.941787. PMID: 35936248; PMCID: PMC9353733.

Fehr, R., Heng, Y.T. and Fulmer, A. (2025). The Psychology of Gratitude: Implications for Organizations. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior. doi:https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031424-094816.