Work Besties Who Podcast
Building a bold community of work besties 💼👯♀️ to bond 🤝💞, banter 😂🎉, and bloom 🌸✨
🎙️ Listen to the Work Besties Who Podcast: where workplace friendships get real! From tea spills to relatable laughs, we’re unpacking everything about work life's ups, downs, and unforgettable moments.
✨ Join us for candid chats, relatable stories, and a sprinkle of chaos—because what’s work without a little drama and a lot of fun?
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Work Besties Who Podcast
Practicing Gratitude at Work
Want to boost morale, strengthen relationships, and create a thriving workplace culture?
In this episode, Jess and Claude reveal how practicing gratitude at work can transform your team dynamics, improve communication, and even enhance productivity. Learn simple yet powerful ways to express appreciation authentically—without it feeling forced or overdone. Plus, discover how gratitude can help you navigate workplace frustrations and foster a more positive, resilient mindset. If you’re ready to level up your work environment, this episode is a must-listen!
Key Takeaways:
✅ Gratitude strengthens team morale and workplace culture.
✅ Authentic appreciation leads to better communication and trust.
✅ Small acts of gratitude can create a ripple effect of positivity.
✅ Leaders who express gratitude inspire higher performance.
✅ Balancing gratitude with workplace frustrations can improve resilience.
Don’t miss out on these game-changing strategies—tune in now!
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Work Besties! Theme Song Written by Ralph Lentini @therallyband
Think about the last time a co-worker generally thanked you for something. How did it make you feel? Now, imagine a workplace where appreciation isn't rare but a part of the culture. Today we're diving into the power of gratitude at work. And, trust us, this isn't just about being polite. It's about transforming the way we work, lead and connect. So let's get into it.
Claude:Hi, I'm Claude and I'm Jess. We are corporate employees by day, entrepreneurs by night and work besties for life.
Jess:Join us as we explore how work besties lift each other up, laugh through the chaos and thrive together in every industry. Work besties, how are you doing today?
Claude:Claudia, one of my favorite topics gratitude, gratitude.
Jess:Yeah, why is that?
Claude:But not about me, about you, I think. Like our first episode for this season, you said that your you know what you wanted to do was do more gratitude at work this year. So how is it going?
Jess:I think it's better, better, I don't know.
Jess:You tell me, no, I think it's better, I would say so.
Jess:What my actual aspiration, if you recall, was I wanted to be more in the moment for gratitude, because we did talk about the two of us are pretty good about giving each other kudos about things, maybe not necessarily real time, but in general for the week, and I said I wanted to say it on the day instead of randomly throughout the the week as we had been doing, and I think I'm I've hit my goals.
Jess:I'm much better about providing that gratitude, not just to to you, my work bestie, but to all those that are on my team and then around me, and from that I will say it's been some positives and negatives. I would oh yeah, well, not negatives, but interesting feedback. Let's say, okay, so I like what happened to you. Well, not what happened to you, I believe, because I am so good about now giving that real-time feedback and providing the thanks and the appreciation. What I sometimes get back is not always the appreciation, but the parts that didn't work for them, yeah, which is not necessarily a bad thing, because it opens a avenue to conversations that you haven't had before or that clearly had been dismissed before, so I think that's a good thing.
Claude:It is. So what do you think? You know, it's all about gratitude. So what do we think? That gratitude is important?
Jess:at work. Well, for me, I believe the gratitude element is multifunctional. One of it is we are so quick to call out the things that need to be fixed and we're not great about providing the positives. So I believe it's bringing back the reminder of not everything is bad. We've accomplished so much and from that I see, at least on my team, a little bit more positive team morale and cheering each other on. So that is one of the quickest, obvious focuses. But I do believe it also provides, as I mentioned, another avenue for conversation and it's really helping to break down some of those things in the past that we didn't necessarily talk about. So I think it actually bonds the teams and it provides more open, direct dialogue and communication.
Claude:For me gratitude, and I actually love what you're saying here, when people are quick to say, when something goes wrong, yeah, like every time this and this didn't do it right way, and. But it is so important, this positive reinforcement, and it brings so much more to a person and I think something has to be, you know, genuine. Yeah, because otherwise, like, it has to be authentic. Otherwise, if it's like you and I know someone that just going to the bathroom was thank you so much for, you know, blah, blah, blah, thinking of this At this point, this is not genuine, so you don't enjoy it anymore, point.
Jess:This is not genuine, so you don't enjoy it anymore. I will say that is the one agreed. I think the one area you have to be cognizant of is when you make that change which I have about being better, about bringing to life the positive things that are going on and really showing the appreciation real time. It has to be Exactly.
Jess:It can't just be like you can't thank people for everything, for breathing you know or thank you so much for breathing, I think there's a way to provide elements of positivity in general with every meeting, but it can't always be from a gratitude, exactly, and it has to be for something, I do believe, that went above and beyond than just something that is normal.
Claude:You know, there's also something that actually I've been doing, where, when someone does something above and beyond and doing something good, I'll send an email. Thank you so much for blah, blah, blah, and I CC the boss because, again, a lot of time we tend to criticize to the manager whatever, what was going wrong and not as much. Oh, this person went above and beyond and really.
Jess:Does it necessarily have to be just above and beyond, or could it be they have made a shift or changed themselves?
Claude:Oh yeah, that too yeah of course, you know definitely, and I think also it's important you know gratitude or showing, and I think also it's important you know gratitude or showing, hey, great job, even in front of everybody, right, when you have in a meeting or whatever, and giving like, do you know that? So-and-so did that. And I know that you've been doing a lot of your research. You know Jess is so good at that I'm not, and in there that I really loved was the ripple effect. Yeah, and there was the ripple effect. Yeah, and there is a ripple effect. You know, when you give this like thankful and that gratitude to the team, the team will respond and we'll start doing that, and I think that's where you can get away from this.
Jess:Negativity and kind of the criticism element that goes on at work. Yeah, I think it's like reframing how do we have better, more positive conversations? And this is a way to do that for sure, exactly. I think you doing it not just to people on your team but your peers also helps with that, um, and even to your boss, like even providing gratitude up. I think can help remind them as well.
Claude:There was one that I did say to my manager, my boss or whatever that it was the first time last year I took vacation and did not open my email, nothing, because she said you're not doing it Even at one point. I couldn't get away from it and I say, hey, I texted. What's up, you know everything okay. And she's like, nope, you're on vacation. And for me that was such a big. I was so grateful that I gave my, you know the gratitude that I was able to take vacation that was the first time in yes power break that you'll see
Jess:later or you heard before, depending on you know but no, that does make sense that you would then be so appreciative of, yeah, somebody respecting, and and it is one of those two where the ripple effect by doing that, you in essence will now do the same to your people exactly exactly again and I'm going to say actually a gratitude right now.
Claude:I don't know if you notice, but we are in a much nicer, fancier spot and this is thanks to Jess, so I'm showing my gratitude with all that. It's like incredible, like incredible. I know how far we've come.
Jess:I mean that's for both of us, Me kind of pushing us a little bit more.
Claude:Yes, a little bit more.
Claude:A little, a little.
Claude:But I'm grateful for that, thank you.
Jess:I'm grateful. It's fun to see how much we've progressed.
Claude:A little bit more than a year, All right.
Jess:so thank you for that gratitude. I appreciate it.
Claude:I had already forgotten.
Jess:Speaking of gratitude, habits and ways to like quickly show appreciation, can you talk about say thank you?
Claude:And also, I think, gratitude can be also not only verbal but also, you know, emotional or physical nonverbal, like smiling physical non-verbal, like smiling, and you know, even when you have a meeting like, for example, I'm with my team and the team is presenting or whatever having just this smile and you know the head nodding and it really shows the appreciation, and also, again, being very intentional on what, just saying thank you or hey, also what and I guess that goes back to email, where someone on my team does something really good, what I will do is send a little email thank you so much. Blah, blah and cc my boss. So their N plus one is aware of what they did. So, yeah, that's my thing.
Jess:So I have a couple of hacks too, I believe one that I've been doing more recently is I've noticed that when I get into calls sometimes you get in, you join and there's like a little bit of a call it the coffee clutch, yes, right, where it moves quickly from you know what did, how was your day or what did you do this over the weekend to a complaint about something, what I've been doing. When I joined in on that, I either throw a positive spin based on what they're talking about or challenge back and be like but isn't there one positive thing you can think of just to help reinforce that? Not?
Jess:everything is truly negative not everything is truly bad and that does kind of like take them a step back. And I've found, when I've done that recently, especially on my team, somebody actually commented to me on Friday. You know what, jess, you're really good about every time we come with a problem, that you have like a positive spin on it or you have a way to like shift our mindset, and they're noticing it.
Claude:So like it does work.
Jess:It doesn't, but it's true. It might not be authentic to everybody. As you talked about, you got to do it in a genuine way, but there is a way to still do that yeah, it's like when actually, yes, and I love that, because a lot of time when someone screwed up we all screwed up.
Claude:That's how we learn, right at the end of the day, right yeah that's. I screwed up plenty in my life and what you do, you do processes or whatever to avoid. You learn from it, and that's the same thing is you tell your team look well, if it's after the third or fourth time, that's another question, another story, but the first time it's like it's okay, you know, we are all human, you'll know for next time this is what might happen and to go from there. So always looking at that positive thing, yeah, for sure.
Jess:The other hack that I have. I call it the one minute gratitude trick, so this is one that is meant to like shift your mindset instantly. So it's a little bit more about an internal thing versus the team dynamic.
Jess:but when you are in a situation where all of a sudden, you're noticing how negative you are, you take, you take a deep breath and you like breathe in, breathe out, and you have to say one or two things positive. It doesn't actually have to be about that element, you just have to say positive things and it instantly puts you in a better mood. So I tend to do it about me like I'm trying my best.
Claude:I really like my blue eyelashes today, or something that just makes me, I love my life, I love my job, I love my job, I love my job, I love call back to another episode if you haven't watched it, please do.
Jess:It's magical and definitely another way that can help shift your mindset, and it's similar to that exactly the same kind of processing right it automatically shifts your mindset. Yeah, that's what I have. Instead of being in that, stuck in that negative place, I have to do that. Giving yourself gratitude is also just as important that's where I have to work on.
Claude:I don't give myself gratitude to the others.
Claude:Yes, you don't cc yourself. Oh my god, I am so impressed by what you've been doing today.
Claude:Blah, blah, blah and Cece my boss, that's so funny, that's brilliant no I tend to give gratitude to others, but not me. Well, you gotta work on that these are all practices.
Jess:The whole point of this whole season wellness is like it's not going to just happen. You have to be aware and then small changes matter. They may they lead to big changes longer term. Small, small. So question for Do you think you can be both grateful and frustrated at the same time?
Claude:I looked at that question and I was reflecting and I came with nothing. I was trying to find you can't what word. Example of it? Oh us, when we get frustrated with each other, but then we all, oh, that's brilliant, that's brilliant.
Jess:It's good to know where I stand in this friendship here. I'm very grateful to hear the feedback, thank you. What I actually was referring to is how you and I became friends. Right, we were in an environment that was not positive. It was very frustrating, but we were grateful for each other. Yes, you were so upset, right, you were like crying over this. So I do. I think, in a way, when you think about I'm not saying ours was a fully toxic situation or anything like that no, in a toxic environment, situation wasn't fun, and in a toxin environment or in an environment where you are challenged or dealing with a big challenge, the value of having a work bestie.
Claude:With each other.
Jess:Yeah, so it is okay, like I think the reason we bring it up, or I thought, to bring it up clearly is because I think it's okay to sit there in both Like to be thankful and grateful for having the support, having the ability to be collaborative with certain individuals and things, but also still be frustrated in your environment.
Claude:Yeah, now I do understand, Because when I was reading I couldn't understand, like being frustrated with someone and grateful at the same time. Oh, got it, it was the same person, you know. That's why I'm like I was trying and you just brought frustrated as well as grateful so you couldn't do it, don't you get frustrated by me too sometimes.
Jess:That is for the work. Besties after dark episode and I might need a little cocktail to help get me to say that but, yes, but it's normal.
Claude:We are human and that's what friends are. We love each other. We get frustrated. We talk. We love each other even more Exactly. So that's normal. But yes, so that gratefulness can be a weapon against that. The frustration.
Claude:Explain that to me you say it like we were frustrated with our situation, situation. We had our it's, that gratitude with each other because we were helping each other Again yin-yang, I know, but we were helping each other was really a weapon against that frustration. That we could remove that frustration kind of on the side or not be consumed as much. I quite like that.
Jess:It's really good See that I know Guess what I love it.
Claude:You've been doing it too, though I've been seeing some stuff.
Jess:you've been doing it too and we're now showing gratitude for our um isms. Let's call them yes, yeah, and we do copy from each other. I'm not gonna lie, that's true. That is a fair statement right there, I hope.
Claude:Hopefully I copy more you than you copy me, but, yeah, attitude is so important, not only, as you know, an employee, but an employer as well, where I mean not that we're an employer, but, you know, as a team lead employer, but not of, yeah, just of you and me right now.
Claude:Yeah, exactly, but actually it's so funny because I have someone in my team that tend to be a bit a bit like very straight to the point, right, and one day someone in the team did well cross-function, did something very good or very nice or really supporting the team, and the person say thank you, thank you so much, but CC the boss or something, or CC me and I send back the email. I'm like I love that email, that's awesome that you did that. And she's like I'm learning, I'm learning, I'm doing the same as you do. And again, ripple effect.
Jess:So I guess what you could say, based off of your having gratitude or you can leverage gratitude as a form of a weapon is almost as if saying it's like a superpower it is. So. This is something that I think all of you in the WorkBestie landscape can also think about. So, whether it's a quick thank you to a co-worker, an email to that co-worker with their boss and or their boss's boss, just kind of showing that appreciation, talking about the wins, talking about how much this has really helped the collaborative effort I think there's just great examples that we talked about today or even giving gratitude to yourself, taking that one minute pause these are all things we can incorporate into a daily habit totally and because, at the end of the day, you will want to do more for that person, like my mentor.
Claude:That was like maybe 30 years ago, maybe not, anyway, long time ago. This woman incredible I mean you heard from carrie the last episode chris, right, my mentor. We were all wanted to work for her because there was this genuine gratitude, this respect. It was incredible.
Jess:All right, everyone Well. So until next time stay positive, stay thankful.
Claude:Thankful yes, and let us know also what do you do to show gratitude to your work, besties or even to the people that work for you? Great, Bye.
Jess:Remember, whether you're swapping snacks in the break room, rescuing each other from endless meetings or just sending that perfectly timed meme. Having a work bestie is like having your own personal hype squad.
Claude:So keep lifting each other, laughing through the chaos and, of course, thriving. Until next time, stay positive, stay productive and don't forget to keep supporting each other.
Jess:Work besties.
