Gratitude Practices and Team Building at ITS

Tis’ the season of growth and change at ITS! We thought it was time to share with everyone what we’ve been up to “behind the scenes” here at ITS. 

The start of 2023 is already off and running within our walls and our growing team has all found their rhythm. New innovative products are being dreamt up, mapped out, and are coming to fruition later this year, and we aren’t taking our foot off the pedal. In fact, we’re flooring it! 

Last week, we took some time away from our projects to show our appreciation for each other in the office. The team here at ITS is incredibly talented, specialized, and truly no two team members are alike. They each bring something so uniquely valuable to ITS, and as you may know, sometimes we can get lost in our work and forget how truly talented and appreciated we are. 

Take a look at the team participating in an anonymous gratitude activity! Each person had a piece of paper on their backs with their name, and everyone else had to write something they appreciated about that person or something they do really well. Each person read out loud what others wrote on their sheets – and now are a daily reminder at how appreciated they are to their co-workers. This activity came recommended to us and it was absolutely a hit last week and one we will repeat in the future.

Practicing daily gratitude is something we encourage and highlight with our gratitude jar. Our gratitude jar sits in our conference room with a pad of sticky notes next to it. The team will fill the jar with anything they feel grateful for and each month we read them aloud together. It has turned into one of our favorite moments of our monthly staff meetings. 

Lastly, probably the most uncomfortable of activities that we do here: The compliment circle! This is one that we throw at the team spontaneously so they don’t have much time to prepare. Each person will compliment the person to their left (or right, whichever direction we go) until we’ve completed the circle. You’d think the hard part would be complimenting someone else publicly, however, the tougher and more impactful part is actually receiving the compliment.

I am quite positive that not everyone likes being pushed out of their comfort zone to do these activities. I know it isn’t easy to do and it isn’t something that many places prioritize. But, we do. We try. We do better each time. We learn. We grow. We are constantly working “behind the scenes” to be better for each other and in turn be better for our customers. You can’t pour from an empty cup…can you? 

We would love to hear from you. What do you do with your teams to show appreciation regularly? Please reach out to Amy Seymour at aseymour@its-na.com, or on LinkedIn to share your ideas! I know it sounds lame, but, we ARE better together.