The Science of Habit: Building a Culture of Workplace Appreciation
Have you ever wondered how you developed the routines that get you through the day? Brushing your teeth, taking a shower, eating breakfast—these are all habits. If you’re a parent, you know the effort it takes to help children develop healthy, beneficial habits. We do it because we know that once an action becomes a habit, it becomes an automatic and effortless part of their lives.
Habits are mental shortcuts. They allow us to perform repetitive tasks without draining the mental and emotional energy needed for conscious thought. As we grow, we build more complex habits to manage our lives well, like exercising, eating healthy, and connecting with loved ones.
This same principle applies to our professional lives. We all have work-related habits:
- The way we commute every day
- How we greet our colleagues
- The routine of checking and responding to emails
- The processes we follow to complete daily tasks
But how do these habits form? They don’t just magically appear.
Understanding Habit Formation
Fortunately, extensive research helps us understand how to intentionally develop healthy, productive habits. Three excellent resources on this topic are Atomic Habits by James Clear, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.
At Appreciation at Work, we’ve applied this science to solve a common workplace challenge: making appreciation a consistent, natural part of team culture. We created a resource to help leaders and team members develop the habit of communicating appreciation regularly and in ways that are genuinely meaningful to the recipient.
Introducing the Appreciation at Work App
The appreciation@work mobile phone app was designed and built on the core principles of habit formation. The app and its accompanying platform guide users through a structured process with features that include:
- Daily Reminders & Short Activities: Quick, engaging tasks that take less than 5 minutes.
- Incremental Learning: Small, manageable steps that build on each other.
- Engaging Questions: Intellectually stimulating prompts to encourage reflection.
- Immediate Feedback: Rewarding or corrective responses to reinforce learning.
- Conceptual Content: Additional resources to deepen understanding.
- Gamification: Friendly competition to boost motivation.
- Visually Appealing Design: A clean, modern interface with inspiring photos.
- External Monitoring: Features to help leaders track team progress.
How It Works: A 12-Week Journey
The appreciation@work app is more than just a tool—it’s a guided program. Over twelve weeks (the average time it takes to establish a new habit), the app delivers:
- Interactive reminders of appreciation principles.
- Practical tips for effective actions.
- Specific suggestions for each of the 5 Languages of Appreciation.
- Guidance on common mistakes to avoid.
Daily activities can be scheduled for whatever time of day works best for each participant, making it easy to integrate into any workflow.
This resource is designed to help teams build a consistent habit of noticing opportunities to show appreciation and acting on them in a natural, effective way. It works best as a follow-up for teams who have already learned the core principles through the The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace book, the Appreciation at Work training, or the Motivating By Appreciation Inventory.
Ready to Build a Culture of Appreciation?
We are excited to offer this new resource that helps organizations embed authentic appreciation into the daily lives of their leaders and employees. It’s time to turn knowledge into action.
For more information about the appreciation@work app, click here or contact us to answer your questions.
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Categories 5 Languages of Appreciation, Employee engagement, employee peer-to-peer recognition, Managing By Appreciation, Relationships, Workplace Culture
