The CUInsight Experience podcast: Gratitude (#223)

Welcome to episode 223 of The CUInsight Experience podcast with your hosts, Randy Smith, co-founder of CUInsight.com, and Jill Nowacki, President and CEO of Humanidei.

This episode is sponsored by The Sheeter Group - a leading executive benefits firm that meets your retention and succession needs. This includes non-qualified benefit plans, short and long-term incentive plans, compensation studies, scorecard design, performance evaluation, and more. Learn more at sheetergroup.com.

In this season, Jill and I will have conversations centered around leadership, credit unions, and living our best lives. We will have some of the most respected leaders from around credit unions who we are grateful to call friends join us in the discussion from time to time too.

For this episode, we are discussing the power of gratitude. Gratitude is a powerful leadership strategy that can have a huge impact on company culture, employee engagement, and team resilience, and we explore why gratitude matters so much for leaders as well as how to effectively foster it.

Gratitude tends to fuel positive culture, strengthen relationships, and encourage people to bring their best selves to work. When challenges come up, gratitude helps teams bounce back better by making people feel seen, valued, and appreciated for their contributions, and it also builds trust and a sense of meaning, showing employees that they are not just "cogs in the wheel" but part of something more important.

Expressing gratitude should be tied to specific impacts and outcomes, not just broad acknowledgments, and we caution against waiting for big events or milestones to show appreciation. We talk about some of the common barriers that prevent leaders from practicing gratitude more consistently, such as feeling like you are too busy or feeling worried that it will make the team complacent. We recommend building gratitude into daily routines and rituals such as starting meetings with a round of appreciation or having a weekly "gratitude moment" on team chats!

We share some personal stories of how gratitude has shaped our own leadership journeys, helping us stay grounded and focused on what really matters in the end. Leaders at the top may receive less day-to-day gratitude, making it even more important for them to model the behavior. Gratitude is a simple but profound leadership practice. When used intentionally, it can transform company culture, deepen connections, and empower teams to achieve truly remarkable things together! We hope that you enjoy our conversation!

[0:50] – Gratitude-centered leadership strengthens connection, trust, and resilience throughout a team!
[3:36] – Jill argues that genuine appreciation motivates people by highlighting their meaningful impact and not just their presence.
[4:48] – Expressing gratitude is also important because it quiets mental chaos and refocuses leaders on strengths rather than anxieties.
[6:45] – Randy adds that gratitude matters most during stress because past struggles create today’s strengths.
[8:34] – Jill posits that withholding appreciation can damage morale even more than some leaders might realize.
[10:03] – Jill gives an example of how a scheduled reminder to appreciate staff can feel intentional rather than insincere.
[12:50] – Reminders do not cheapen gratitude but rather help leaders stay consistent and thoughtful.
[15:40] – Expressing gratitude regularly helps train leaders to notice and value small everyday contributions.
[17:13] – Jill explains how openly practicing gratitude spreads through teams and helps build a shared culture of appreciation.
[19:13] – Beginning meetings with gratitude creates calm and connection.
[21:29] – Hear how long-term gratitude keeps Randy grounded and aware of meaningful partnerships.
[24:38] – Jill feels that higher-level leaders often receive less appreciation because their contributions feel assumed.
[27:15] – Randy admits that he struggles to receive praise and tends to deflect compliments back to others.
[28:26] – Hear Jill express how genuine appreciation from her team member Carl Clark reminds her that she is seen as a human and not just a boss.
[31:14] – Randy encourages listeners to express gratitude today and acknowledge people who matter.