[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his post is based on one of the questions I received during the live Q&A following my keynote address, From Great Kids to Grateful Leaders, at IIL’s International Project Management Day (IPMDay). The question was asked by Megan Mason of Comcast. There were about 2,500 people present for that live follow up to the pre-recorded program, with — based on registrations — a potential audience of about another 60,000!

I want to present some delightful evidence of the way in which Grateful Leadership leads to Grateful Employees supporting project success. Here’s is how I answered Megan’s question during the live Q&A:

Gratitude, appreciation and acknowledgment are essential for maximum project team performance. When people don’t experience being valued they are often not motivated to do their best. They remain unengaged or even worse, disengaged (according to the Gallup Organization categories).

I like to make the evidence for this as tangible and as real as possible. Therefore, I cited the huge amount of work that a multitude of IIL teams perform each and every year to bring you International Project Management Day. The work starts about a week after the previous event, meaning now our people have about three days and counting to start planning International Project Management Day 2014, and always with both great success stories and the lessons learned.

All along the way, our people get acknowledged for their contributions, cheered for their successes, and even congratulated for their risk taking. So in this spirit, I want to share the delightful poem that was sent around to all team members on every IIL project team that created such a phenomenal project success this year. With the permission of Lori Milhaven, Executive Vice President, Marketing, I now share it proudly with you! Thanks, Lori![divider type=”simple”/]

A very special thank you to everyone for your help with this event. This event touches every department in some way and the reason why it gets better every year is the spirit of those who work at IIL. You are so appreciated for this and everything you do every day to help IIL grow.

Sincerely,
Lori Milhaven 

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And this came from IIL’s CEO E. LaVerne Johnson right after the event:

“Dear IIL Teams,

International Project Management Day 2013 has officially launched! This year’s event is our biggest ever, and each and every one of you has contributed to its success. Thank you!”

LaVerne then went on to add a wonderful list of acknowledgments for specific contributions made by IIL team members.

I want to acknowledge LaVerne for her vision, Lori for her persistence and enthusiasm, David Roderick (Head of IIL Media) for his ability to have his team create the best videos ever for IPMDay, and for getting everything completed on time. This year’s event was truly a miraculous accomplishment! I personally also want to acknowledge the fantastic host of teams that made this event possible: IIL marketing/social media, IIL Media, IIL Sales, the fantastic presenters and 4 keynote presenters. And of course, we all acknowledge Frank P. Saladis, PMP, for creating this idea ten years ago and getting IIL on board with it, to recognize and appreciate project managers all over the world!

It truly takes a corporate village to produce IPMDay, and IIL’s project teams delivered it bigger and better than ever. I am sure gratitude, appreciation and acknowledgment play their part each year in bringing us to new heights. And by the way, if you missed the live event, you can still access the programs until December 7^th by going to www.iil.com  and registering, then going to the site to see all of the videos. We are waiting for you…