How a gratitude practice can change a team’s mindset
As the end of the year approaches, calendars fill with holiday lunches, festive team dinners, and gift swaps. These moments create connection and offer a welcome pause in the pace of R&D work. But they’re not a gratitude practice.
Gratitude is something different. It’s intentional. It’s steady. And it has real impact on how teams show up. A national survey by the John Templeton Foundation found that 80% of employees would work harder for a manager who shows appreciation, yet only 15% say they receive regular thanks. 35% say their manager has never thanked them. That gap shapes energy, engagement, and resilience, especially in teams navigating the complexity of R&D.
As teams close out milestones, manage shifting priorities, and brace for the year ahead, gratitude is one of the simplest and most effective ways to reset the mindset of a group and strengthen the way people work together.
What we often see
In most (ok all!) R&D environments, teams sprint from meeting to meeting. The work is complex, deadlines shift, and new data often reshapes priorities. In the rush to deliver, appreciation fades into the background.
A few patterns show up again and again:
Wins pass quietly because attention moves to the next risk or dependency.
Individuals assume others “know” they are valued, even when no one says it out loud.
Meeting time is dominated by agenda topics. No space for recognizing progress or each other.
Fatigue builds across functions, especially in R&D where uncertainty is constant. That fatigue narrows thinking and lowers openness.
Gratitude isn’t a soft add-on here. It’s a performance driver. And the research backs that up. Gratitude changes how people relate and how teams function. Recent studies show:
Gratitude strengthens trust and increases willingness to help
Gratitude shifts the brain toward openness, learning, and collaboration
Gratitude improves performance and resilience
Research show that gratitude is one of the most overlooked performance levers. When recognition is consistent, teams report higher engagement, stronger problem-solving and more follow-through.
A different way
Instead of treating gratitude as something extra, you can weave it into existing team structures and rituals. You don’t need a new meeting or a big initiative. Small, steady practices are enough to shift the mindset of a team.
Here are a few simple ways to embed it:
Start meetings with a quick gratitude check-in. One sentence. One contribution someone noticed. This fits naturally into meeting rhythms and establishes a more grounded tone.
Bring gratitude into retros. Start with “What did we appreciate about how we worked this month?” It changes the energy and builds psychological safety before discussing improvements.
Use shared tools to make gratitude visible. A “kudos” section in Slack, Teams, or a shared doc captures the everyday behaviors that often go unseen. You can then turn it into a word cloud for year end celebrations as a year in review!
Build it into your charter and norms. Teams can name gratitude as a norm - not performative praise, but specific appreciation tied to real contributions.
Leaders model it first. Be specific. Name the behavior and the impact. “I’m grateful for how you clarified the patient enrollment risk today. It helped the group align quickly.”
The impact
When gratitude becomes part of the rhythm of the team, several shifts start to show up:
Stronger connection. People feel seen, which increases psychological safety and trust.
Better collaboration. Gratitude boosts generosity and reduces defensiveness - a powerful combination in cross-functional science teams.
More adaptive capacity. Teams are more open to feedback, experimentation, and change.
More effective meetings. Starting with gratitude improves focus and energy.
Greater engagement. Recognition fuels motivation and contributes to more consistent performance.
These are not side benefits. They are the foundation for high-quality scientific work, especially when uncertainty and complexity are the norm.
What about you
A few questions to reflect on:
Where does your team already show appreciation, even informally?
What small ritual could you build into a meeting rhythm without adding any extra time?
How might gratitude help your team stay grounded when the work gets complex or ambiguous?
We’d love to hear your reflections. And if you’re about to kick off a new team and want to do it differently, let’s talk. Plumtree is here to help you and your team work at the speed of science.
