Purpose-driven Insights: New Year, Small Actions Win

When businesses cultivate relationships with their customers, workers, and communities, they prosper. Small, deliberate acts, such as volunteer days, handwritten notes, or appreciation circles, have been shown to boost morale, foster loyalty, and promote organisational culture. Research in psychology highlights the importance of reciprocity, meaningful involvement, and thankfulness in influencing behaviour. Workplace satisfaction and customer retention are positively impacted by even small, regular initiatives like proactive support calls, peer thank-yous, or no-meeting days. While team-focused projects improve focus and teamwork, community participation cultivates goodwill and brand trust. Contributors to this expert compilation offer straightforward yet effective methods for creating stronger, more resilient organisations by fusing operational awareness, human connection, and tiny deeds of kindness.

Volunteer Days and Human Thank-Yous Drive Loyalty

Set aside one day each quarter for the team to step away from their usual tasks and help a local nonprofit. It sounds small, but it lifts morale, strengthens the culture, and more than once we’ve watched clients pick up unexpected press or new business from those volunteer days.

And replace the canned customer thank-you with something that feels like it came from an actual human–handwritten notes or a quick selfie video. We tried this over the holidays for one client’s long-time subscribers, and the responses practically buried my inbox. It’s a tiny bit of effort with a surprisingly big emotional payoff.

Vincent Carrié, CEO, Purple Media

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Weekly Customer-First Blocks Recenter Mission and Team

I started my business out of necessity when my kid needed something better. I’ve preserved that same attitude when it comes to how we treat our team, our customers, and the farmers who help us make this possible. It’s not an afterthought here; it’s part of the business.

We started having “customer-first” blocks every week, which was a tiny change that had a significant effect. During these blocks, our staff can step away from their typical tasks and respond to feedback, inquiries, or even just thank-you cards. It doesn’t matter if they’re in marketing or operations. We switch it around so that everyone has a chance to work with customers. It brings the whole firm back to the reason we do what we do. And yes, it makes people feel better, but it’s more than that. It reminds us that we’re not simply creating formula; we’re also making it easier for parents to breathe.

Erin Hendricks, President and Owner, Sammy’s Milk

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Monthly No-Charge Fixes Spark Referrals and Goodwill

I’ve learned that small business decisions have had a far reaching impact on other things. Small things that have stuck have had to be authentic and repetitive in nature. It can be with our team, the communities we serve, and the everyday stakeholders we communicate with.

Blocking a day a month for emergency, no charge, quick turn for repeat customers or local business was a positive change for us. We only did minor repairs, re-attaching cables, changing rollers and other quick adjustments. It took little capital and did not slow down our schedule. The goodwill created was worth exponentially more than any marketing expense. People remembered it and recommended us. 

It also made the team feel good about the work they were doing. No one delayed a payback when the calendar said it was “payback” day. They understood what they were doing mattered. We tracked after each one of those days how many people recommended us and over the following 3 months that number grew by about 18%. We never had to have a program or a news release for that small change. A simple solution, done with care, for someone who needed a helping hand.

Craig Focht, Cofounder & CEO, All Pro Door Repair

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Monthly Peer Thank-Yous Transform Workplace Culture

I would say that one thing that people don’t think about is having peer appreciation circles once a month for 15 minutes. No need for a budget or more staff. Simply have three employees each choose someone outside of their team to provide a public “thank you.” Not through HR or surveys. Out loud. In front of other people. Give everyone a sticky note, write their name and the reason on it, and put it in a transparent jar by the door. You have more than 30 different human moments of recognition in plain sight after two months. It doesn’t cost anything, yet it changes how people get to work.

Dr. Christopher Croner, Principal, Sales Psychologist, and Assessment Developer, SalesDrive, LLC

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Ask Your Community to Guide Impactful Changes

The specific changes a business can make can vary depending on where they are, what they do, and their community. So, what I would recommend here is actually reaching out to your community and getting input from them. What causes would they want to see your business getting involved with? What changes would they want to see you make? How do they feel you could support them better? Going to the source directly and getting input is arguably the best way to make the most impactful changes.

Jeremy Yamaguchi, CEO, Cabana

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Meeting-Free Days, Proactive Support, Volunteer Hours Win

For your employees, implement a recurring ‘no-meeting’ day. Researchers found that one day a week off from meetings can decrease micromanagement behaviors by one-third as teams now have unfettered pockets of time with which they can do deep work. It is a simple policy that honors the employee’s focus and autonomy, and employees repay that respect with higher quality of work and increased morale.

For your customers, shift to a proactive support model. Instead of only tracking how fast you close tickets, devote a little time each week to proactively reaching out to a handful of customers just to check in. This small pivot in your operation lifts the relationship from transactional to meaningful, resulting in huge long-term payoffs in loyalty.

For your community, operationalize your support by offering a designated number of paid hours a week to local charities. A Deloitte study found that 70 percent of your employees find volunteer activities much better than company happy hours for boosting morale. It’s a small change that formalizes the company’s commitment to the community and gives the employee a benefit they will truly value.

Kuldeep Kundal, Founder & CEO, CISIN

About Purpose-driven Insights

Welcome to Store with a Heart’s HeartBeat’s blog series, Purpose-Driven Insights, which unites experts and changemakers to discuss what it really means to make a difference. This series offers readers practical advice and novel viewpoints by showcasing insights from leaders in charity, sustainability, mental health, social entrepreneurship, and other fields through insightful round-ups and interviews.

Purpose-Driven Insights offers the insight and motivation required to transform your goals into significant action, whether your goal is to lead with compassion, improve your community, or support a cause that is dear to your heart. Come explore organizational strategies, individual experiences, expert insights, and industry practices that enable us all to make a positive impact on a more compassionate and interconnected society.

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• What community-focused habit has made a real difference?
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