Celebrate Your Wins: How & Why You Need to Do It
Author: Dave Hamilton
When did you last celebrate success with your team?
Do you remember the feeling of getting a pat on the back or a “Good job!” from your manager?
It’s just too easy to point out issues, or problems– and when it comes down to business, that tends to be what people focus on. And it happens all too often at work, forgetting to celebrate the wins.
Let’s look at the why’s and how’s of celebrating our achievements.
Don’t be too busy to inspire
Yes, you have soooo much to do – but celebrating wins is a priceless way to inspire your team. It can boost everyone’s mood and energise them to be more productive. It can take just a few minutes and doesn’t always have to cost a cent.
Little things mean a lot
Reserve a little time to do “little” celebrations:
- Verbally praise your team at your daily or weekly meetings.
- Post a GIF or a congrats card in your team’s online chat group.
- Insert a shoutout in your next group email or message.
- Write a personalised thank you note to express appreciation.
Write it all down
If you take the time to think about the wins, you may realise there’s more than you expected. A great way to take stock is to go old-school, putting pen to paper.
Write down your wins. It’s therapeutic to see how much you’ve achieved, individually and as a team. Across every win, write down how you will celebrate and when you will do them. Try and spread them over several weeks.
Go big and be generous
If you have more time and some budget, here are more ways to celebrate bigger wins:
- Set up a recognition wall to showcase team achievements.
- Allow flexible work options on special days or for a limited time.
- Arrange for perks like a snack station or a massage.
- Let the team choose where to give a charitable donation.
- Give out personalised fun awards for individual contributions.
- Award company-branded merchandise like shirts and mugs/tumblers.
- Go on a team retreat or outing (where nobody talks about work!)
- Give the team an extra day off or a longer lunch break.
Celebrating wins begins with you
Every true leader wants to bring out the best in their team. You want to encourage growth and productivity?
- Step up and invest in making your people feel valued.
- Reinforce the idea that hard work pays off and brings rewards.
- Build a positive team culture where every member is appreciated.
Over time, your team will become more engaged, proactive, and have a stronger drive to excel.
It’s a balance of positives and negatives
You don’t need to ignore mistakes, but you can view them in positive ways. For example, instead of making just a list of wins, create a table of four columns.
The first column is your “Did Well” (wins to celebrate) list.
The second is your “Do Better” (things to improve).
The third is your “To Do” column – what you will do to improve the items in the “Do Better” Column
You can set due dates under the last column.
So, your table will look something like this:
| DID WELL | DO BETTER | TO DO | DATE |
You can do it first then ask each team member to do the same; or you can do it for the whole team, asking them for inputs. No need to limit it to a particular number of rows, if there’s anything significant to add, keep adding.
The best part of this is in actioning the third column. Sounds exciting?
A few more ideas
To cap this off, here are some extra tips for celebrating wins:
- BE SPECIFIC: Specifying what is being celebrated can make it more real and more meaningful.
- BE SINCERE: You want to praise your team, not flatter them. Don’t say anything if you don’t mean it.
- BE TIMELY: The sooner you celebrate, the stronger the impact on the team.
- PERSONALISE IT: It’s better to send individual messages instead of a generic email.
- MAKE IT FUN: No tuxedos, gowns, or a red carpet are needed. Just go have fun at a team lunch, have a few drinks, or spend time playing games.
- MAKE IT A HABIT: Celebrating regularly and often can help create a culture of continual growth.
- BE INCLUSIVE: Everyone should be given a chance to be appreciated and recognised, not just the top performers.
- BE FLEXIBLE: You can celebrate wins and cheer your team on right in the middle of a project.
- BE CREATIVE: You can come up with better ideas for celebrating wins because you know your team better.
Finally, FOCUS ON THE HUMAN ELEMENT: Highlight the stories behind the achievements – the missed lunch break, the extra hours, and the hard work put into it. Real stories resonate better with people.
Beyond Feeling Good
Taking the time to reflect on and celebrate our accomplishments is more than simply a feel-good exercise. It is essential to building a high-performing team. The goal is not perfection but a culture of growth and improvement.
With a little love and respect, everyone wins.
Date Published: September 2023
