Jul
18
2013
Celebrating success at work
By Sally Pearman.
The Centre has been working with a range of organisations for the past 20 years. One of the things we've always found fascinating is the range of cultures and traditions that we get a glimpse of in the training room. So over the next few months, I'll be asking our trainers, friends and partner organisations for their insight and top tips around some key management issues.
Ever the optimist, I thought the best place to start was:
How do our organisations, or we as managers, celebrate success? We're all busy at work but how do you ensure that even the small wins get the praise they deserve.
"The management challenge of keeping staff happy and motivated so that they give their best can be even tougher at times of recession.
There is little money floating around for bonuses and the like, and yet people are expected to do more with fewer resources. It's at times like these when managers need to use every opportunity available to them to keep people on-side. Research shows us that one of the biggest de-motivators is lack of recognition and appreciation and yet this is something that all managers can do something about - and better still it costs nothing! Celebrating success, no matter how small, is so important. If managers don't do this, staff can quickly adopt a 'why bother?' mindset. Giving well thought through feedback that is both motivating and developmental is one of the most effective ways to celebrate success.
When you praise people for doing well, they'll want to do more!!"
Laura McMillan, Management and Diversity trainer
"Every morning I set aside some time before the day begins to practice gratitude.
I think about the small successes that I'm grateful for as well as the big ones. Part of the process is recognising it didn't happen in a vacuum and making sure that I say thank you to everyone else involved, whether it's sending a card or dropping an email to say 'Thanks'."
Gill Thackray, Management and Mindfulness trainer
"Well little gains are an important part of research. You are constantly fighting your own intelligence, as well as science, and it is a tough life, which runs solely on you and your willingness. Setting small targets, whether it is getting a deadline sorted or getting your samples in the machine, really helps to spread out your day and keep you balanced.
With science you get amazing highs and crushing lows, and it's the lows where it is really hard to even motivate yourself to get out of bed, let alone start a day of failed experiments! But helping others and discussing your issues over a cuppa is all it takes to get you through.
Those little things that you take for granted, cups of tea and discussions with colleagues about your mini successes, that's what gets me through the day. I celebrate small gains with a quick ‘off task' chat, which gets my mind clear for the next hurdle that comes my way!
With research the success is all with-in, your boss will talk to you now and again but never hears about your daily struggle, you have to be strong minded and not take things to heart as quite often you feel you have succeeded, just to be shot down. To get praise and become successful you need to take that advice or criticism and work on it, so that you do not make the same mistake again. Small wins in my work go rather unnoticed; it's all about the big picture."
Heather Bircher, Microbiologist
"I think food and drink are important here!
Bringing in cakes or sweets, or a bottle of bubbly, is an easy way of saying thank you and celebrating small successes and you can adapt the kind of food/drink to suit your team. Human beings have used food and drink to bond for many millions of years - if it works, do it is what I say!"
Jan Burnell, Management Trainer
"Our organisation celebrates our successes by holding an annual award ceremony. Nominations are made by members of CLCH. For example, managers will nominate members of their staff."
Patsy Powell, Central London Community Healthcare
"Success in my line of work is almost always celebrated in the traditional British fashion - a pint in the local pub. When we're working in The City, which we usually are, we're spoilt for choice. This does however depend on how you define success. A group success such as finishing a site will always be celebrated in this way, often with some company funding. A personal success such as promotion also normally always draws people to the public house. However, for more personal perhaps more regular 'mini successes', personal satisfaction normally suits me.
This helps make the workplace a more rewarding, absorbing environment. Success rarely goes unnoticed."
The London Archaeologist
"Sharing it, identifying what worked and things that could be improved and saying thank you.
Saying thank you seems obvious, interestingly when I say thanks I often get an email back to say how motivating it is to receive acknowledgement. I think that contributions can be taken for granted and people are so busy that they assume people know their contribution was valued... no they don't unless this is communicated.
Politeness goes a long way."
Fiona Russell, Personal effectiveness trainer
"As a retail manager in my current company, there are both suggested ways to celebrate success, and ways each manager likes to interpret them. We all have our own incentives/reward system since what works for one store doesn't always work for another. We find a lot of stores build a certain ‘culture' depending on the employees and demographic.
Financial successes, such as hitting target, building on last year's sales, beating your store's fascia performance etc are announced/celebrated every Monday morning. As for things like customer service, we get mystery shopped every 3 months. If we get over 80% on a report, the employee who was shopped gets a voucher.
As managers we celebrate good customer service by giving out 'Be recognised' certificates. These certificates can be given to any employee, by anyone, at any time. These certificates are pre-made and are based on the 5 customer service foundations.
At store level, we really try to recognise achievements, even when marginal, however we do not believe in giving out certificates just for doing a job right. We give them out when staff go beyond expectations. At the end of each month the certificates are put into a hat, the one that's pulled out is employee of the month (the more certificates you have, the more chance you have of winning). The employee of the month gets a pretty large certificate up in the staffroom, and we usually buy them something, like jewellery, cosmetics or chocolate.
I want to show my employees that no successes go unnoticed. I'm a firm believer in positive reinforcement and that it's important not just to give attention for negative occurrences. Some Employees, especially part-timers, should want to do well, not because they're afraid of getting in trouble if they don't, but because they want to be recognised for working hard. I think incentives are important because it's often hard to get an employee, who works four hours a week, to really devote themselves to the brand, or to care about it."
Lucy Parker, Retail Manager
"In the past I would wait for a time that I considered worthy enough for celebration. The problem was that I would keep moving the goalposts ever so slightly so that these moments of celebration were rare and the times in between would often feel like a lot of toil and most days I'd feel like I'm barely making any progress in life.
Now, I have a daily reminder called 'Deep breaths - acknowledgment' where I take a moment to reflect on how one aspect of my life today is better than it was before (from as recent as the day before to as long as 10 years ago). And each day I try to think of something different and then take a few deep breaths and acknowledge my success, however miniscule that day's example happens to be."
Andrea James, Personal effectiveness trainer
"I think it's important to celebrate the little things. Just allowing the time to talk about something that's gone well makes you feel closer as a team.
And sometimes success can mean you're busier - so supporting someone if they have an important meeting or a heavy workload is a good way to show you appreciate their hard work."
Jessica Toms, Office Manager
"I think this is a vitally important management practice and there are two things we should all try to remember:
1. In my experience, there is a cultural and psychological aspect. Some people just do this naturally whilst others let reticence get in the way - I don't think you need to be an extravert to give praise - anyone can do it with practice! It's about empathy and self-awareness, two useful traits of good leadership; and
2. Like other aspects of management behaviour, you need to make it part of your day-to-day habit. Far too many people see 'feedback' as being only negative - you can give positive feedback too! And celebrating success is a great (and inexpensive) way to motivate."
Howard Exton-Smith, Business strategy trainer
"I am a photographer and have an extremely busy work load; as such I can't remember ever really celebrating any of the successful projects I have finished. There is so much to do, I have to get right on with the next job, this over time has had a detrimental effect on moral and maybe I should make more time to calibrate the little wins!
In addition to this, although I know how hard or complex my workload is, because I am the only one doing my job no one else really appreciates the work involved.
The work I produce is hardly ever accredited to me, in contrast to other academic work produced for publications etc. Authors, illustrators... This sort of action would really help towards celebrating the little wins when jobs are finished and outcome gets recognised on a personal level. Don't get me wrong, I love my job but the lack of recognition and lack of celebrating completed jobs only makes you feel less appreciated.
I think it's incredibly important that managers and organisations include freelancers and specialists in their celebrations as I know from experience that this would really motivate me to work harder for my organisation."
Professional photographer
For me, celebrating success is vital in creating a happy team. You spend so much of your life at work that making it a vibrant and engaging environment is massively important. We can all relate to the Sunday night blues and, as a manager, I think we should all be aiming to make sure everyone wants to be at work and that everyone feels valued.
Your influence can really reframe the way some one feels about their role and their sense of achievement.
Take the time to say thank you, to praise publicly, to celebrate the small wins. Build in time to talk about success; optimism is contagious. And if praise and celebration doesn't come naturally think about ways in which you can prompt yourself. A simple sticky note on your computer monitor can remind you until praise becomes part of your daily routine.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this discussion and keep celebrating!
