Last week was a special one for our family. It was our son’s graduation day. After 4 years, including a year’s placement abroad in Europe and the Middle East, he graduated University with a degree in business and economics.
As I was sitting there in the historic and stunning University Hall I thought this really is a special event. Graduation day. The culmination of all the time, energy, and work that you have put into gaining your qualification, and it gives you a great chance to celebrate all that you have achieved.
Graduating is not something that you get to do every day. It isn’t even something that everybody gets to do in their lifetimes. This once in a lifetime experience gives you the chance to dress up in your cap and gown and attend a ceremony celebrating the enormity of your achievement whilst surrounded by your friends, family, and classmates. It is a brilliant way to highlight the end of this amazing chapter in your life.
So, I couldn’t help feeling a little sorry when it came to the small list of people graduating in absentia. Those who were unable or did not wish to graduate in person. It reminded me that I didn’t attend the graduation ceremony when I achieved my master’s degree nearly 20 years ago. At the time I had a young family and having enormous success with the growth of the business at the time. But it’s something I now regret.
For many of us, celebrating success doesn’t come naturally. For some reason, a lot of us just aren’t programmed that way. We play down our achievements rather than recognising them for the successes that they are.
The Neuroscience
Our brain is a reward-loving machine. At the centre of this is dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, reward, and motivation. When we achieve a goal or receive positive feedback, dopamine is released. This not only makes us feel good but also reinforces the behaviour that led to that success.
However, if we consistently undermine or overlook our successes, we can inadvertently starve our brain of this positive reinforcement. This can lead to negative neural pathways and foster self-doubt.
As a business coach I’ve found that most of us don’t have a good plan to celebrate accomplishments. I think this is unfortunate because celebration is an important opportunity to cement the lessons learned on the path to achievement, and to strengthen the relationships between people that make future achievement more plausible. When I speak of celebration, I don’t mean inebriated partying, but rather commemorative events that acknowledge the blood, sweat & tears as well as the joy in the journey.
Recognising your wins, no matter how minor, interrupts the cycle of self-doubt. Over time, this leads to improved performance, increased motivation, and a sense of well-being. One of the most effective strategies we use with our clients is maintaining a ‘Wins Journal’, a type of achievement log. Jotting down even minor successes and periodically reflecting on them can be profoundly empowering.
Workplace Achievement
Celebrating a milestone like an anniversary, a birthday, or a great set of grades can give us an amazing feeling. And it can be even better when someone else notices our achievements and makes the effort to acknowledge them.
Things in the workplace are no different in this respect. By celebrating people’s achievements, not only does it boost morale and raise spirits; it also has an encouraging effect on our business’s reputation and can be used to retain staff as well as attract new talent for future growth.
So how can you acknowledge and celebrate success? Here’s a few ideas to make easy to pick an appropriate method for your team:
1. Just tell them
A simple, face-to-face “well done” is an effective way to celebrate achievement. A personal email can be sufficient, too, and a handwritten card or note can add a valuable personal touch.
Gathering the team together to acknowledge success can be a powerful statement, and a round of applause can be uplifting and team-building – but take care not to embarrass anyone.
2. Share success stories
A group message is another option. Tailor it to the specific person and their achievement, but don’t overuse this method or it could come across as formulaic.
You can use email, the company newsletter, social media, or a messaging platform to share and celebrate success stories. You could even set up a dedicated channel to highlight and congratulate people for jobs well done. This has the added benefit of raising your team member’s profile.
3. Peer recognition
While recognition from leaders and managers is essential for employees, peer recognition can help take your efforts to the next level, and truly ingrain recognition into your culture.
Essentially, a peer-to-peer recognition programme is an organised system that allows an employee to send recognition for good work to anyone else in their company. This recognition can be either monetary (coming with a reward attached like points or a gift card) or non-monetary (a simple message without a reward).
4. Personalised gifts
A celebratory gift could be a one-off cash bonus, or a non-cash equivalent, such as a retail or experience voucher. Cash is often the most popular reward but think very carefully about how other employees might perceive it. Bear in mind that some team members may already be incentivized with cash bonuses.
Gifts such as food or flowers are a relatively inexpensive yet powerful way of recognizing achievement. Make sure that you consider any dietary or allergy issues. There may also be cultural sensitivities around giving gifts that you should be aware of.
5. Provide reward packages
Self-care packages are an excellent way to celebrate team success, as they can be part of celebrating group and individual achievements.
You can send digital gift packages, travel and accommodation packages, retreat stays, and massage sessions to celebrate your employees. In some cases, reward packages can include traditional benefits like financial consultations or insurance benefits.
6. Social gatherings
Celebrating by buying team members a meal or drink can be an effective way to reward them and to boost team spirit. However, beware of excluding anyone who, for example, is away on holiday, has special dietary requirements or has caregiving responsibilities.
If you hold your event during the working day, be mindful of colleagues’ deadlines and be clear about whether you expect them to return to work afterwards.
7. Team outings
Going for a movie or dinner, attending sports events, taking part in one-day outdoor activities are all common ways of celebrating. But there are potential risks to keep in mind, too.
Everyone will likely have a different idea of “fun,” so try to find an activity that will be popular across the board. You won’t want anyone to be unhappy or refuse to take part. This is a particular risk with physical or outdoor activities that might be difficult for some people, for health, accessibility or confidence reasons.
8. Offer extra holiday
Time off can be a great reward, especially when your team has worked extra hours to complete a project. But would working late occasionally for no particular reason also count as an achievement? Be careful about creating false expectations for the future.
9. Set up a hall of fame
An “employee of the week” noticeboard or notification can be popular and effective, but it can lose impact over time.
You risk accusations of tokenism if you feel obliged to choose someone rather than no one, whether they deserve it or not. And if you keep recognising a “star” team member, or constantly overlook another, you might start to alienate people.
10. Hold an awards ceremony
A glitzy evening of music, trophies and speeches is an exciting way to combine socialising, team building and networking with formal recognition and celebration.
If you have the budget, you can hire a venue and a professional events team. However, if you want to limit the expense and increase participation, get your team involved in managing and running the event, including making the food and costumes. This will be fun and rewarding in itself!
Conclusion
This is by no means a complete list. Use your imagination and judgment to create your own celebrations – and then watch as productivity and job satisfaction soar when your people feel celebrated and valued for their work.
Celebrating achievement is a key part of forming and maintaining a highly capable and self-confident team. It will reinforce your own confidence, and it makes of your organization a great place to work.
There are a multitude of methods for celebrating success. The main thing is to understand your team members and what sorts of things excite them. That way, you can have your moment exactly as you wish and leave a lasting impact.
If you would like some help with raising the performance of your team you can book 15 minutes to talk about coaching here at TimeWithShane.com.