Julia WeeksCelebrating big wins is something that seems to come naturally to many companies. Quite often, the small wins are overlooked and forgotten.
As a small business, it’s important that you are recognizing these small wins in addition to the big wins. There can be long lulls between the big wins at times and if you want to build company morale and motivation among your team, it’s important to have a way to recognize small wins along the way.
Have Small Milestones During the Quarter for Steps Achieved Towards the Large Goal
It’s likely that you have quarterly goals for your business and share these with your team. If you want to keep team morale and excitement up, you need to establish smaller goals for your team to reach towards during the quarter.
Once your team hits a certain mark, provide a celebration for them. This could be as simple as a pizza party, ice cream party, extra time off, etc.
Having these small goals can help keep your team on focused and excited about reaching the quarterly goal.
Create a Way to Notify Everyone in the Company About Wins
When one of your team members has achieved a small victory, you need a way to notify the company in order to continue building a team atmosphere and motivation.
For example, one of the small companies I worked for in the past had a really fun way of notifying the team of small wins. When a recruiter made a placement or landed a new account, he would ring a small gong in the office and pass out candy to co-workers in celebration. This gave the recruiter a chance to share the win and have a small “hoorah” with the team.
Of course, that was a great way to celebrate wins for everyone inside the office, but what about those who were working remotely or traveling?
The same company also had a way of notifying and including those team members on the win as well. As soon as the gong was rung and candy was passed out, an email went out to remote or traveling team members to let them know of the small win. This allowed those team members to email congratulations to their co-worker and know that as a team they were closer to the goal.
Talk About the Wins
If you aren’t talking about the small wins, you need to be.
During daily or weekly huddles you need to recognize and talk about the small achievements with your team. This verbal recognition is a great reward for the winner and helps keep the team excited.
Dedicate a Section of Your Newsletter to Wins of the Month
If you have a company newsletter, create a section for your monthly winners. Recognizing your team winners in your newsletter helps to notify not only your business but also lets your clients know that you have a culture that appreciates your employees.
Give the Winners a “Written” Pat on the Back
Not only does a verbal “good job” go along way with your team, but written congratulations can create even more positive feelings. Writing a small, personal congratulatory note or email to the winner can often give even more motivation than verbal recognition. Written recognition is something physical that your employee can hang on to with pride for years to come.
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What are some other ways you could celebrate little wins to enhance company culture?
Josh Tolan
