When planning a project, do you include time to celebrate?
The completion?
Overcoming that thorny problem to get things moving again?
Figuring a way to still stay in budget?
At the Leadership Breakfast – Reston today, we discussed leadership and teams, and of course communications came up as a problem and solution to several performance issues…not an unusual finding.
A significant dissatisfying factor for team members is the feeling that they are not appreciated –
‘busting butt and no one notices’. Team leaders are confident that they are communicating and offering positive input – speaking about meeting goals, project progress, and staying in budget for routine operations; acknowledging the ‘hero’ who pulls it out of the fire on the others.
What is often missing is a celebration at completion and at major junctures during the project. A strategic pizza goes a long way to say I appreciate you! Or skipping the ‘first thing Monday’ meeting as a reward for the contributions from the team is pretty hard to forget. The point is celebrating the successes is a strong way to communicate several things, including appreciation and closure.
Simple concept – add celebrations to your planning.
Best thing I got from this meeting: Checking the project off a completion list is not a celebration.
[title is from a Three Dog Night tune]
I am big on celebrations. Birthdays–yay. Farewells–yes, sad, but good for transition. Last year, when we had a bevy of foodies on our team, we had a bake-off/potluck.
So important to slow down and savor.
Agreed, even something small can go a long way in acknowledging the hard work that people do. A lunch or ice cream for the team when a project is finished is a nice way of saying thank you, in addition to recognizing things like birthdays and farewells.
This has inspired my office to celebrate our hard work–Thanks for the reminder!!