Do you love a party? Here is your excuse to celebrate at work!

In this episode I paint the picture: Could you live for days on end in a maze, not knowing if you are making any progress? John Kotter’s 6th principal, celebrating the small victories helps you and your team to rise above the day to day and to notice how far you have come and how far you have to go. It helps you to stay focussed on the change vision ahead. #LeadershipDevelopment #Coaching #Training #WorkingGenius

• Transcript

  I spent some time in an organisation where a new vision was clearly communicated. And it was a great vision! Initially there were some really good runs put on the board. After a couple of set backs one of the leadership and many of the team became increasingly negative. Many became disheartened. Now there were some great wins. However these wins were not widely shared. These stories were unintentionally kept quiet whilst the fails in the change became the dominating voice. Where do you think that left us?

  John Kotter’s 6th principal of change is celebrating the small wins regularly. Celebrate the small wins. The idea is this. Change is hard and it is normal human behaviour to become disheartened. To paint the picture; celebrating the small wins is like this. Your team jumps into a giant maze. They power forward. And then you stop momentarily to notice how far the team has come. You have lifted your team above the walls and shown them, we were there, but look at how much closer we are to our goal. We have a way to go, but well done and keep going!

  In Amabile and Kramer’s excellent article ‘The Power of Small Wins’ they write, ‘Of all the things that can boost inner work life, the most important is making progress in meaningful work’. ‘Of all the things that can boost inner work life, the most important is making progress in meaningful work’. Their research spanning 15 years shows that, ‘people are more creative and productive when their inner work lives are positive—when they feel happy, [when they] are intrinsically motivated by the work itself, and have positive perceptions of their colleagues and the organisation.’

  Kotter wrote his 8 principals in 1996. Prior to this time, it was comonly believed that fear would keep people working harder and more productively. Yes, in the short term there is some truth to this. However if we want our teams to be productive over the long term, we need to create a positive culture where we boost our people’s inner work life. Celebrating the small wins helps us achieve such a culture.

  I love spending time with my teams, and I love cooking! Pre-Covid I had a team of about 35. We came together for an end of year dinner. As a part of that celebration I listed everything that we had achieved that year. As people were reminded, I could see it on their faces; the pride, ‘what I did really mattered to Shane and our team’. The feelings of joy that their part in all that we had achieved had been recognised. That end of year dinner was a real victory. The positive emotions at that party were palpable!

  Here is how you apply this principal:

  Make sure you break your vision or your change process down into manageable goals. Share those goals with your team and make sure you celebrate as you see the progress.

  Spend some time each day, thinking through ‘How can I encourage my team?’ ‘What are the things we are doing well?’ ‘Have we hit any milestones within this project this week?’

  What small wins could we celebrate today?