RainTree is celebrating.  This month, two of our business goals were achieved.  For one brief moment my team and I are taking a breath, reflecting on the hard work, sweat and tears it has taken and celebrating a successful outcome.  It is unusual for me to take this brief pause.  To reflect.  To fill my cup with positive and constructive feelings of success that can support our team to move forward to the next.  I am fortunate though.  I have a very intuitive and powerful business partner and she has taught us the value and importance of truly appreciating our successes. 

Business has taught managers that there is no time for celebration and reflection.  There is just too much to do, too many projects to work on, too many clients to please.  We rush on to the next big task. 

What are the benefits of pausing, reflecting and celebrating?

1. Inject conviction and commitment into other challenging projects

Firstly, pausing, reflecting and celebrating provide the opportunity to recognise the good work that has been done and the achievement of something important.  Deeply acknowledging the success reminds everyone involved that great achievements are possible.  All involved can acknowledge how much was learnt and how resilient they were to overcome difficulties.  Celebration injects conviction and commitment into other projects that are challenging. 

2. Motivate and unite team and team members for future projects and work

Secondly, pausing, reflecting and celebrating motivates and unites teams and team members.  Celebration is a perfect opportunity to acknowledge good work that has been done.  To remember the extraordinary efforts made and the individual wins.  Celebrating individual contributions to the broader success reconnects each employee with their strengths.  They connect with and recognise the talents and expertise they have.  This helps them to consciously appreciate what they will be expected to bring to future projects and work.

How do we celebrate?

Celebrations must be real – don’t gloss over the challenges and problems faced.  Take the time to acknowledge the difficulties faced, learn from them and then park them for another day when the focus is on problem solving and process improvement.

How do we support young managers to pause, reflect and celebrate?

If pausing, reflecting and celebrating is important, how do we support our young managers to pause, reflect and celebrate?  They have so much to prove and deliver.  Time looking backwards feels like wasted time.

Building a culture of celebration in a business starts from the senior leadership.  The more senior leaders demonstrate to young managers that celebration is valuable, the more they will invest in pausing, reflecting and celebrating. 

Some of the business owners we have worked with have built in a measure on their management teams score cards that measures how successfully they are leading their teams through pausing, reflecting and celebrating.  “What gets measured gets done”.  Measure your managers and celebrate their success in celebrating success.