World-class teams are relentless in their drive, holding each other to account as they chase down audacious goals, and lift each other up to make sure they cross the finish line together. They use candor in service of performance, never ego or political game-playing. Collaboration is bold, inclusive and ideas are bulletproofed—with peers always ready to offer constructive challenge and commit to step in with support. But these world-class teams also know two things act as super fuel keep running fast for results: recognition and celebration.
The wisdom of Oprah
Giving the commencement speech at Harvard a decade ago, Oprah Winfrey shared universal truth about human nature. Oprah said: “I’ve done over 35,000 interviews in my career and as soon as that camera shuts off, everyone always turns to me and inevitably, in their own way, asks this question: ‘Was that OK?’ I heard it from President Bush. I heard it from President Obama. I’ve heard it from heroes and from housewives. I’ve heard it from victims and perpetrators of crimes. I even heard it from Beyoncé in all of her Beyoncé-ness.” It’s the story of how we all, however grand or humble, all need validation. We all need celebration and recognition. The problem is, for most teams, it’s in short supply.
What the data says
Research by the Ferrazzi Greenlight Research Institute drawing on 20 years of data on coaching the world’s top teams shows that celebration and recognition doesn’t happen enough. Leaders are tough on themselves (I know I always have been), and, as a result, they are equally tough on others. They are constantly pushing their teams to stretch for what’s next. Our research shows that 79 percent of the people leaving organizations cite a lack of recognition as the primary reason for deciding to exit and pursue their careers elsewhere. Forty percent of employees report never getting recognition on the job. Even 50 percent of managers admit they do not recognize outstanding performance like they should.
Motivating the marathon
Let’s think of work like a marathon race we’re all running together. Along that marathon, how many people are dotting the streets, clapping and encouraging and bringing energy to those runners to go faster? There’s a celebration for people crossing the finish line at the end, but how many people would have gotten that far without the encouragement of celebration along the way? A common question from leaders is, “Should I celebrate someone who is not doing that well?” The answer is yes. If someone is struggling a little and you don’t celebrate them, you keep pushing them down. Their energy is going to get lower and lower and you’ll get less and less out of them. High expectations and celebrations aren’t mutually exclusive. You can set high expectations for people even if they’re not achieving along the way. You celebrate the things that they are achieving and celebrate other people around them for things that you want them to achieve. People want to get on that bandwagon. Hard drivers sometimes think that it’s not the case. Remember the marathon and the race to the finish line needs to be populated with those people applauding all along the way. It’s especially important for young team members who need to know that they’re growing in the right direction, even though they’re learning along the way. There are high return practices that you need to infuse and contract into your team.
High Return Practice: Peer Celebration
Peer Celebration is a round-robin share, when each team member shares their appreciation for a peer. The expression of appreciation should be specific—and it’s an opportunity to reinforce positive behaviors from the team’s new social contract. Here are a few tips to avoid platitudes:
- Use examples and short narratives to give your gratitude greater meaning and depth. Adding this degree of personalization also helps you avoid being duplicative of other comments and keeps the session richer and more engaging.
- Offer details about how the person created a positive impact. This enriches the sharing and elevates it from appreciation to communications coaching that others can learn from and replicate.
- Minimize interruptions: it is critical to give individuals uninterrupted airtime while expressing gratitude; this is not the time for individuals to ask questions of each other. While it is okay to provide commentary, encourage your colleagues to keep their comments succinct, positive, and reserved for only after the individual in the spotlight has finished speaking.
- Acknowledge each other’s growth: encourage participants to consider sharing their gratitude for how their teammates are living their commitments and being accountable for results.
- Start the sharing: the leader should share their gratitude first so they can model the appropriate level of depth and tone for the rest of the team.
Below is a sample share that illustrates the kind of story you as facilitator, might offer to kick off the sharing:
“I am grateful for Monica’s help this past week rolling out the marketing initiative to go along with our new suite of cloud-based products. As you all know, I am a software engineer by training, and while I am knowledgeable about marketing the product, it really is not a core strength. Monica took 2 hours out of her busy day last week, and we did a deep dive into the marketing strategy her team had been developing. I was really impressed, and I left the conversation with actionable insights that we are going to integrate into our first rollout. I also found out that Monica and a few people from her group go running on Sunday nights, so I’ll be able to join her in that as well. Thank you, Monica, I am extremely grateful for your partnership.”
A bad share is where the celebration doesn’t acknowledge the full story. Those two hours that Monica took out of her busy day last week? It was a busy Sunday and she was meant to be going running with people from her group …
High Return Practice: Gratitude Circle
The Gratitude Circle is a practice for use at the end of every meeting to give focus on the positive and gratitude for what’s just occurred. That’s a boost for mental health and well-being and ends the meeting on a high note. Everyone goes around in turn and says what they are most grateful for from the meeting.
High Return Practice: Formal celebration
First, a leader scheduling celebrations of key teammates’ efforts and wins is really important. Doing this sets a standard every week or month for what good is and what should be celebrated and what others should try to achieve. It’s a self-reinforcing philosophy. It’s a natural reaction for those who weren’t celebrated the first couple of times to dial up their service so that they start to get celebrated going forward.
We all need recognition
The behavioral economist Dan Ariely once talked about the “hidden energy that everybody could benefit from if we can only uncover it.” It’s what Ariely called the difference between a business that thrives and is like a “perpetual motion machine” and another doing business doing exactly the same work but the employees “are not motivated at work and probably, management is miserable and the stock of the company is not doing so well.” It’s what Oprah said, we all need validation and recognition and when we get it, it’s a superfood. So let’s make sure that team celebration and recognition are used abundantly.
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