Last week’s column recommended turning your attention to your remaining 2016 goals. I hope you came up with some concrete ideas that will move you forward to complete them by year end.
Although it’s important to tune into what you haven’t yet accomplished, it’s equally important to take time to acknowledge what you have achieved and commemorate those triumphs.
Leaders who are achievers are always pushing to the next goal…the far-off target…the “blue moon” project. I see this in most of my clients: they complete something awesome, and then plunge right into the next aspiration without pausing to acknowledge the great work they’ve done.
These achievements aren’t necessarily project-based, nor are they all big. They can be initiatives you’ve worked on for a long time or small tweaks to a process that streamline activity. Over the course of time, progress can seem slow, so sometimes you need to hit the pause button and realize your progress.
Constantly pushing without stopping to smell the roses is pointless: why do all of that great work without honoring its achievement?
This is one of the ways we attach meaning to what we spend most of our time doing. When you acknowledge what you’ve done, you transform something extrinsic, the goal, into something intrinsic, the pride associated with “We did it!”.
Aside from helping you feel more satisfied as a leader, this stimulates and encourages your employees.
When you’ve achieved a big goal, bring your staff together and acknowledge everyone for their good contributions. They’ll feel good (and self-satisfied) about the praise, and will be more inspired to embrace and work hard on the next milestone.
Have a great week!
