Staff Celebrations and Goal Setting

Do you celebrate your staff’s accomplishments?

A few years ago, my husband and I traveled to a neighboring state to watch our grandson play baseball in a tournament. I believe he was 8 or 9 years old at the time. After winning a game, the coach sat them down (with all the parents and grandparents around) and proceeded to tell them everything they needed to do to improve before they played their next game. They had WON the game. There wasn’t any celebration, words or otherwise, that told them what they had done right in that game…just what needed fixing.

I get it. It’s easy as a leader to focus on what needs to improve or to be fixed. If you are a problem-solver by nature, you especially need to watch out for this! Research tells us that people need to experience positive words about three times more often than negative words in order to maintain a positive atmosphere or culture in the workplace.

As a leader, when you look at your data or the goals you have set (individually or as a group) for your workplace, look at the positive first…then look at what needs to be improved. Have your staff do the same thing. For example, you might have them list three things they accomplished and/or did well and two items that need improving.

Then, it’s time to give pats-on-the-back, high-fives, celebrate, and share with others!

Is your staff goal-oriented?

Goals are useful for setting the direction in which you want to go. Several articles have been written on goal-setting so I’m not going to delve deeply into the topic but stay on the surface level.

There are short-term, long-term, stepping stone, and lifetime goals. There are several categories of goals such as career, financial, spiritual, relationship, personal development, physical and health goals. But no matter the type or category, the bottom line is that people who set goals are more likely to achieve significant results than those who simply, “work hard”.

As a leader, you can model and teach goal-setting.

This download combines celebrating AND setting new goals!

Use at staff meetings, department meetings, or in-service ANY TIME during the year!

In this download, begin by choosing from long-term, short-term, or goal-to-action-plan forms. Rotate the forms for more than one goal-meeting session.