9 Ways to Motivate Your Team and Celebrate Success Together

The accomplishment of an important goal in an organization calls for a big celebration. So is the substantial contribution of a team member towards the bottom line of the firm. However, managers are often too busy to notice such endeavors and gestures of the team members. This can demotivate the team and drag down productivity. Therefore, remember to say thank you and celebrate wins.

1) Express your sincere gratitude

Taking time out of your busy schedule to say thank you to that special team member who has done some exceptional work is a sign of good leadership skills. Single out the team member and share the success story with the rest of the team. This will enhance the person’s sense of accomplishment.

Express your sincere gratitude immediately to any team member who does an excellent job within the organization. Bonuses and official greetings can wait until the end of the month. But the perfect motivator is to publicly tell them in detail how thankful you are for the fantastic job done in your absence.

Tell them all the wonderful things they do on behalf of the company in addition to their duties. Emphasize how these beneficial things simplify everything and make a positive impact on the bottom line of the company. It only takes a few minutes to do that, but the effect will last forever and can trickle down to the rest of the gang.

2) Pat on the back

Giving your team a free hand to make decisions and delegate tasks can motivate them to come up with innovative solutions to problems independently. This will make them feel more empowered to develop new skills and grow professionally. For example, create a library with solutions to technical issues. Such a resource can help in achieving operational excellence by making them tackle the matters themselves. The library can be a great source of resources when your workers experience an update problem. It means they may not need your or the IT team’s support.

After a team member solves a technical issue using the online library resource, give them a pat on the back by acknowledging their accomplishments. Announce it to the rest of the team. This can not only motivate the team member but also sensitize the other members on how to solve the same problem if they experience it at any time.

3) Social and celebratory functions

Any success calls for a party or a social event, which includes some delicious food and drinks. If you want to celebrate success, the ideal way to do that is by taking them out for meals or simply ordering their favorite food and having it in your office. If you want to make it grand, you can plan a day at a banquet, open bar, or restaurant.

Awarding the employee is also a great way to acknowledge them. You can give crystal plaque awards to each team member and announce them at an annual ceremony. A show such as this should be done in addition to thanking them immediately as the tasks are done. Award examples include the best team, best employee, and consistent performer.

When you thank your staff immediately, organize social functions, and conduct award ceremonies, it proves to the team members that you care. It gives your company the human touch that many organizations lack. Such celebrations of jobs well done fill the team members with motivation to do even better the next time. If you organize these social functions and you slide in some cheeky finger food you also need to make sure you have all the utensils needed to do so. You can always save yourself from all the cleaning you have to do afterward with some disposable dinnerware sets that can also be aesthetically pleasing.

4) Keep the employees connected

To avoid feelings of disconnection and disengagement, organizations must enhance and maximize employee experience tangibly. In extreme cases of employee check-out, mere words are not enough. There are some tools for maximizing employee experience that can be used to boost employee satisfaction and morale.

A very effective way to keep employees connected throughout is to use a company-wide employee reward and recognition platform. When team leaders and colleagues recognize employee performance, it can lead to higher performance. This can fuel more appreciation, and this cycle continues until the overall experience improves.

The recognition and rewards platform makes it fun to celebrate team members’ accomplishments by rewarding them instantly with vouchers. In other words, recognition is done in real-time. This is in sharp contrast to the traditional way of recognition that operates in silos.

5) Celebrate success effectively

There is no right or wrong way to celebrate. Workplace celebrations differ between companies and sometimes even between departments of the same company. Figuring out ways to celebrate can take some learning process. Consider the following tips to make workplace celebrations effective:

• Consider the person who is receiving the praise and what they prefer. All employees are not the same in terms of how they would like to be celebrated.
• Make the celebration meaningful by explaining how it has impacted and benefitted the organization or department.
• Do not make some employees feel left out by only recognizing a few people all the time. This would demotivate others because they would feel unappreciated.
• Celebrate individuals and teams. Teamwork is crucial, but more important is the recognition of individual contribution.

6) Share on social media

There is no greater satisfaction than seeing your superiors praising you on social media for a job well done. This can also leave a digital footprint that can stand in good stead for the employees. They will also be recognized by members of various departments with whom they do not interact daily.

Success stories in social media newsletters are easy to share with industry peers or friends. That itself is rewarding. Therefore, managers must use social media to share success stories to motivate team members. Make sure that the content is shareable on popular sites such as Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

The best time to celebrate on social media is as soon as the deed happens or as soon as the accomplishments are brought to your notice. But avoid overdoing it or doing it constantly, as it can lose its allure and value. Put it simply, make it scarce and meaningful.

7) Encourage best practices

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, many meetings are held virtually, which means you can have the meetings even in the comfort of your house. Virtual meetings are great because they are convenient and can reduce costs. However, despite the many substantial benefits and their ubiquitous usage, they can have some pitfalls.

There are several things managers can do to lessen the negative impacts of virtual meetings and make them less boring and more engaging. Use remote collaboration tools like Troop Messenger with advanced features for successful virtual meetings. Schedule meetings with internal and guest users, let your developers write and edit code on a jointly-code editor, share screen contents, or take control of the remote screen.

Create visually attractive meeting slides by spicing them up with images, graphs, infographics, gifs, and memes. But the extent to which you can use them depends on the culture of your organization.

For an effective virtual meeting, have some short and fun or funny icebreaker activities or questions that can keep everyone engaged throughout the meeting. Build some connections as if you are operating in a physical environment. This will encourage every team member to participate.

8) Promote work-life balance

Boost employee engagement by offering flexible schedules and telecommuting, which help them juggle their personal and work lives. This would send a signal to your team members that the management values their personal lives and their families. It would also give your company a competitive edge and discourage them from leaving you.

To promote work-life balance, the company, depending on the financial feasibility, can offer on-site childcare, dry cleaning services, or exercise facilities. Some companies even offer snoozing rooms for the much-needed siesta if you work long hours. An on-site restaurant can also benefit the employees and endorse work-life balance.

The various on-site facilities that are offered by the company go a long way in creating a workplace where employees feel like coming to work every day. Professionals will feel more eager to report to work than to report sick because the office is a comfortable and cozy place to work with all the necessary tools. It shows that the management treats the employees with respect. It exhibits a commitment to basic demands that would foster a work-life balance in the real sense.

9) Choose the right moments

Celebrations to motivate employees must feel special. That is why it is vital to choose the ideal occasion to celebrate. Avoid celebrating every small feat because that would be going into overdrive. Instead, recognition and celebration should come from a sincere place of gratitude and must be authentic.

Some scenarios to celebrate an employee are:

• New hires
• Anyone testing new challenges or responsibilities
• When someone gets it right the first time
• A small feat has made a big difference
• Demonstration of company values
• Exceptional contribution
• Back-office people who rarely feature in the big picture

Depending on the appropriateness of the circumstances, you can choose to celebrate less frequently or more frequently. Celebrate in a way that would suit different situations and people. Think about both public and private gestures of gratitude. Also, consider who should take the lead role. This could mean a senior manager.

Make sure the gesture is proportional to the deed. For example, there is no need to send flowers or chocolates to your newest member. If you are required to give a speech, think about what to say. Avoid saying those things that would make them feel uncomfortable.

Conclusion

Many times, especially when the workload is overwhelming, celebrating wins can go a long way in keeping the team motivated, productive, and engaged. However, different circumstances call for different ways of celebrating and expressing gratitude. Managers must also be cognizant of the fact that it is not enough to recognize the team. Acknowledging team members is equally important.