When you’re running a business, using goal setting to motivate both yourself and your staff is a key factor when it comes to business growth and success. However, many business owners don’t take the time to celebrate when those goals are reached. No doubt, most of us celebrated over the festive period and welcomed in 2016 on New Year’s Eve, but how many of us celebrate our successes throughout the year?
We spoke to leadership coach, Rob Holcroft of Super Humans, about how to make the most of this time of year, when many of us are feeling motivated, but we know that staying motivated can be a challenge.
Rob told us, ‘One of the biggest reasons business owners and their teams get demotivated is that they fail to celebrate their successes. It’s common to start focusing on the next goal as soon as you’ve hit your targets. While it’s good to stay focussed, if you just keep giving out tasks to your staff but don’t recognise what’s already been achieved, people won’t want to do it anymore.’
‘It’s so important to recognise that you’ve reached a goal, celebrate the success and enjoy it. Whether you want to crack open a bottle of wine, finish early on Friday or buy a gift, find an appropriate way to mark the occasion before you move onto your next goal.’
Rob told us about a business owner who is a real foodie and celebrates each milestone his business reaches by cooking a meal for his team. Not only does this show how much he wants to motivate his team, but that he’s prepared to go the extra mile to show his appreciation. The team get excited about what he’s going to cook next, and everyone feels appreciated. Could you do something similar in your business?
Even if you’re currently a micro-business, and you don’t have a team, it’s still vital to celebrate reaching those important goals and give yourself a reward for all your hard work. As Rob puts it, ‘if you don’t celebrate those milestones, who will?’
There are a few things you can do to ensure you are regularly celebrating your achievements:
Set small goals as well as larger ones. It’s great to have big goals that will take years to achieve but give yourself some smaller targets along the way.
Decide on a celebration or reward in advance, so that you and your team have something to look forward to.
Share your successes. Send out a press release and let your clients know what you’ve achieved. This will help to boost morale in your team.
Remember there’s no endpoint. Unless you are currently trying to exit your business, there’s no point at which you’ll be able to say, ‘we’ve made it’ as it’s likely you’ll continue to strive for bigger and better things. So enjoy the small wins as much as the big ones.
Hopefully, we’ve inspired you to put together a list of ways you can celebrate your business successes.
