Celebrating your team's Wins & Acknowledgements is a easy way to improve morale and performance

A couple months back, I spent an evening at a project management leadership meeting. Most of the people at that meeting, and most people who think of project management largely think about IT projects and new system installs. I go to these meetings thinking about sales and marketing, and I always seem to come away with applicable ideas. Sales and marketing is a project and a process. 

The subject at that meeting was team building and attitude. Jessica Soroky (Twitter: @jlsoroky) was the presenter, and she discussed how she starts meetings with what she calls "Wins and Acknowledgements". The idea is very simple: each meeting start with positive information, specifically that was a strategic win for the individual or the team, or an acknowledgement of an event, milestone or individual who helped out. These wins and acknowledgements can be personal or professional. 

Sales is so much about a positive outlook. Even the most successful hunters are getting told no or not now frequently throughout the day or week. Taking a moment to think about positive people and moments helps refresh the mind, clears out the negative thoughts and allows the individual to refocus on the outcomes that they want to see. 

Each sales meeting I hold with my team is starting with a wins and acknowledgement segment. Monday is usually a quick recap from the weekend. Each Friday, the group recaps the week and their highlights and accomplishments. Participation is not required, but nearly everyone every week is coming to that meeting with post it notes in hand to brag on their week, co-workers and everything positive going on.

Post it notes were an add on to the program to provide a visual reminder throughout the week of the positive things happening. It may look like a pre-school project, but the stained glass looking window to my office is a colorful reminder to my staff and everyone in the building that we are being positive in the department. 

The impact of such a small gesture has been very visible, beyond the window at my office. I genuinely see employees going out of their way to help each other out, more than before. They are making sure to say "thank you" in person and through this program for when someone goes beyond the norm. Visitors to our office and employees from other departments are seeing the collage and are asking questions and commenting on the morale of the people in the department. 

This is a no cost - high return project that anyone can implement and see results.