Recently my daughter Tabitha turned 15… and got her driver’s permit! The idea of this should make me feel anxious, scared and nervous, but I’m actually pretty excited about this next phase in Tabitha’s life. The concept of driving is all about freedom and possibilities.
It got me thinking about acknowledging business milestones.
You probably can remember your organization’s first website or logo — or for a small business, your first hire. For an economic development organization, it might be your first big company that you landed in your community. For a tourism office, it might be the first big event that you created that was a success and drew a number of tourist and visitors to your town. Or, your first big article in a major media outlet. Your first TV interview.
And what about the acknowledging business milestones after that?
All too often, we don’t take the time to celebrate or acknowledge business milestones we’ve achieved before moving on to the next goal…. Or putting out the latest fire! As a result, we don’t recognize the progress we are making.
We often don’t think about how this can negatively affect our staff (and in turn, our businesses). When our staff feels underappreciated for their hard work, their morale and dedication can be impacted. By taking the time to acknowledge business milestones that our organization achieves, our entire team can be flooded with inspiration and about how far we’ve come…
And, we can get excited and motivated about what’s next. It can lift up the staff’s morale about the progress being made, and encourage individuals to continue giving their best work!
When we’re doing media pitches or helping a client, every win that they get is a win that gets them excited about the next thing. Of course, every time something doesn’t work, it can be equally as crushing, but if our personality is one to jump back on it and find the next win, we’ll find those wins keep coming.
What milestones have you recently achieved? For example…
Have you recently updated your strategic plan?
Have you recently launched a new website?
Have recently secured a new business expansion in your community?
Take a moment to acknowledge YOUR latest milestone. Write back and share it with me — so I can celebrate with you!
