Chapter 20. Celebrate

I find an excuse every day to reward my staff with a little something—a modest celebration for a result no matter how small, how trivial it seems. If you do the same, you’ll have a motivated staff who have a habit of celebrating every success. And that’s so important.

And the rewards? Tiny. A box of doughnuts. Extra froth on their cappuccinos. A chance to go outside and sit in the sun.

Sometimes I declare today a special day because we just got such and such a result, and then I take them out to lunch, let them take time off, let them tell me their worst jokes—never all at the same time, mind.

And, occasionally, I declare such a special day even if we fail to win an order. I reward mistakes, screw-ups, failures, accidents. Why? Well, they’ve all done their best, given their all, and sweated blood. Why shouldn’t I reward them? Just because we failed doesn’t mean we didn’t strive. I am rewarding the effort. I am celebrating all that we did right—effort, struggle, determination, teamwork, drive, and good honest labor.

Don’t just celebrate the big wins; celebrate all the little ones as well—obviously with smaller celebrations, but celebrations of some sort nevertheless. Hey, any excuse to go and get a coffee. And a bag of doughnuts (or apples if they like). What does that cost you? Very little, but the warm feeling it generates far exceeds any cost.