Before You Set Your Goals for the Coming Year, Take Time to Celebrate Your Accomplishments!
If you are anything like me, you tend to gloss over your accomplishments and move right into “goal setting mode” every new year.
As leaders, we have a tendency to attain one goal and quickly move on to setting the next without stopping to recognize what we and our teams have truly achieved.
And let’s face it, this past year, our achievements have been monumental.
Our efforts deserve recognition, especially considering what a tough year it's been.
Before you move into "goal setting mode" for 2021, consider these small, but impactful ways to celebrate your accomplishments and to recognize the accomplishments of your employees:
Spend time in a team meeting brainstorming and writing out all of your 2020 accomplishments. You'll be surprised to visually see all that you have accomplished this past year!
You can take it a step further by listing WHY each accomplishment mattered. Did the achievement further employee retention? Did it reduce costs? Did it improve the department's efficiency? The impact of our accomplishments is what matters most.
Ask employees to submit an email to you with a list of their 2020 accomplishments so that you can recognize and celebrate them in your next 1:1 meeting. Self-reflection is important!
And, of course you can add to the employee’s list, especially for employees who find it difficult to take credit for what they’ve achieved. Let the employee know you’ll be including the list in their personnel file as well. Be sure to include a list in your personnel file too!
For those working onsite right now, set up an "accomplishments board" where employees are encouraged to post at least 3 accomplishments from the past year (although you can do this virtually as well. The important thing is to make it readily visible to the team).
You can even color code by employee and be sure to add yours to the board too! Talk about those accomplishments in the next team huddle. Don’t let them go unnoticed.'
Send a handwritten thank you to your employees with a list of major accomplishments you saw them achieve this last year.
Be sure to be specific. For example, "You completed your training. Thank you." is a lot less impactful than "Despite your busy workload and all that was going on with schedule changes, you still managed to complete your 5 required training sessions on time. I know this took a lot of effort and I am grateful to you for making it a priority. Well done."
Ways to Work with Skye
Monthly HR Consulting: On-demand monthly contracted HR services customized to meet your business needs. Quickly offload HR tasks to an experienced consultant.
Leadership Training: Interactive in-person or online training tailored to your organization. Build leadership skills with relevant HR & leadership training.
Employee Handbooks: Handbooks tailored to your organization’s unique values and focused on reducing State and Federal compliance risk.
HR Strategy Session: Get quick answers to your HR questions from an HR pro. Receive expert guidance and a clear plan of action to resolve your immediate HR issues.
Leadership Coaching: Individualized, results-oriented coaching to help you achieve your career goals. Plus Career Coaching & Resume Writing for job seekers.
HR Special Projects: Impartial personnel Investigations, on-demand recruitment & onboarding, compensation planning, & more.
