I am writing this article hours after the Denver Broncos took home the one of the most coveted wins in sports — champions of Super Bowl 50. As a Colorado native, I have had the fortune of seeing our major league football, hockey, baseball and soccer teams rise to championship levels a few times in my life. The energy that follows such wins is electric for weeks and energizes the city in many ways.
When it comes to sports, fans are always quick to revel in the success of a team that they don’t actually play for — what about the teams that we actually do play for on a day-to-day basis? Celebrating the successes that come with doing business is one of the most important things a company can do and is, unfortunately, one of the things that is most often overlooked.
Celebrating success is important, not simply for the obvious fact of forcing your company to focus on positive outcomes rather than negative ones. Marking the achievements of individuals, teams, and the company as a whole reminds everyone that they are part of something bigger and that they are all rowing toward the same shore. A proper celebration requires some planning and support from top leadership in order to have the kind of celebrations that bring lasting value to the company culture.
Let’s face it, no one wants to be Milton — the unfortunate character in the movie Office Space who has to pass his piece of cake to the next person and ends up being short changed a piece of his own. If you have a customer service department that is always manning the phones and someone stays behind to answer the calls during a company celebration, they are not getting their piece of the cake.
One of my former employers sent all calls to voicemail for just 30 minutes during company celebrations so that everyone in customer service could participate. The result was not a voicemail box full of angry customers. The fact is, the customers accepted having to leave a message because they were told what to expect on the voicemail recording (a return call within 30 minutes) and were often congratulatory to the agents who returned their calls. This was a bold move, but it was one that the leadership team was willing to stand behind because it was important to have everyone in the company feel like a unified whole.
If your company hosts all of its celebrations in the break room, it is time for a change of venue. I was part of a team-building event once where we went to shoot clay pigeons. We talked about that event for years afterward as a team (I am a pretty good shot as it turns out). I am not saying that every celebration requires a chartered bus and shooting lessons, but the celebration should fit the milestone. If your company has landed a new account that was a year in the making and took two-thirds of your staff to make it happen — that’s a celebration worth more than just pizza on Friday.
Celebrations are an important part of continued success for any business. While carving out the time and resources can be a challenge for any busy company, it is important that it become a priority. Like many things related to corporate culture, this too must come from the top. Hire temps to cover the phones, schedule no service calls for a particular afternoon, and make sure that all branches have the same party as the home office.
With ample planning and support from upper management, celebrating the wins of the company will lead to even more reasons to celebrate, and longer retention of the team that makes it all happen.
Kim Garcia is Director of Marketing for PSA Security Network. To request more info about PSA, please visit www.securityinfowatch.com/10214742.