Chiropractic News

The power of celebrations
By Bob Levoy

Celebrating makes people feel like winners. It also creates an atmosphere of recognition and positive energy, say Jack and Suzy Welch, co-authors of Winning.

 “Imagine a team winning the World Series without champagne spraying everywhere,” they say. “You just can’t! And yet companies win all the time and let it go without so much as a high five.

“Work is too much a part of life,” the Welchs add, “not to recognize moments of achievement. Grab as many as you can. Make a big deal out of them. If you don’t, no one will.”

Reality check: “Do you know why most employees leave their jobs?” asks a newsletter from Lawrence Ragan Communications, Inc. “Because they get in a ‘rut’ and are, in a word, bored. Sweep employees out of their ruts by launching ‘guerilla celebration’ attacks. Have bagels and coffee waiting for employees on a random Tuesday. Keep employees off-balance about what you’re going to do next. It’s the sort of thing that separates one company from another — and convinces employees to stay put when they are thinking about leaving.”

There’s no denying celebrations with plenty of public pats on the back are a great way to make your staff feel like they’re on a winning team. What can you celebrate? Ask your staff for ideas. Here’s a short list of possibilities:

• Employee anniversary milestones;
• The achievement of practice goals;
• Your practice’s anniversary;
• The busiest day, week, or month since the beginning of the year; or
• To mark the end of a project, such as implementing your practice’s Web site, a major change in appointment scheduling, or remodeling the office.

Hard-learned lesson: “Recognition and celebrations,” say Ron Zemke and Chip R. Bell, co-authors of Service Wisdom, “are ways of reaffirming to people that they are an important part of something that matters. These little ceremonies can be significant motivators for people in any organization, but especially so in a service organization, where ‘pride in the product’ is essentially pride in personal performance.”

Among the benefits, celebrating:

• Promotes teamwork because people feel bonded with one another;
• Creates energy. People feel renewed, their batteries recharged;
• Builds people’s self-esteem by recognizing their contributions and achievements;
• Communicates your priorities;
• Showcases and reinforces desired norms of behavior;
• Helps people through transitions and changes; and
• Makes work more fun.

Action steps: There is no right way to celebrate. In fact, try to explore different forms of celebration to keep things from being routine and predictable.

Make events fun and festive. Get lots of ideas by getting everyone involved with the planning and execution. And keep the focus on the people and achievements you’re recognizing. Otherwise, it’s just another party.

Celebrations remind everyone that goals not only exist, but are exciting, important, and attainable. Celebrations are also a way of nourishing team spirit.

A celebration represents a moment in time when the efforts of many people can be seen, felt, and enjoyed.

In highly human terms, celebrations let your staff know you are paying attention to their individual (or team) performance, that you recognize how hard they are working, how much they are contributing, and how valuable they are.

Bob Levoy’s newest book, 222 Secrets of Hiring, Managing, and Retaining Great Employees in Healthcare Practices, is published by Jones and Bartlett Publishers. He can be reached at b.levoy@att.net.