Celebrating success can be a challenge, especially when there’s still a lot to do, or when things overall just don’t seem like they’re going your way. But celebrating even small successes is important; it will make a difference to how you feel, and quite possibly how others around you feel.
So, how do you celebrate success? With a coffee, an award, a BBQ? All good ideas, and here’s another technique that can have a longer lasting effect.
Unpack the success, tease it out and analyse it. We’re great at analysing problems or failures and holding enquiries into what went wrong, but how often do we analyse our successes and get clear about what it was we did that really made a difference?
Here’s a process you can use to analyse and reflect on successes, large or small. You can use it at home, as a starter at team meetings, for individual reflection, to write a section of your annual report or just as a way of learning from your successes!
Give it a try, it works!
To describe a Success Moment, just work through these 7 questions:
- Define the situation or problem that you started with. What were you trying to address or achieve?
- What actions did you take to address the issue? What did you ask others to do?
- How well or to what quality/standard did you/they do it? Did it comply with your values? Was it best practice? Had you thought it through before you started?
- What did you achieve? What was the first level of outcome of what you did?
- How do you know? How have you measured or assessed the success of what you did? Who have you asked for feedback?
- What difference did it make? And to whom? What were the flow on consequences of the initial achievement? For you? For others? And what will that lead to? This is a really important step as it helps you see the longer term or bigger outcomes of your actions.
- What can you learn from this? And how can you apply this learning to help your family, your team or your organisation succeed even further?
This focus on success will quickly become a habit, where achievements are described and celebrated, and a positive mind-set becomes the norm. And the world might just look a little brighter.
Words by Dave Burton
