When you take a look at what success means,  do you measure it as an end goal? Is success a culmination of all your hard work as you reach the pinnacle of your career?  Or is success a more day by day methodical understanding and appreciating small victories?

In my opinion celebrate the small victories!

Once upon a time I had a colleague who has had a few challenges.  He there were quite a few barriers to what was considered success in his position.  For one reason or another he wasn’t understanding what was expected of him.  There were many coaching sessions.  Some lengthy, some shorter, expectations were spelled out.  The rest of the team began to get frustrated at the lack of perceived accountability from this team member.

Leadership lesson:  Is the message you are trying to convey really being understood?  you may think your message is clear but sometimes it is not.  As a leader you must be retrospective and ask yourself “why is this person not accepting the message?”  “is it willful non compliance, or ignorance?”  In this case it was ignorance, he just wasn’t getting the message!

Imagine how excited the team and I were when during the next meeting some of the information that we needed was conveyed!  I almost cried!  Praise and thanks are in order for this task!!  Say great job over and over again!  Now was this a monumental victory?  No.  It actually was quite small.  But you must begin somewhere and that person up.

When under underperformers begin to perform… Praise and coach!  praise and coach because there is still a long road to go!

Ignite the passion for your team and praise them for small victories!