Acknowledging invisible wins

In business, some wins are easy to spot—the big sale, the client-winning presentation. But many people work tirelessly behind the scenes to chalk up invaluable but less obvious wins. Thanking the employees who solved an IT glitch in time for that big presentation to take place, or the accountant whose number crunching enabled the terms of the big sale is just as important as acknowledging your “stars.” (Tweet it!)

Speaking to Inc, magazine, Tom Turner, CEO of Bitsight, shared four ways to uncover and recognize invisible wins:

1. Ask questions. Ask managers which members of their teams have been impressing them lately―particularly with small, day-to-day victories that would otherwise go unnoticed. Keep an ear peeled for anecdotes.
2. Be engaged. Try walking around the office and drop in on different meetings. Get a sense of the various teams and find out who is working on what projects, both big and small.
3. Encourage recognition. Create processes that allow everyone in the company to acknowledge wins of all types. Encourage people to write anonymous note cards recognizing others who have recently helped them.
4. Acknowledge publicly. Wins big and small deserve to be recognized beyond one-on-one meetings and within individual teams. Salute these individual contributors in a company-wide email or at a regular all-staff meeting.

Acknowledging subtle wins as well as obvious ones is a way to build morale and commitment across an entire company’s culture.
 
Can you think of an invisible win your organization recently scored? What did you do, or what can you do, to thank the people responsible? To join the conversation, click "comments" above.
 
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