Welcome to Tony Richards Messages

12 Celebrate Your Achievements Pt2

Welcome to this week’s message on leadership, self-confidence, and how to feel good about yourself everyday as you interact with people, in safety and comfort, at home and work.

Last week’s message was about Critical Step 1. Recognise and Embrace Your Uniqueness.
It is the step mostly closely linked to the very definition of self-confidence. (The mental attitude of having trust in, respect for, and reliance, on your own judgement.)

If you wish to be reminded of that message, it is also available back on the message page.

This week’s message is about Critical Step 2, Celebrate Your Achievements.
It is a wonderful message that provides us with an opportunity to practice a skill that we may not have used since childhood. It is the second of the Five Critical Steps that combine together to ensure your security within the Cycle of Confidence and Leadership.

Previously the message you received on Celebration of Achievements was focused on a personal level. How important that was for building confidence.

Today’s Celebration of Achievement will focus on a business perspective to assist you to do your work in a professional manner, so it is satisfying and rewarding to your career.
One of the best ways to Celebrate Achievements is to talk about them.

As a senior manager, one of my most successful skills in promoting teamwork was to emphasise that we can achieve anything if we don’t care who gets the credit. That statement needed to be reconciled with the often-opposing need to encourage individuality and the encouragement of my managers to have trust in, respect for and reliance on their own judgement. That, of course, is the definition of self-confidence.

If teamwork is important, you must be cautious in promoting the achievements of individuals as opposed to the team. That can be counter productive. If, on the other hand, recognition can be given to employees, as a group within a team, or as individuals, where praise does not affect a team’s performance, then it should be encouraged.

And that brings us back to Celebration of Achievement. That is important because it reminds you of your individual value, it assists you to maintain your edge against the negative pressures of business and life, and it provides an opportunity for those who care about you to share your recognised value with you.

And that makes everyone happy. It is an instinctive response that promotes confidence within you.

In the workplace it is imperative that when someone performs well they are recognised. That is because behaviour that is reinforced by positive consequence tends to continue or increase. Good behaviour that is not reinforced in any way tends to decrease over time.

Nobody continues to perform well unless you reinforce his or her motivation to do so.

Therefore, when for team purposes, it was difficult to award individual merit I would assist employees to Celebrate their Achievements by sharing their success with the team, and encouraging the team to take the time to congratulate, and thank, the individual for helping to make the team look good.

As an employee you should expect recognition for your achievements and you should then celebrate that achievement for reinforcement of your value to the employer.

So when you, or others, achieve something that you know should be celebrated – and at work that can be almost anything – make sure your seniors and peers are aware of it. Send emails confirming completion of tasks, provide something of personal interest for a newsletter, stick something on the noticeboard about your workmates achievements, or just talk about it.

You may need to have trust in your employer and workmates to show enthusiasm, and respond accordingly, but if you don’t do it maybe no one else will. And if you’re not getting an appropriate response then let your employer know, or let me know, and I will see that they are aware of the need for employee recognition and proper Celebration of Achievement for good performance.

Although Celebration of Achievement is great tool for building confidence, as it supports the value of all participants, it is also a great tool for motivational purpose in the workplace.
I like it as it assists people to also Recognise and Embrace Their own Uniqueness, the first and most important of the Five Critical Steps to self-confidence and leadership skills.

Please take the opportunity this week to think about your achievements and how much fun you’ve had celebrating those achievements. I would love to know what your company does to assist employees to Celebrate their Achievements as a result of good performance.

Please email me on how you have had an opportunity to celebrate those achievements, and how confident you felt as a result of the celebrations, so we can share in the pleasure that it gave you.

Your stories – even short comments – are of great value to inspire others, and I would like to take the opportunity to include your stories, or comments, in upcoming episodes of ‘Special Interest Items’. They will be included as they fit into the theme of the message for that week.

Do you know anyone you can help with leadership issues, or just feeling good about themselves? Forward this message to friends and work colleagues; print it out and place it on notice boards, and give copies to those without computer access. Printing out, and compiling each weekly message in a folder, is a good way to build a total knowledge of self-confidence and leadership. It will provide certainty in dealing with every aspect of your life.

Next week’s message will be Part 2 of Critical Step 3. Writing a Vision Statement. This is the Critical Step that links the first three Steps together, to ensure you never loose sight of your real value as an individual, and also displays that value to everyone else you come into contact with.
It will be followed in coming weeks by Critical Steps Four and Five.

Until then, please continue to see yourself as a unique and remarkable person, who deserves to feel good about yourself every day.

Tony Richards.

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