The opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The art of celebrating team accomplishments has evolved into a crucial leadership skill. A recent study by Nectar, an employee recognition software company, found that nearly 84 percent of employees say recognition impacts their motivation to succeed at work, and nearly eight in 10 people admit they would more productive if they received recognition more frequently. .
The benefits of a high-recognition culture go beyond simple statistics. Teams that feel valued and recognized tend to exhibit higher levels of innovation and ownership, attributes that are essential to a startup’s agility and adaptability.
For new businesses, the early years are a time of intense growth and inevitable challenges. It is during this formative phase that the seeds of the company culture take root. Establishing a tradition of recognition early on can have a profound effect on shaping team dynamics. Startups like Slack and Airbnb have integrated milestone celebrations into their operational rhythms, recognizing successes in sales and funding, as well as product launches, positive customer feedback and team members’ personal growth achievements.
Related: The importance of recognizing your employees
The recognition must be authentic
Celebrating milestones isn’t just about acknowledging the past or present; it’s about inspiring for the future. It serves as a motivational carrot, guiding the team through the next set of goals and challenges. By publicly celebrating milestones, startups also build their narrative within the broader industry context, signaling success to potential investors, partners and future employees.
However, the approach to recognition must be authentic and aligned with the startup’s values. Empty gestures or a one-size-fits-all approach can backfire, leading to cynicism and a disengaged workforce. Tailoring recognition programs to the unique culture and individual accomplishments of team members ensures that the act of recognition is meaningful and reinforces the desired company culture.
Therefore, the entrepreneurial journey requires more than just financial expertise and strategic planning; requires a deep understanding of human motivation and team dynamics. Recognizing accomplishments is a way for leaders to demonstrate that they value their team’s contributions, creating a sense of belonging and shared purpose that can propel a startup toward sustainable growth and innovation.
Recognition fuels motivation and engagement
Without a doubt, recognition serves as a key motivator that improves employee engagement and drives performance. For entrepreneurs and startup leaders looking to improve their recognition skills, here are some considerations:
1. Set clear goals
The act of setting clear objectives is rooted in the principle of Management by Objectives (MBO), a widely shared management philosophy proposed by Peter Drucker. MBO emphasizes the importance of aligning individual goals with the organization’s overall strategic goals, thus ensuring that every team member is working towards a common endpoint. By setting clear and achievable goals, startups create a focused and energetic workforce.
However, setting milestones goes beyond simply setting goals. It’s about creating a narrative for the startup’s journey. This narrative helps team members visualize their path to success and understand how their contributions move the company forward. Milestones serve as chapters in the startup’s story, each with its own goals, challenges, and growth opportunities.
Incorporating behavioral information into setting milestones can also improve effectiveness. According to Locke and Latham’s Goal Setting Theory, high performance is linked to specific and challenging goals. Startups that effectively communicate these goals create a high-performance environment. For example, Twitter, during its early growth phase, used specific user growth goals as milestones, which were instrumental in guiding the company’s product development and marketing strategies.
Related: 5 Goal Setting Guidelines That Drive Success
2. Publicly celebrate your achievements
Public recognition leverages the innate human need for social status and belonging, tapping into intrinsic motivation that can improve performance and foster a strong workplace culture. When a startup takes the time to highlight its team’s successes, it sends the message that every member’s work is valued and impactful. This is especially effective in smaller organizations, where individual contributions can have a substantial effect on the company’s trajectory.
Celebrating your accomplishments in a public forum, such as through social media or industry events, extends the reach of this recognition. Turn internal milestones into branding and networking opportunities, positioning the company as a thriving, supportive environment. This external recognition can be critical for startups looking to attract top talent and can often lead to increased interest from potential investors eager to back a winning team.
Additionally, public recognition provides an authentic narrative of the company’s progress and work culture. In the digital age, where employer review sites like Glassdoor and social media channels can heavily influence a company’s reputation, authentic stories of achievement and recognition are valuable to the employer brand. If told in the right way, these stories can resonate with the values and aspirations of potential employees and customers.
3. Incorporate meaningful rewards
By rewarding employees after completing a milestone, you encourage repetition of the behavior that led to the success. This strategy is in line with the law of effect, a theory developed by Edward Thorndike, which states that behaviors followed by pleasant outcomes are likely to be repeated.
The key word here is “significant.” For rewards to have the desired effect, they must resonate with recipients on a personal level. This requires a nuanced understanding of the team’s values and preferences. A reward that seems generic or disconnected from the effort made can backfire or even have a demotivating effect. For example, one trophy shop may be able to create a special award that is a source of pride for an employee, while another may find an extra day off or training opportunities more rewarding.
Adobe’s Kickbox program is an excellent example of an employee recognition initiative that empowers employees to innovate and pursue their ideas. It does this by providing a physical “Kickbox” that contains everything an employee might need to brainstorm, develop and test a new concept, including a guide with six distinct levels designed to guide the ideation process from inception to presentation. The most important item included in the box is a $1,000 prepaid credit card that employees can spend with no strings attached, allowing them to prototype or test their ideas without having to justify the spending or wade through layers of bureaucracy.
Related: Do your employees feel recognized? 10 Effective Ways to Set Up Employee Recognition Programs
4. Promote a culture of appreciation
When appreciation is woven into the very fabric of company culture, it can transform the workplace into a hub of positivity and productivity. In September 2023, Workhuman and Gallup released a report that found that “employees who strongly agree that recognition is an important part of their organization’s culture are 3.7 times more likely to be engaged, 3.8 times more likely to feel connected to their culture and half are as likely to experience burnout as those who don’t.”
A culture of appreciation is especially important in startups, where the pace is fast and the workload can be intense. In such contexts, small gestures of recognition can go a long way in making team members feel seen and appreciated for their contributions. For example, a platform that allows colleagues to exchange micro-bonuses for daily accomplishments can create a sense of appreciation that comes directly from colleagues, not just top-down leadership.
Remember, a culture of appreciation must be inclusive and diverse in its recognition practices. It should recognize the different roles, efforts and achievements within the company, ensuring that no contribution goes unnoticed. This includes recognizing the efforts of support staff, interns or remote workers who contribute equally significantly to the company’s success.