Once a quarter, along with a colleague of mine, I have the honor and privilege of performing a strategic planning day for about 35 – 50 local business owners. Together we spend an entire day out of the business, working on the business. The morning is all education and reflection, in the afternoon we create a strategic plan for the next ninety days of where we actually create action steps for each and every week to accomplish the priorities and goals set for the following quarter. There is a tremendous value from not only creating a clear plan for the quarter ahead but also for the 35 – 50 business owners sharing this experience together.
There is one particular rewarding part of the day that at least for me, I find extremely rewarding and empowering. This is what we call the win wall. The win wall is where our clients write all their wins for the prior quarter on separate Post-it notes with a sharpie. They then get in a line, share their wins with the group and stick them on the wall. Listening to all these wins among all our clients and realizing that we had a small part in this is a very empowering and rewarding experience for me as to them as well. Understand that the prior two quarters this process has been accomplished in a virtual setting however, is still impactful. Being honest, there’s nothing like it when you’re conducting it live.
I share this experience and at the same time encourage you to participate in this process. The question that you want to ask yourself is, are you slowing down long enough to praise yourself and your team on the small wins along the way or are you waiting for the big grand goal to finally be accomplished before you celebrate? There are a couple of quotes I’m sure you heard before; “Success is in the journey, not the destination,” and “Stop to smell the roses.” What I believe is these quotes simply mean is to slow down and take count of the blessings along the way.
We all know this has been an interesting year. What would be the value if on a Monday morning meeting you as a leader just passed out a bunch of Post-it notes and sharpies then asked all to share their wins with the group and stick them on the wall? Think of how empowering this could be in this type of environment. Think of how great your team will feel. In addition, what happens to the culture and attitude of your organization every time one of your team walks in the room and sees all those wins posted. Try it, I no doubt know you’ll receive the value.
My encouragement to you is to take the time to slow down and acknowledge yourself and your team on the small accomplishments along the way to the big goal. Leverage the value of creating your own win wall at a Monday morning meeting where everybody shares their wins for the year. Try it as it just may be one of your best meetings while setting you and the team up for a very productive and profitable week.
If you’re still running your organization virtually, reach out and I’ll walk you through on how to execute this process virtually with the same results. Celebrate, practice the win wall, and congratulations on your future.