You have made it! 10 principles, 10 posts. Thank you so much for staying with me throughout this journey. This is the final principle of all the 10 guiding principles from Brightline Initiative for bridging the gap between strategy design and strategy delivery.
The gap between strategy design and strategy delivery is wide and keeps growing wider. Executives and Leaders must recognise that there is a gap and act to close it. In a research made for this initiative, 90% of leaders said they do not meet or implement all their strategic objectives. This is a mind blowing percentage. Many companies are emerging and many others are disappearing. Blackberry for instance went from a market share of 50% in 2007 to 1% in 2018 (Brightline, 2018). That is why a lot can be learned from those who succeed; hence, Brightline Initiative with Project Management Institute developing 10 guiding principles to bridge the gap between strategic design and delivery. Principle 10: Success!
Principle 10 – Celebrate Success and Recognise Those Who’s Done Good Work
The final principle is about celebration and recognition. The key focus is to ensure recognition takes place publicly especially for individuals who have contributed a lot for the success of the strategy. The aim is to recognise good habits go a long way and create a winning culture. Because accountability on its own in isolation does not lead to anywhere fruitful. Accountability has to be accompanied with recognition.
This module brings examples from Google, Pepsi Co, and Campbell Soup. It explores innovative ways where leaders have engaged with employees from across their full organisation to recognise their workforce.
This process does not happen at the end of the strategy phase. Remember: Strategy is not a fixed document you design and put aside and just watch it progress on its own. Strategy is a living breathing document which evolves and changes based on insights, changes, and shifts in internal and external environments. In this module, an interview with Perry Keenan (MD of BCG group) was presented. Perry spoke about creating a winning culture which starts from the moment you hire people. It is about the hiring process, the rewarding process, the metrics in place, who in the business is made a ‘hero’, who is dismissed from the company to the set of behaviours that a leader can and cannot tolerate to be repeated.
The Pomodoro Technique talks about time management and working within smaller chunks of time and celebrating achievements after each completed period (Boogard K. themuse.com, 2021). Why can we not scale this concept up. Celebrating success is not about the finish line. It is about celebrating the wins that happen a long the way in different shapes and formats.
From my own experience, I worked in a company long ago where they invited a random group of employees each quarter to have afternoon tea with the managing director of the company. Why? because he wanted to hear directly from those involved first hand with making his strategy a reality and thank them for their effort. I personally celebrate success with teams I work with. This is usually a token of gesture. While a thank you email goes a mile away, it is becoming very easy in my opinion. A box of chocolate, a cup of coffee or a bottle of beer, or anything suitable you can put at their desk before they arrive at work so they can see it first thing. All of these are acts of kindness and generosity that will enrich a winning culture.
What do you do to celebrate success at work?
Brightline Initiative with Project Management Institute have all these principles delivered in the format of a training course. The course is offered for free for a limited time. Make sure you check it. I promise you it has a lot to offer and you will benefit a lot from the stories and research done for each guiding principle. You can access it here
Congratulations! You have finished blog number 10! You deserve a celebration! Yes, you my dear reader! Go treat yourself with a little something that makes you happy and don’t forget to hit subscribe before you go!
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