Celebrate the Wins They Can't See

“What are you most proud of this week?” This is how I begin almost every coaching session . It still catches Next Level Leaders by surprise. "I should have known you’d ask…" they say, buying time. What they’re proud of is far from top of mind. Likely, it hasn’t been top of mind since I last asked, last session, stubborn coach that I am.

Next comes the moment I train coaches to look for: the pause. Not just any pause. That effervescent nothing-and-everything moment characteristic of a miracle (new thought) happening in real time. What is it?!? But first, a hard caveat: “This is not (as one leader puts it) a ‘high five down the hall’ moment.” This is to say: “Not a win others can see.”

Visible wins are rare. They’re the completely extraordinary, totally mundane, nearly predictable, all-but-inevitable wins resulting from the innumerable invisible wins along the way. Our job is to make these invisible wins visible. Why? Because they’re as essential to overall success as the big ones to come. And, being that they’re most often what’s happening now, they’re the wins we can actively build upon.

Celebrating invisible wins makes you wiser.

Often what Next Level Leaders are most proud of is something they themselves wouldn’t have seen if not prompted. It’s an internal shift—a new “how.” They spoke up, listened more, took a risk, consulted a mentor, or (praise be) went for a walk. Focusing on inner wins is focusing on what’s within your control and can’t be taken away: your growth. As you turn towards that which is ultimately most essential, you cultivate wisdom.

Celebrating invisible wins is your responsibility.

We all enjoy having our work seen and celebrated. And dependence on external acknowledgement is a tricky addiction, threatening the confidence and integrity needed to serve.

Quick hits of borrowed self-worth are given as easily as they are taken away. Believing in yourself one moment, down on yourself the next, you become an unreliable person in your own life.

We’re in the grounded confidence game. As we celebrate your invisible wins, we mine for gold. What strengths, tools, strategies, and resources did you use here? What values did you express? Session by session, we stack this gold, building confidence, brick by unbreakable brick.

Reliance on external acknowledgement jeopardizes your integrity, or ability to do the hard/right thing consistently. As a leader, most of your work will go unseen. What is seen will often be disliked. You simply can not do the hard/right thing consistently if you rely on external validation.

It's your responsibility to fortify confidence and integrity along your high-five-wanting, thumbs-down-peppered, invisible-labor-littered journey to the big, beautiful wins to come.?

There’s another equally compelling case for making invisible wins visible.?

Celebrating invisible wins promotes connected leadership.?

Discord bangs. Harmony hums. When Next Level Leaders are thriving, your work becomes invisible. As connected leaders, weaving webs of positive relationships towards a shared aim, your influence is as pervasive as it is quiet.??

We need language to define the wins that change everything: the vibe shift that aligned the team, the strength focus that got individuals working on the right things, the trust building that led to innovative ideas. We need these wins highlighted on the CV, talked about during succession planning, and toasted at the donor gala. We need language for the change you're making.?

The work of defining and shining connected leadership starts where we begin each and every session: “What are you most proud of this week?” So, Next Level Leader, what comes to mind?

The upside: You don’t have to celebrate alone. It's my love language and my job to cheer for the wins no one else can see. It'd be my honor to toast to your becoming, each and every step of the way.

To learn about working with me or one of our Next Level Leadership s best-in-class, O.G.s in the field, leadership coaches , email me @ [email protected] or visit us at www.the-next-level.com . To build a culture of coach-leaders in your organization, check out Success Circles .

Want to become a Next Level Leadership certified coach through my new one-on-one mentorship program? Email me @ [email protected] , subject "Coaching Mentorship."

To making invisible wins shine,?

Lucia

Next Level Leadership #executivecoaching #leadershipcoahing #mindsettraining #positivepsychology #appreciativeinquiry #strengthfinder #resilience #confidence #integrity #connectedleadership