The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate…

When team members see that their work is having a direct impact on the success of a organization, it motivates them to contribute their best work. Celebrating workplace milestones shows employees that, not only are they a valued and honored member of the team, but they are also contributing meaningful work to their organization and its purpose.

For those not being recognized, sharing the success of their teammates and seeing that hard work does not go unnoticed can help further your culture of appreciation and motivate the entirety of the team.

Plus, if you tie that individual’s achievements to the values and purpose of your organization, it can be a great opportunity for you to further embed your core values and make sure your mission is clear to the rest of the team. This helps create a unified team that will stand firmly in their resolve to move the company forward.

The philosophy is that workplace celebrations foster relationship building, improve morale, enhance retention, and encourage employees to achieve results.

Knowing that not everyone likes rewards in the form of public accolades or gifts, and not everyone is motivated by the same things. We should still strive to create a culture of appreciation, even as you appreciate each person in their own unique way. Below mentioned are the guidelines for how to make sure your hard-working team gets the recognition they deserve in their preferred way:

1. Set expectations and get systematic. Team leaders should keep track of upcoming milestones, projects that deserve recognition, team members’ personal goals, and each person’s preferential form of appreciation. Setting expectations around what deserves reward and recognition and communicating those expectations to team members helps keep your company’s values and mission top of mind. In addition to setting up systems to celebrate individuals, it’s also important we also celebrate as a company. Coming together at regular intervals to celebrate everyone’s contributions and the value of their collective work inspires the team as we move towards the next quarter with renewed vigor.

2. Give gratitude often. Building a culture of appreciation is not a one-step process: it’s something that takes time and effort from every member of your team. Making sure “Great job!” and “Thank you!” are regular parts of our teams’ vernacular is vital to building an appreciative work culture. Our leaders should believe that gratitude rewards generosity and maintains the cycle of healthy social behavior. Feeling gratitude for our work makes us more morally and economically competent thinkers with a better sense of self. So don’t save all those good, rewarding feelings for performance reviews. When it comes to giving and receiving gratitude, our motto is: “The more the merrier!”. Celebrate all kinds of things–big and small–in your personal and social lives, and incorporate the same ethos into the workplace as well.

3. Let’s get personal. Getting personal goes both ways. It’s fun to think of traditions and routines that speak to your unique identity as an organization, too.

4. Give something tangible. Understand that while cash rewards might seem like a good idea, money might not be the strong motivator you think it is. Tying payment to the appreciation for good work rather than work for work’s sake can actually hinder team members’ desire to be productive, so offering cash awards often misses the mark when it comes to awards for workplace milestones. However, some people are incredibly motivated by the promise of tangible rewards. Hence have some creative examples that include dinners, movie tickets, donations to a team member’s chosen charity, awards that tie into employee health and wellness programs.

5. Make the connection. Believe that appreciation is wonderful, but acknowledging the positive impact a team member’s work has had on the company can instill a sense of pride and gratitude within them and help them feel like a more valued member of the team. When we position and celebrate these workplace milestones as success stories, we encourage the entire team to reflect on their own contributions. In turn, this can have a positive impact on overall workplace productivity. Given the opportunity, they might just surprise you with how great they are.

Everyone needs a little appreciation once in awhile. Celebrating workplace milestones helps the teams feel appreciated for their contributions and can give them a stronger sense of purpose, driving team member engagement and helping each person reach their full potential.