How do you celebrate successes and recognize achievements in a remote team?

A pivotal word is "intentional". This requires thinking about and then planning how you will go about things differently. It often requires changing our methods and habits. As a coach, I recognize the need to take a pause, decide on my goals, and start developing new habits. Keep it simple and be consistent.

Although this article is focused on remote teams, many of us are hybrid. Having a purposeful approach to SMART goals and communication becomes important when interacting in person in team or client meetings. Decide what you want to get out of your "alone" time and your "together" time. Leaders ... take note ... we are watching and you're setting an example!

100%! Feedback is golden for all of us to give and receive. Developing an engaged workforce requires leaders to also listen with curiosity, appreciate, and take action on feedback from their employees. If you have an old and stale performance "evaluation" scheme, scrap it. You can change it up to focus on feedback, listening, and developing transparency. There are many apps and simple approaches you can adopt.

In my experience leading remote teams at White Internet, recognizing achievements goes beyond standard rewards. We have implemented a mix of spontaneous virtual shout-outs during meetings and structured recognition through platforms that allow peers to nominate and vote on awards. This approach not only celebrates individual accomplishments but also fosters a culture of appreciation that permeates our entire organization. It has proven essential for maintaining high morale and engagement across dispersed teams, encouraging continuous collaboration and commitment to our shared goals.

Additional ways to celebrate achievements and accomplishments in a remote work environment are: 1. Publish an Inclusive newsletter announcement or feature about their involvement in completing special projects via social media channels. This helps recognize their contributions and shares details about their activities in the organization. 2. Empower team members with a space to share case studies on the companies website with best practices in their projects to achieve milestones. 3. Serve team member a letter of appreciation or kudos via signed electronic card by co-workers and teammates. Inspire not just good work for the company but support the talent of the employee and inspire others by practicing a continuous rewards system.

My work leads me to think that while extrinsic motivation like awards and recognition are important to have, what we all really want is to understand our work; being able to improve the daily "what" and "how" and the overall "why". This intrinsic motivation is so important and remote workers often lose out because leaders are not managing them intentionally.