Remote Leadership Institute

Helping Remote Leaders Succeed in a Virtual Workplace

Login
  • Organizational Solutions
    • Coaching
    • Customized Training
    • Speaking
    • Workshop Previews
    • Not-for-Profit
  • Individual Learning
    • Topics/Skills
    • Live Events
    • On-Demand
    • e-Learning
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Books
    • Free Whitepapers & Resources
    • Videos
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Meet the Team
    • FAQs
    • Media Mentions
  • Contact

Build On Your Project Team’s Huge Success

Leave a Comment

By Kevin Eikenberry, co-founder of The Remote Leadership Institute.

Your team has just completed a major project, after months of tremendous effort and dedication. You hit your goal, and everyone is excited, relieved and feeling a great sense of satisfaction. Everyone is also tired and might not know what comes next.

What do you do once you’ve experienced success? How do you rally the team toward a new goal, especially when employees are dispersed in various locations? Use this advice.

Recognize and celebrate 

With success comes the need for recognition. People need to know they are appreciated for their role in the project’s success. This is critical for remote employees, who often feel like their efforts go unrecognized by management and their peers, especially when they miss out on in-office celebrations and face-to-face praise.

Recognize everyone in a public format, specifically describing what each person did to ensure the success of the project. Beyond recognition, give people a chance to celebrate the results of their hard work and the effort they expended. If you can bring everyone together, great. If not, go out of your way to make the celebration real, heartfelt and fun! If you send remote employees a quick “Thank you” email, while the rest of the gang is celebrating over beers and cake, you will alienate your remote folks.

Refresh, rejuvenate and refocus

People may be physically and emotionally tired. Give them time to refresh and rejuvenate. Before you dive into another huge project, take some time to decompress. Relax expectations for a bit. Reduce the workload if possible. Encourage people to take some time off. Basically, give everyone a chance to breathe.

Know, however, that while this time is important, it can’t last too long. As a leader you must monitor people’s energy level and emotional state. Basking in success is positive, and you must not let that turn to complacency or lethargy. Once people are ready to rebound, help them refocus.

Remind people of the big picture

Your success came in part because people bought into the project and understood its importance. After that achievement is reached it can be hard to refocus people. The best way to do that is to remind them of the big picture and the purpose of their work. Help them see the recent success as one more step toward the ultimate goal.

Review lessons learned

After any major project, especially a big success, it is important to review what happened and find the lessons. Search for the things that went well that you want to make sure you repeat. Also, assess the errors, snags or situations that can be improved next time. Solidify this review by documenting the lessons and next steps.

Reset expectations

There may be a variety of expectations to be reset. Working hours, level of urgency, costs, and a variety of other issues might need to be re-calibrated as the work returns to “normal.” Based on the great results you achieved, you also may need to raise expectations because people have learned things and gained new skills that set the bar higher.

Rock on towards the next target

One success can fuel the next. If you do the previous five things well, you will capture the momentum and move on towards new goals and greater success!

Filed Under: Leadership/Management Tagged With: Hitting Goals, Motivation, remote teams

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

What Would You Like to Learn About Today?

Career Development
Coaching
Communication
Engagement
Future of Work
Human Resources
Leadership/Management
Meetings
Productivity
Remote/Hybrid Work
Sales
Teamwork
Technology
Training
Trends

Want to Reprint an Article?

Check Out Our Reprint Policy
Order your copy of The Long-Distance Teammate
Demystify Remote Leadership with this free, 4-part video series! Click to sign up!
Meet Like You Mean It
Top 50 Sales & Marketing Blogs 2021

Quick Links

Frequently Asked Questions
The Long-Distance Leader
Free Resources
12 Weeks to Being a Great Remote Teammate
Long-Distance Worklife Podcast

Connect with Us!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Spotify
  • Goodreads

Our Network

Bud to Boss
Remarkable Leadership
DISC Personality Testing
The Kevin Eikenberry Group

Where to Find Us

8021 Westover Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46268
Phone: 317-387-1424
info@kevineikenberry.com

© 2022 · Remarkable Leadership Institute · Privacy Policy

The Remote Leadership Institute is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com