I just spent four days in Poland, celebrating the wedding of my friend and colleague Jochem. It reminded me how important it is to celebrate. With friends, but also in work. It is too easy to be always moving onto the next thing and not spending at least a little time to acknowledge our hard work and enjoy it a little bit. Two thoughts:

• Be aware of the small victories and seize opportunity. It takes time to grow into a celebrating mindset. If something good happens, give praise. Get the team together, say a couple of nice words. Doesn’t have to be fancy.
• Schedule the bigger things. This sounds cheesy, but if you’re working towards something big with your team, you know there will be a moment when the hard work is done. Build this into your schedule. The rest doesn’t need to know up front, but it is about you being prepared.

Celebrating things that went well is an often overlooked part of our jobs as leaders. Salaries are important, but for anyone in any job, recognition of hard work might be one of the most important reasons they work for you. Your role in large and small celebrations can make an enormous difference in your team and organization.