As leaders, especially busy ones, we’re quick to run towards problems and challenges, fixing the things that are broken.
When things go wrong, we’re there to fix them.
But when things go right, we’re quick to move straight on to the next challenge.
I work with a bunch of leaders on a day-to-day basis and amongst the common themes I see, one always appears on a regular basis: celebrating wins is short and sweet. It may well happen, but leaders often move onto “the next thing” quickly and the win is forgotten amongst the whirlwind of day-to-day work.
This can be mistaken for humility, not wanting to celebrate too loudly or worst still, be seen to over celebrate!
Over time, the lack of celebrating wins quietly drains momentum, motivation and morale.
Celebrating wins (in the right way) does the opposite, It reinforces progress, strengthens culture, and reminds your team that their work matters.
Now, let’s be clear straight away – we’re not talking about confetti and balloons when someone does their job to a decent level. We’re talking about building a culture that recognises, celebrates and sustains high performance.
Why leaders avoid celebrating success
Most managers don’t skip celebrations because they don’t care. They skip it because they’re stretched, often feeling like they don’t have the time or the headspace to take a step away from the challenges they are working on.
Common reasons are often things like:
- A mindset of always moving onto the next thing, meaning that there is rarely a pause between projects.
- A fear of complacency, meaning that leaders worry too much that too much celebrating can reduce performance.
- Unequal contributions to a project, meaning that it can feel tricky to celebrate when effort wasn’t evenly distributed amongst a team.
- Cultural discomfort, meaning that some teams or leaders see praise as awkward or “unprofessional” – especially when they worry about “too much” celebrating.
- A culture of perfectionism, meaning that good never feels good enough and therefore, nothing ever feels celebration-worthy.
But the truth is that whilst failures can teach us valuable lessons, success can reinforce the right behaviours.
If you skip celebrating wins, you lose one of the simplest ways that you can demonstrate to your team what you want more of.
How a lack of celebrating can impact your team
When teams feel like their work isn’t seen, their engagement can quietly erode. The reason that this can happen quietly is because it’s fairly unlikely that your team will tell you that they want to celebrate their wins more. They probably see how busy you are and don’t feel that they should flag something that is important to them but may not be that high on your list of priorities.
If we reframe the problem here a bit, we’re not actually talking about the action of celebrating wins. We’re talking about your team feeling appreciated and recognised for their work, which leads to better performance and ultimately, team retention.
Put simply, a team that feels like their wins are celebrated will be significantly more likely to stay engaged, motivated and not leave.
They will also feel more trusted by you which is a huge factor in retaining your high performing team members.
Don’t underestimate the feeling of being trusted and being part of a team that delivers meaningful work. This drives engagement and energy which carries through to the next project that requires high performance.
How to create authentic celebrations
You really don’t need to overthink this – doing so can prevent you from celebrating in the first place. The best celebrations are simple, consistent and create human connection – they’re not performative.
Here is how you can make them meaningful.
1. Keep it specific
A generic “great work everyone!” won’t land with any level of meaning or impact. Instead, name the win and why it mattered. For example:
“You handled that client escalation really well, staying calm throughout the meeting and getting the project back on track after dealing with their concerns.”
This may require a bit more effort and thought from you, especially if you’re not super close to a project, but it’s worth it. Your team will soon notice if your words of celebration look the same each time and don’t mention the actual thing that they’ve done well.
2. Keep it proportionate
You don’t need to pop the champagne corks for each and every win. In fact, this can do more harm than good.
Of course, if something warrants this, go for it and don’t hold back for big wins.
But don’t forget about or overlook small gestures as well. A short message, a note, a shout-out on Slack – these can often feel just as genuine and meaningful as grander celebrations.
3. Encourage peer-driven celebrations
It’s important that not all celebrations come from you. Yes, you need to lead by example and demonstrate the importance of celebrating wins in the right way. Your team should also be encouraged to do the same and not wait for your approval or sign off.
This can take time and you’ll probably need to try a little harder at first to get things going. Make it clear that you don’t want to be the one leading celebrations all of the time and that you’d like your team to be supporting each other.
4. Include reflection within projects and processes
It’s important to build reflection time into projects so that opportunities for spotting the wins (and learnings) arise and don’t get lost in the midst of the day-to-day whirlwind.
After a big milestone or project has been completed, take a few minutes to ask questions such as:
- What went well on this project?
- What should we do again next time?
- Is there anything that you’d do differently?
This can also be a good thing to do when you’re not always close to a project but need to understand where celebrations may be warranted but would otherwise be missed.
5. Don’t overcomplicate things
A consistent 60-second celebration is better than an elaborate plan that never happens.
Most of your team won’t expect (or want) grand, convoluted celebrations and may in fact find them a bit awkward.
Try to keep celebrations simple, efficient and most importantly – clear.
Over time, these can compound and show the team what you value and build a sense of shared pride in the work that is completed.
Small wins and celebrations can build momentum
The truth is that big victories are actually pretty rare.
But small wins are everywhere as long as you are able to spot them.
When leaders regularly acknowledge progress, they help teams see movement even during long, complex projects where the “big win” can take a long time to arrive.
Try incorporating questions such as “what small win are you proud of this week?” into your team standups or individual one-on-one meetings.
Track and share metrics that reflect incremental improvement, not just final results. Find the small measures that indicate that success is on the way, even if it hasn’t arrived yet.
Celebrate the milestones along the journey – the first design, first signed off piece of content, your first successful review meeting – look for them and they’ll be there.
This matters because motivation doesn’t come from hitting one huge target. It comes from the steady drip of visible progress.
Teams that celebrate small wins are more resilient when big ones take longer to arrive.
To summarise, effective leadership isn’t just about fixing what’s broken. It’s about amplifying what’s working.
Celebration is one of the simplest ways to do that, but it’s often the first thing we sacrifice when we’re busy.
But here’s the paradox:
When you feel too busy to celebrate, that’s exactly when your team needs it most.
So slow down, notice the progress, and make it visible.
You’ll find your team re-energises faster, trusts more deeply, and performs more consistently.
Because what gets celebrated gets repeated and repetition is what turns good teams into great ones.
