Celebrating the Right Wins

I haven’t asked you in a while… what has been a fun win for you in the past few weeks?

Let me tell you about two of mine that are, well, simple yet have provided an incredible amount of joy and excitement.

With all the projects we have going on here at The Molitor Group you would think I would mention one of those projects wrapping up and our vision coming to fruition.

But, it has nothing to do with any of our projects though they are going quite well!

First, I am back on the road presenting and speaking in-person and it could not feel better. Next week I head to San Francisco to help a client in the pharma industry celebrate a couple of HUGE milestones and coincidentally, talk about the struggles of being at the top of your game and having to change to sustain the level of success they are experiencing.

Speaking of being on top of your game… that leads me to my second win which was not really my win but rather my daughter and her soccer teammates.

This past week they competed in the Hot Chocolate Challenge which was their last tournament of the year, and they played their best soccer of the season which is a coach’s dream.

The championship game came down to PK’s (penalty kicks) after two intense overtimes and this is how it all ended.

These ladies battled every single game and overcame a bit of adversity in the semi’s as they were short on subs (1) and then their poor teammate Abbey (who played extremely well all weekend) broke her arm early in the first half. Nevertheless, they played the rest of the game and won 1-0 and dedicated the game to Abbey.

Then after the pictures were taken and there was no one left to hug or high five, Maddie’s coach called out her name as we walked to the car as it will be a minute before we play again and said, “Maddie, you play like a lion… don’t ever lose it… it is special.”

Now. Maddie isn’t one to show signs of emotion when someone pays her a huge compliment like that but when we got back to my truck, I looked in the rear view mirror and swear I saw a little smile on her face when I asked her about it.

I guarantee you this, Maddie will never forget that moment and will continue to play her butt off for her team and that coach. Being undersized doesn’t faze her. Now she believes it is paying off as someone important to her recognized it and acknowledged her value.

Why am I telling you this?

As a leader, what wins are you celebrating?

Are you only celebrating the transactional ones?

Or are you present and aware enough to recognize significant, transformational moments for your people on an individual basis. More importantly, do you take the time to find the joy in those moments and share their win.

Find joy in the little wins, especially the wins of others and let them know as much.

It makes a difference and after all, isn’t that why we lead… to make a difference!?

 

This was originally published as a weekly newsletter from Ed Molitor, with The Molitor Group. If you’d like to receive the weekly newsletter, follow this link to subscribe.