Small Wins with a Wet Vac

We were very fortunate in the torrential rains that hit Houston last week. Even though we live close to the areas that were hardest hit and had water standing in our yard, the only damage was a little water on the floorboard of one of our cars. After making some progress with towels, we turned to a wet vac to finish the job. Trying to suck the last traces of water from damp carpet with a wet vac is tedious. The nozzle needs to be held squarely against the floor and moved ever so slowly. I was ready to stop after 5 minutes, but when I opened the canister, I was surprised at the amount of water inside. So we continued to vacuum, and each time that we opened the canister, we found more water. I’m certain that this simple, positive feedback led us to stick with the job for at least twice as long as we would otherwise have done. And that’s the key lesson for anyone in leadership. Big, long-range visions can be inspirational, but they’re not enough. People need to know that they are making progress. In Leading Change, John Kotter calls it “celebrating small wins.” Every victory that gets recorded on your organizational scoreboard is an encouragement to those who contributed. It helps them see that their hard work is paying off. I knew that our “vision” was a dry carpet, but seeing the water that had been removed pushed me to continue. Notice one other aspect of my wet vac story. The “results” that spurred me on were semi-quantitative at best. I didn’t need to measure the amount of water in the canister. It was enough for me to see that the bottom was covered, or that we had as much water this time as the last. One of the reasons that some leaders don’t celebrate wins enough is that they’re looking for accurate ways to measure their results. Is your quest for precision is getting in the way of more frequent celebrations? If so, less quantification might produce more motivation. The carpet in the car isn’t completely dry yet, but I’m ready to work on it again today. Where is energy and motivation lacking in your church or ministry or non-profit? How can you celebrate some small wins to produce a much needed boost? It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>