Just ONE Thing
Celebrate: The Leadership Habit That Fuels Achievement
Episode #261
with Rick White, 180BIZ
Hey, good morning, everybody. My name is Rick White from 180BIZ, and this is my Just One Thing.
All right, so what are we gonna talk about today? We're talking about celebrating. And I got a real quick question for you. When was the last time you celebrated something in your shop?
Do you know what I hear a lot? Christmas party, a work anniversary, or a big sales month.
So here's the question I wanna ask you. What happened last week that was worth celebrating?
See, this is where most shop owners get stuck, not because nothing good happened, but because you've been trained to see problems before progress.
It's not that there are not good things happening. It's that you're trained to see problems before progress. Let's face it, as business owners, we are trained to be problem solvers, so guess what we go look for? We look for problems.
But I need you to understand what gets recognized gets repeated.
That's worth writing down.
What gets recognized gets repeated.
You're gonna notice the missed phone call, the tech running behind on a job, the estimate missing parts, the declined estimate, the low sales number at the end of the day, the week, the month.
And don't get me wrong, those things matter. But when it's all your team hears, they begin to believe that their effort doesn't matter, that their improvement isn't noticed, and the goalpost keeps moving.
That's what happens when you say, "I'll be happy when," when never comes, because when you get there, you move the goalpost.
And here's what happens. Eventually, your team stops chasing excellence. They stop chasing getting better, and ultimately, they retreat to simply trying not to get yelled at.
And I need you to understand that when your team is simply working not to get yelled at, that's not culture. That's survival.
What's the cost of not celebrating?
Number one, your team forgets how far you've come. The shop loses momentum. Your team becomes disconnected. And if you do celebrate any kind of win, it feels plastic and temporary.
And you know what does feel permanent? Struggle. And that is an issue.
Imagine a technician whose productivity goes up, improves his inspection quality, and reduces the number of mistakes he's been making, but all you see is that one thing he missed.
What did he learn?
He learned, "Don't keep improving."
He learned, "No matter what I do, it isn't enough."
It isn't enough, and that's sad.
But I need you to understand, we gotta shift to celebrating.
Now, celebrating isn't the reward. Celebrating rallies your team, it reminds them of how far they've come, and it reinforces their growth.
Recognition tells people this matters because recognition should be a leadership tool.
Celebrating isn't about making people feel good. Celebrating is about helping people see progress.
And when you celebrate intentionally, you accelerate growth. Your team grows because your team naturally moves toward what gets acknowledged.
And I think that is super, super important.
So I wanna give you a really simple framework to help you through this process, okay? You can start this today.
Number one, it's the SEE Progress framework.
So the first thing you're gonna do is spot progress. You're not looking for completion. You're not looking for perfection. You're looking for progress.
What got a little better today?
Better communication, better inspections, better workflow, an increase in billed hours, an improved client experience.
Just look for it.
I promise you, no matter how much stuff you find is wrong in your business every single day, I promise you there's just as much really great stuff going on if you could just stop, take a breath, and see it.
Now, the first E is express it.
So first you're gonna see it, then you're going to express it, right?
So you're gonna spot it and then express it, but you gotta express it specifically. You gotta say it out loud.
You don't say, "Good job."
You say, "Hey, I know you're doing a much better job on these inspections. That's making a difference, and that's really what we need."
They need to hear specifically what's doing better because when that happens, it builds credibility.
So we have spot it, and then we have express it specifically.
Then the third E is expand it.
Connect what they're doing to a bigger outcome. Help them see why this matters.
So a great way to say that is, "Because you're completing those inspections and you're doing them better, we're finding more opportunities to serve our clients and creating more billed hours for the shop."
So they can see why it matters, okay?
Now they understand the impact, and that's amazing.
So what I want you to do for the next five days is I want you to have your antenna up. I want you to intentionally look. I want you to consistently and intentionally look for what's getting better, okay?
And then I want you to share it with them, okay?
I want you to spot it, I want you to express it, and then I want you to expand it.
This is gonna make all the difference in the world, okay?
See, you don't have a problem finding what's wrong.
The best leaders learn to find what's right.
Because celebration isn't about ignoring problems. It's about making sure the progress that's going on gets the attention it deserves.
If your team only hears what's wrong, they're gonna eventually stop believing that they can get better.
I need you to understand something.
This is really the key thing. Write this down:
Celebration isn't the reward for achievement. Celebration is the fuel that drives achievement.
So please understand that and have a great week.
If you know anybody that would value this message, please share it. And if you're having trouble with the culture in your team and you'd like to talk with me, just reach out at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
Shannon, put my email in there, please. [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) in the comment section there for me, please.
And also, I'm gonna have Shannon put my cell number in there. You can text me, and we can set up a time to talk.
Your team deserves to work in a place that rewards them and recognizes their growth.
Once you start to consistently give positive feedback toward what's going right, you're gonna start seeing your shop take off.
Everybody, thank you for being here. God bless. Have a great week, and go make some money.
I'll see you all next week.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
