#winning

How it came about

During my internship, I remember speaking to a senior new joiner about my work. I spoke highly about the opportunity to be working in such a new and upcoming sector like Govtech and all the talented people around me. However, she asked me why I’m praising everything around me and not what I achieved there. It made me realise that I was not detached from how an organisation works, I am involved in how it functions and succeeds rather than receiving all the benefits of it.

Jo Miller, author of Woman of Influence: 9 Steps to Build Your Brand, Establish Your Legacy, discusses how advocating for your accomplishments is often seen in a negative light as it goes against the usual cultural expectations. However, you need to be perceived as competent to others and yourself, which is why it’s important to foster a celebratory culture for everybody.

Create/Change promotes a culture of recognising others’ efforts, so I wanted people to recognise and verbalise their own efforts, too. I proposed the idea of a winning channel on Slack at Otter’s Holt (our internal pitching session) with three main benefits:

1. We could share and understand each other’s wins on an arguably more relatable level than the other people. For example, a successful stakeholder interaction is deeply understood by a colleague who works on the project with you rather than your friend in a completely different line of work.
2. We could manage tunnel vision and imposter syndrome. Verbalising achievements with each other fuels a culture where it’s normal to talk about winning, which is key in managing self-doubt.
3. The freedom to brag. I introduced a concept of “not so humble brags” to shake off the initial shyness that may be there in communicating wins. Instead of saying “I completed my CPD course,” people have the opportunity to brag that they’re the “best business analyst in the history of the world.”

How it’s going

In three months, Create/Change averaged 3.8 wins per week. The common themes of our wins surround:

• Client feedback
• Pragmatic cross-functional interaction
• Bids
• CPD
• IT and operations
• Health
• Mindset shifts
• Not throwing your laptop out the window

There is also an increase in people saying “that’s a win” when recognising accomplishments and encouraging people to post them on the channel. This fosters a supportive culture of uplifting the team.

Reflections on winning

Consciously communicating wins through this channel made me reflect on several things.

1. Wins don’t look and feel the same every day. With some achievements, you may not realise until days later, when you’ve had the time to reflect on your work in a time-bound project. It may be that somebody else points out that you successfully ran a workshop or drew an important boundary.
2. Sometimes, winning is uncomfortable. Your win may not feel like a win even though it is one. Being conscious of your achievements can reveal long-term, perfectionist, mindsets which contradict verbalising your wins. In turn, you feel more comfortable encouraging others rather than yourself.
3. What other people celebrate makes you learn more about them. Your team’s individual achievements make you learn about what is challenging them in their role. Their personal achievements make you learn about their new hobbies and the progress associated with it.

It is important to find what works for you. Some like to start out small to get used to the idea of outwardly sharing accomplishments with others. Others like to start out by focusing on themes, like a fitness achievement or successfully trying out a new recipe.

Verbalising your achievements in a manageable way can make winning a comfortable habit. Ultimately, the key is to celebrate in a way that feels authentic to you.

Thank you for reading,

Aditi