When you greet teammates you haven’t seen for a while, how do you “check in?” Do you have a check-in practice that promotes both personal power and team building? If not, consider using mine. It’s a practice I learned years ago from a coach, and I use it at least three ways: (1) as a personal Leadership Gift practice, (2) for formal meeting launches and (3) for informal greetings.

Wins

The practice is called Wins, and it’s amazingly easy to do: within the first minutes of greeting others, simply report your wins to each other and celebrate them together — that is it. This practice has deep implications for your life, for the lives of others, for your interactions, and for the synergies you create.

Here’s a recent example. Last week a multi-national leadership team I was supporting filled two flip chart sheets with their wins since 2007 when I first worked with them (including quintupling their company’s profit). The recognition of all they had accomplished individually and as a group gave them the courage to then tackle some difficult conversations together.

What makes it so powerful? The simple fact that humans are intentional beings.

We can be conscious of our motivations and desires. We like to have our intentions met and are most fulfilled when they are, and when we see and recognize the progress. The practice of reporting wins to each other and celebrating them together (1) grants us permission to win, (2) reveals our intentions to ourselves and others, and (3) supports our acknowledgment of each other’s power to generate wins.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Adopt this definition of a WIN: when something you intend to happen does happen, or when something that you intend not to happen doesn’t happen.

2. Launch your next team meeting by presenting this definition, discuss it, and then take turns reporting individual wins.

Listen intently and without interruption while each participant reports a win. Respond to each win with “Congratulations!” or a similar acknowledgment and celebration.

Don’t minimize. Amplify.

Bear in mind that our work cultures often teach us to defer the recognition of “winning” both to ourselves and others. We’ve all known overachievers who are unable to accept acknowledgment unless they’ve conquered some HUGE territory (you may resemble that remark). So be aware that your response is critical! When someone reports a win (no matter how small) see it as an opportunity for recognizing an intention met which is a key source of power and mastery.

You can ignore someone else’s win, minimize it, or amplify it. When you choose the latter, others get the experience of you seeing them as powerful, intentional beings. Your congratulatory response actually helps others become more aware of their power and their choices.

Whatever we filter for is what we get. Want more wins? Install a Wins Filter.

Practice

For practice, make a list right now of your recent wins. Go ahead and do it.

If you aren’t thinking of any, note this fact — it suggests how high you set the bar for something in your life to be called a win. And that suggests you don’t think you deserve to win yet. I disagree.

If that’s the case, here are some prompts:

• Did you intend to get out of bed this morning, and did you do so? (that’s a win — if you are willing to claim it)
• Did you intend to pay your rent/mortgage last month, and did you do it? (win)
• Did you intend to keep your job last week, and did you keep it? (win)
• Did you intend to hug your kids/spouse/friend yesterday, and did you do it? (win)

These prompts should give you permission to create your list, so do it now.

Then, CONGRATULATE yourself for each one — no matter how few or how small you might think they are!

Consider that, to achieve each one, you had to generate a desire, formulate a strategy, do something, correct, improve, take a risk, overcome obstacles or fears, and take action. Then you had to evaluate the result against your intentions.

Go ahead and smile. Thank yourself. Acknowledge yourself. Say, “Yes!”

It is good practice to notice your requirements for acknowledging something as a win. Did you consider — but discard — many intentions you’d met because they seemed so small? Did you permit yourself to see only one or two wins because you thought you didn’t deserve more? If so, I invite you to deserve more.

The concept of Wins is absolutely critical both to personal mastery and to effective team building. You can generate more wins for yourself and the members of your team by getting in the habit of honoring and celebrating those wins to optimize your power.

Apply this skill and more for collaborative success at Creating Results-Based Teams – Anytime Anywhere with Anyone.