Egypt and the entire world is celebrating and honoring the inauguration of The New Suez Canal, an economic, cultural and political milestone for Egypt and the entire maritime trade and shipping industry.
While Egypt celebrates, there is one lesson to take from this event and it is not what you think.
The One Lesson to learn from the New Suez Canal is to celebrate your team’s achievements.
Yes, think about it for a second.
The entire country celebrated, honored and praised the thousands of workers, engineers and companies that helped build the new Suez Canal in record breaking times. While this pushes the same people to work on the next project with more courage, inspiration and determination. It also creates a sense of competitiveness between companies and establishments all over Egypt and the region.
What you need to do as a manager or company owner is not to let this event pass as a normal day off or a holiday. Go over the entire process of the project with your team even if you are not in the engineering, construction or shipping industry. Show them how a team of people managed to create a waterway at a length of 35 kilometers in less than a year while the original 193 kilometers long Suez Canal needed over 10 years to be completed, this shows dedication.
An entire country with minimal resources managed to get the project completed, this shows determination.
In exceedingly hard circumstances, with instability, lack of funding, conflict over the futility of the project and high temperatures; the project was completed nonetheless, this shows perseverance.
But the one lesson you need to take from this whole process is this: praise your team for their achievements, big or small. Celebrate the completion of a project and the long hours the team spent on any project. If you are celebrating a milestone with a client, take the team out to celebrate. They need to see and feel what their work looks like once completed. Management isn’t just highlighting errors or mistakes, it is also giving credit when credit is due.
And who knows, maybe you will have a winning project celebrated worldwide on your hands soon, just like the New Suez Canal.
What are the other lessons you think we all should learn from the New Suez Canal? Tell us @jobzella or on Facebook