The Art of Acknowledgment: Why Celebrating Success Matters in IT Leadership

Every IT leader knows that recognizing their team’s success is an important part of the job. But acknowledging successes is more than just an opportunity to pat everyone on the back.

It’s a critical component of effective leadership that can drive IT departments forward to achieve even more impressive results. To explore this topic, we interviewed eight current and former IT leaders to learn how they recognized success, and how those experiences informed their leadership styles.

These IT leaders shared their strategies, stories, and insights on how acknowledgment can drive IT teams to new heights.

The importance of acknowledging IT department successes

IT departments are increasingly critical to businesses’ overall success. Yet, many businesses struggle to see IT as more than a cost center, inundated with requests and fixes, and at the beck and call of every other department. This pervasive perception makes it even more important for IT leaders to acknowledge their team’s work and successes.

Recognizing successes allows IT leaders to show their teams that they value them, their work, and their contributions to the organization. It’s essential for IT leaders to communicate these sentiments and demonstrate that the business genuinely appreciates its IT staff.

Recognizing successes also gives IT leaders an opportunity to highlight their team’s contributions and impact to the rest of the organization. IT leaders can use that opportunity to demonstrate exactly what the IT department has achieved, and why it matters to the company as a whole.

Lastly, acknowledging successes can be an excellent motivator for IT teams. As one leader put it, “it is incredibly important to recognize the success of an IT department in a company, and to do so loudly and proudly, because IT professionals are often overlooked and undervalued.”

The many forms of acknowledgment

There are many ways to acknowledge your team’s work. The most effective acknowledgments are authentic, and tailored to the specific achievement and the team involved.

1. Celebrate the work your team does

IT work can often feel thankless. So IT leaders should make a point to celebrate their team’s work, particularly when that work grows increasingly complex or evolves significantly. Celebrating work can be as simple as publicizing its outcomes, or announcing milestones reached.

Michael Campaniello, CTO of Empire Dental Services, highlighted the importance of these celebrations in building company culture: “We have initiatives and goals that we attain, and at those milestones, we pause to celebrate our success. In doing so, we raise the bar on what’s possible for our next milestone. I’ve found that celebrating the work completed helps with retention and recruitment.”

Celebrating work can also involve more formal activities, processes, or rituals that occur when a major project is completed. At TechTarget, former IT director Tom Nolle hosted a “Lessons Learned” session at the end of each project. These sessions created a space for the team to acknowledge and appreciate each other’s work, while also discussing what could be done better in the future.

2. Acknowledge personal and professional growth

Effective IT leaders focus not just on what their teams do, but also how they do it. This means recognizing when individuals grow, develop, and take on new challenges and responsibilities.

Public acknowledgment of an individual’s growth can help foster a culture of learning and personal improvement. It can also motivate other team members to develop themselves further, knowing that their efforts will be acknowledged and celebrated.

Gary Brantley, CIO of Kia Motors America, emphasized this in his response, “I’ve found that the most successful leaders are those that are able to mentor and grow leaders within their organization…I take great pride in the success of others as I genuinely care about their careers and their growth.”

As a result, one of the most impactful ways to acknowledge your team’s successes is to invest in their professional development and be there to support them through their growth journey. Then, when an individual achieves a major milestone or secures a new certification, make sure to celebrate that achievement and recognize their commitment to personal growth.

3. Recognize how your team’s work impacts the business

IT work often lacks context for people outside of the department – they don’t see or understand what goes into a project, or the intricacies of technology demands. This can make it hard for others in the company to appreciate the IT team’s work.

It’s essential that IT leaders bridge this gap and communicate their team’s impact to the rest of the business. One way to do this is to highlight how IT’s work drives business outcomes in other departments. Sharing metrics and outcomes that demonstrate how the business is better off because of the work IT did helps show the business the true value of the IT department.

This can also encourage other departments to collaborate with IT more closely, which ultimately leads to more successful outcomes for the entire company.

Former VP of IT at TechTarget, Bill Laberis, reflected on a time when his team was able to save the company significant money and improve efficiencies through a data center migration project. He wished he had communicated that success better at the time: “The team should have been praised for the successful project and for enabling the business to realize significant savings going forward.”

4. Thank your team, personally

Sometimes the best way to acknowledge your team’s work is to say thank you personally. Public acknowledgment is essential, but sometimes a simple, private “thank you” said directly to an individual can make a significant impact.

Laberis emphasized this, stating, “I’ve found that people who feel valued will consistently perform at a higher level, and that making people feel valued is the most important thing a leader can do.” Many of the leaders we interviewed described how heartfelt gratitude can improve team morale, increase productivity, and create a positive workplace culture.

5. Lead with empathy

Acknowledgment is about more than just shouting out accomplishments. It’s about leading with empathy and recognizing the whole person, not just their output. This means acknowledging when individuals are struggling, and supporting them through those challenges.

Empathetic leadership involves recognizing that work is just one aspect of a person’s life, and that other circumstances or personal challenges can impact their performance, output, or workplace presence. In these situations, leaders can acknowledge their team members by creating an open line of communication to discuss those challenges, creating space for that individual to breathe, and offering flexibility when possible.

One leader illustrated the importance of this, explaining, “Recognizing that someone is struggling and giving them the time and resources to get back on track is absolutely acknowledgment, and absolutely the sign of a good leader.”

How acknowledgment impacts IT departments

Recognizing your team’s work and accomplishments is not just a feel-good activity. Done right, acknowledgment can significantly impact your IT department and the broader business. Here’s how:

1. Acknowledgment boosts morale

This is perhaps the most obvious, but still one of the most important outcomes. When IT leaders acknowledge their team’s work, it boosts morale, increases motivation, and encourages continued excellence.

One leader explained, “IT professionals are often tasked with fixing things that are broken, and they are constantly battling against a never-ending stream of user complaints. Acknowledging successes gives them something to celebrate, and provides some light at the end of a very dark tunnel.”

Celebrating successes has the power to reinvigorate teams and reinstate a sense of purpose, particularly in departments that are often tasked with addressing other people’s problems.

2. It motivates teams to tackle new challenges

Recognizing successes is a powerful tool to motivate teams to take on new challenges and embrace innovation. One leader explained how acknowledgement motivated her to tackle new projects: “After seeing how excited [my boss] was about the success of our team, I found myself wanting to push myself to explore other areas of the business and find ways to continue to make an impact.”

When IT leaders acknowledge their team’s work, they show their team that they are willing to celebrate their achievements, motivating them to achieve even more impressive outcomes. Acknowledgment tells teams that their leaders value them and their work, and are willing to publicly honor their efforts.

This can give teams the confidence and motivation to take on new initiatives – knowing that if they succeed, their hard work will be acknowledged and celebrated.

3. It attracts and retains top talent

Recognition is a key factor in what motivates people to work and do their best. This means that acknowledgment can be a powerful tool to attract and retain top talent.

When interviewing potential candidates, IT leaders can showcase how they acknowledge wins and celebrate successes to illustrate what life would be like working on their team. Current team members also serve as ambassadors for this culture, showcasing the environment to potential new team members.

Additionally, current team members will be less likely to leave for other organizations if they are part of a team that acknowledges their work and successes. People generally want to work for organizations that appreciate them and their work.

4. Acknowledgment builds trust with the broader organization

IT leaders who acknowledge their team’s successes are better positioned to build trust with the broader organization. Nolle explained that when IT departments are acknowledged for their work, “the rest of the business starts to think of them as peers, rather than subordinates or technical specialists.”

This shift helps to break down the perceived barrier between the “tech people” and the “business people”, encouraging collaboration and communication between the two groups.

5. It sets the stage for future accomplishments

Taking the time to acknowledge your team’s work and accomplishments creates a positive feedback loop that motivates your team to continue to achieve. One leader explained it this way: “By acknowledging successes, you create a culture of celebrating wins. Each victory celebrated gives a bit more energy and motivation for the next push.”

That momentum can have a powerful effect on future accomplishments, fueling big ideas, innovative solutions, and an unwavering commitment to company goals.

Conclusion

Effective IT leadership involves many things, but acknowledgment may be more important than people realize. Recognition and celebration of work and success motivate IT professionals to excel and expand their contributions to the business.

In the words of Kia Motors America’s Gary Brantley, “People may forget what you say and do, but they will always remember how you made them feel.”

Effective IT leaders recognize that acknowledgment and celebration of work and success motivate IT professionals to excel and expand their contributions to the business. They remember that people want to work where they feel valued, and that genuine, authentic acknowledgment is a critical component of a healthy work culture.