Why celebrating what’s working matters as much as fixing what isn’t

September has always had a bit of a “new year” feeling about it.

For many of us, years of starting a new school year every September have made it feel like a natural point for a fresh start. Summer ends, routines return, and there’s a sense of getting back to business with renewed energy.

At work, that can make September a good time to take stock. But when it comes to work, there’s a question we often forget to ask: What’s going well?

Our attention naturally goes to problems

At Friday Pulse, we encourage teams to pay attention to both sides of their day-to-day, week-to-week and month-to-month experience.

Understanding frustrations and problems is important, but so is noticing the good stuff, understanding why it's happening, and thinking about how you can do more of it.

Because improvement isn't only about focusing on what's wrong. Imagine opening your latest employee survey results and seeing 15 scores.

14 are strong. One is noticeably lower.

Which one do you look at first?

For most of us, it's the low one.

There's good reason for this. It’s in our nature as human beings – it’s likely part of what kept our ancestors alive! But this “negativity bias” can influence what we notice at work too. And our tendency to notice what's wrong can shape the way we approach employee feedback.

We look at the lowest score. We read the frustrations first. We focus the team conversation on the problem that needs solving.

Before long, a set of results containing lots of positive information can just become a conversation almost entirely about what's going wrong.

Your highest scores contain useful information too

A high score isn't a reason to move on to the next one. It's something to get curious about.

• Why is this working so well?
• What are we doing that contributes to this score?
• Has something changed recently?
• What could other teams learn from us?
• And, importantly, how do we make sure we don't lose it?

If you understand what's creating those experiences, you have something tangible to build from.

That's why we encourage Friday Pulse users not to treat green scores as “job done”. They're useful information about the conditions in which people are thriving.

Celebrate it, then learn from it

Celebrating what's working isn't about ignoring problems or pretending everything is wonderful.

It's about giving the positive parts of working life the attention they deserve.

Research suggests that we can get more from positive experiences at work by actively noticing and reflecting on them, rather than simply moving on. Sharing positive experiences with others can extend their benefits too. These practices have been linked to greater positive emotions and wellbeing, stronger psychological resources, fulfilment of psychological needs, and a greater sense of meaning at work.

In other words, when a good thing happens at work, notice it, talk about it, understand it, and get more value from it.

That's a powerful shift.

Recognition matters too

Sometimes what's working isn't a process or a policy. It's a person.

Someone helped a colleague through a difficult week. A manager handled a challenging situation brilliantly. A team pulled together to hit an important deadline. Someone quietly made everybody else's job easier.

Those moments are worth noticing.

Research involving more than 1,800 workers found a relationship between employee recognition and how well people feel and function. Interestingly, recognition from colleagues had a stronger relationship with things like optimism, resilience and self-esteem than recognition from managers.

There is also some evidence that recognition can influence performance. In a field experiment, researchers found that unexpected public recognition increased subsequent performance.

That doesn't mean every organization needs a complicated recognition scheme though. Often, the simplest thing is to make appreciation part of everyday working life.

That's why Friday Pulse gives people the opportunity to say Thank you to their colleagues each time they check in. It's a small habit to build, but it helps make sure that alongside identifying what could be better, teams keep noticing the people and moments making work better already.

What we celebrate tells people what matters

There's another reason to spend time on the positives.

When we talk about what went well, we're not just making people feel good. We're learning about the behaviours, relationships and working practices we want more of.

Perhaps your team has a particularly high score for Team relationships. Don't just celebrate the score. Ask why.

Maybe people regularly step in when someone is overloaded. Perhaps information is shared openly. Maybe people ask for help early instead of struggling alone.

Suddenly, “we scored highly on team relationships” becomes something much more useful: These are the things we do that make us a great team. Let's keep doing them.

Celebration and improvement aren't opposites. Done well, celebration is part of improvement.

Don't let “good” become invisible

There's a risk when something consistently works well that we simply stop seeing it.

• The colleague who always helps.
• The meeting that actually works.
• The process that saves everyone time.
• The flexibility people value.
• The team relationships that make a difficult week manageable.
• The work that stops something failing before it happens.

Over time, these can become part of the background. We only really notice their value when something changes and they're no longer there.

Regularly asking what's working helps make the invisible visible again. And once you've identified something important, you can protect it.

Look in both directions

When we talk to clients about their Friday Pulse results, we encourage them to look at both their higher and lower scores.

The lower scores can show you where there's friction, where people may need more support, or where something needs to change.

The higher scores tell you where your strengths are, what people value, and what you might want to protect or build upon.

You need both.

The same applies to the things people share each week. Frustrations and Ideas can help teams identify improvements, while Celebrations and Thank yous help them recognize what's going well.

Together, they give you a much richer picture of the team experience than either would alone.

A different kind of fresh start

So, as September brings that familiar sense of a new beginning, by all means think about what you'd like to improve.

But don't start with a blank sheet of paper.

Before deciding what needs fixing, take a proper look at what you've already got.

What made your team proud recently? What has become easier? Where have you made progress? Which scores are particularly strong? Who deserves a thank you? What do people value about working in your team?

Then ask one more question: How can we do more of that?

Because building a happier, more successful workplace isn't just about finding problems and fixing them.

Sometimes the best place to start is with what's already going right.