DaVita Leadership Insights · 2024-12-23 · 12 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
17 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
This episode concludes DaVita's six-part healthy teams series with Doug Miller and Grace Berman exploring how to honor and celebrate team results - not just individual achievements. Miller, a master coach with 13+ years at DaVita, explains that celebrating completion reinforces what you want more of: "we produce most what we honor most." The hosts share practical examples including creating fun awards with plaques and t-shirts, and rewriting songs to celebrate milestones. A critical pitfall emerges when leaders move the goalpost as teams approach success, undermining satisfaction and trust. Miller emphasizes breaking goals into achievable chunks with clear mile markers, drawing on frameworks like Languages of Appreciation and DaVita's Bravo recognition system. The episode is essential for DaVita leaders, managers, and HR teams looking to build psychological safety and reinforce culture while maintaining continuous improvement - particularly those struggling to balance pushing for more with letting teams feel genuine accomplishment.
Moving the goalpost creates disappointment and dissatisfaction because it signals that achievement is never enough. Miller notes teammates groan when recalling this experience, showing it erodes trust and the sense of completion that makes celebration meaningful.
According to Doug Miller, the top practice is asking the team directly how they want to be celebrated and honored - because not everyone values public recognition, songs, or formal awards; some prefer pizza, happy hours, words of affirmation, or quality time.
Leaders can use the Bravo recognition website to acknowledge individuals or entire teams with copies to managers, and they can access Core Value pins and awards through DaVita University's Digital Experience, which also includes the Languages of Appreciation activity to understand team preferences.
Set goals in two tiers - an achievable base goal and a stretch goal - or break larger goals into smaller mile markers. This allows teams to experience completion and celebration at each stage while still driving toward bigger improvements, rather than constantly raising the bar as targets approach.
Inviting the team to present their success to the next layer of leadership in homeroom settings creates meaningful exposure and recognition for some team members, though leaders should recognize that some people will find this intimidating rather than celebratory.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode is almost entirely composed of generic management platitudes - celebrate milestones, ask people what they want, don't move goalposts - with no novel or non-obvious claims for a B2B operator. The few concrete points (Languages of Appreciation, Bravo tool) are DaVita-internal references of zero transferable value.
I love this idea that we have at DaVita that we produce most what we honor most.
I think the first one I'm going to start with, Grace, is understanding your team. Like, have a conversation what causes them to feel honored and celebrated.
Every idea presented - celebrate progress, use appreciation languages, set stretch goals, ask team preferences - is recycled from mainstream management literature with no contrarian or first-principles framing whatsoever. The 'moving the finish line' observation is the only mildly interesting point and is still broadly known.
what you're celebrating is what you're reinforcing and what you'll get more of
while I value our core value of continuous improvement, I think there are times and places where you need to let a team cross that finish line
Both speakers are internal DaVita learning-and-development professionals - a corporate coach and a university senior director - not operators who have built or scaled businesses. There is no practitioner credibility rooted in P&L ownership, growth, or external market experience.
I'm Doug Miller, a master coach and davita University faculty member.
I'm Grace Berman, a Senior Director with DaVita University.
The episode contains almost no concrete data, named companies, metrics, or dollar figures. The only 'examples' are unnamed anecdotes (a vague team with goofy awards, Grace rewriting a song) and references to internal DaVita tools inaccessible to outside listeners.
This one team particularly really looked at the accomplishments that they had gotten for the year and they created about five, five different super goofy and fun awards
we rewrote it, we performed it live for the team
Every question is a soft, open-ended prompt designed to elicit positive stories rather than probe, challenge, or test claims. There is no pushback, no follow-up that goes deeper, and the host frequently validates answers with enthusiasm before moving on.
So, Doug, uh, what have you seen leaders do well in just bringing this to life to honor and celebrate team results?
If you could just choose one, what would that one be that you would ask our leaders to try right away?
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
In the exciting finale of the Healthy Teams mini-series, Doug Miller and Grace Berman with DaVita University dive into the importance of honoring and celebrating team results. They discuss how celebrating team milestones - big or small - boosts morale, reinforces goals, and fosters a culture of appreciation. From quirky awards to meaningful public recognition, this episode is packed with creative ideas for leaders to celebrate their teams. Tune in for practical tips to boost engagement and make sure every team victory gets the recognition it deserves! For DaVita teammates, visit the DaVita University Digital Experience to bring the activities and concepts mentioned in this episode to life: Languages of Appreciation Worksheet: DVU1251: Building Relationships: Languages of Appreciation: Teammate Preference Sheet: The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace - Appreciation at Work: Leveraging Languages of Appreciation at Work for Leaders: Gateway Bravo: Core Value Award Guide: HOSTED BY: Grace Berman and Doug Miller, Senior Directors, DaVita University Like what you heard in this episode? Rate us and follow DaVita Leadership Insights on iTunes or your favorite podcast app!
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Doug Miller: Hi and welcome to DaVita Leadership Insights, a podcast for DaVita teammates who want to become a better leader, both personally and professionally. I'm Doug Miller, a master coach and davita University faculty member.
Grace Berman: And I'm Grace Berman, a Senior Director with DaVita University. Today we are concluding our six part coaching mini series on building healthy teams with episode six, honoring and celebrating team results. And what a great way to end, right? Yes. Well, I'm excited to continue our special format, Doug, uh, where I get to interview you and our listeners get to benefit from your stories and expertise as a master level coach working with leaders to build healthy teams across DaVita for the last 13 plus years. So let's start on this topic with why is honoring and celebrating team results, not just individual results, an important practice in building healthy teams?
Doug Miller: Oh, uh, it's so important, Grace. It's important to celebrate and honor because it's about completion. Uh, it's about bringing things to completion and really acknowledging not just the result, but the energy and effort that went into creating that result. I love this idea that we have at DaVita that we produce most what we honor most.
Grace Berman: I love that quote.
Doug Miller: Right? Isn't it awesome? So what you're celebrating is what you're reinforcing and what you'll get more of.
Grace Berman: So, Doug, uh, what have you seen leaders do well in just bringing this to life to honor and celebrate team results?
Doug Miller: Oh, man. One of our core values is fun, right? So I've seen some leaders. This one team particularly really looked at the accomplishments that they had gotten for the year and they created about five, five different super goofy and fun awards and then acknowledge the team with plaques and T shirts and other things that went along with the Goofy fun awards.
Grace Berman: Oh, I love that. It doesn't just have to be the straightforward, you know, the ones you might think of for common professional awards, which are important.
Doug Miller: Right?
Grace Berman: But the fun ones. Cause you don't have to be held back from doing it. You can do it anytime. So I love the goofiness that that's where your mind went to. Yeah, we did that for our team, our learning center of Excellence team, when finished our mandatory trainings for the year.
Doug Miller: Oh, cool.
Grace Berman: And we, we said to the team, hey, if we complete all of our trainings collectively complete on time, then the leadership team are gonna create a whole song and then perform that song. We're gonna rewrite the song. This is how you do it. We rewrote it, we performed it live for the team and it was just a great, fun thing for us. To do, to celebrate, and then for the team to also see are living the core value of fun. So it's like, it was a win,
Doug Miller: win, and you're reinforcing your personal value of fun.
Grace Berman: Yes, my humor. My core value of humor.
Doug Miller: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so cool. You know, the other thing that's interesting, Grace, is I've watched some leaders stumble around this because just as the team is approaching the finish line, they. They can see the finish line. They can see they're just about, you know, we're going to accomplish this goal. You know what some leaders do?
Grace Berman: What. What do they do?
Doug Miller: They move the goal line. They, um, move the finish line. They increase. Hey, we're doing so well. Why not just meet the goal? Why don't we make the goal bigger? And then all of a sudden, that created disappointment and dissatisfaction across the team. I've actually been in rooms when I bring this up. Teammates groan.
Grace Berman: Really?
Doug Miller: Yeah. Like, ugh, yeah, my leader did that. They moved the goal.
Grace Berman: So we're not talking about a goal that was misidentified from the beginning where it really was set incorrectly. It was about just never feeling like it's enough.
Doug Miller: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, while I value our core value of continuous improvement, I think there are times and places where you need to let a team cross that finish line and honor and celebrate the improvement that they didn't make and not continue to push for more.
Grace Berman: Yeah. And I think that people, uh, can get tripped up on that because you're not saying that you're settling for a lower bar. It's really about breaking it up into chunks. Right. Milestones, being able to celebrate each mile marker. And I know that Misha talked about this in his Art of Accountability podcast that you mentioned last episode. He talked about celebrating those mile markers.
Doug Miller: Oh, cool. Very cool. Yeah. And I've also seen leaders lay out, you know, this would be a good goal, and this would be the awesome goal. Right, Right. So there are leaders that also set two goals and the stretch goal versus the kind of, here's our goal. But the important thing is that people really feel that when they get to the goal that they're honored and celebrated.
Grace Berman: It's almost a way. It's kind of about, how do you set goals in some ways. Right. So you gotta set goals so that they're achievable. You can get to that place of honoring and celebrating, and you can still keep pushing yourself. And it's just the way you set it up. So I really. I love the call out on that and where leaders can sometimes stumble with. With, I think, good intent, uh, to always keep living that continuous improvement value.
Doug Miller: Yep.
Grace Berman: So then, uh, what are some activities and exercises leaders can do to get better at being able to live? Both things keep driving towards improving and getting better and continuous improvement. And also honor and celebrate when we hit those mile markers.
Doug Miller: Yeah. I think the first one I'm going to start with, Grace, is understanding your team. Like, have a conversation what causes them to feel honored and celebrated. And, you know, you wouldn't do that, you know, right after you've accomplished the goal. But do that and understand what creates satisfaction for them and causes them to feel honored and celebrated.
Grace Berman: I like that you started with the asking.
Doug Miller: Yep.
Grace Berman: Because maybe not everybody wants you. You to rewrite a song for them or dress up in a funny costume. So I understand that totally.
Doug Miller: Yeah. Some people don't want the public acknowledgement, while others may really value that.
Grace Berman: Oh, that reminds me of our, um, Languages of Appreciation.
Doug Miller: Exactly. And where is that, uh, where can people find that grace?
Grace Berman: Yeah. Cause I'm not gonna make you say those words again. The davita University Digital Experience. If you search for Languages of Appreciation, there's an activity that you can do with your team, because some might prefer words of affirmation, Some might just want your quality time. Some may want, um, a specific, like, personalized small gift. There's a variety. And not everybody wants the same things and will receive the appreciation and the honoring in the same way.
Doug Miller: Yeah. Another tool that we have in the village is Bravo. It's that recognition website where you can send people acknowledgements and copy their manager. But I don't know if you know this. In that system, you can also acknowledge an entire team, not just an individual. So you can do both the team and do multiple people, or you can do individuals and acknowledge them as well.
Grace Berman: I really love that ability to do that, because I think we're talking about how you can celebrate the team results. So it's important that leaders know that there's some easy buttons out there, and it can create a lot of meaningful impact, even if it doesn't take you a lot of time to do it.
Doug Miller: Yeah. I think this next one that I'm going to share really is, uh, you need to listen carefully and what would cause people to feel acknowledged and celebrated, because for some people, this would be a huge acknowledgment, and for others, this wouldn't. And that is to give the team an opportunity to present that success and that result to your leaders.
Grace Berman: Ooh. Yeah.
Doug Miller: Right. So invite them to the homeroom of the next layer of leadership and allow the team to present that success to them. Now, some people are gonna be intimidated and not wanna do that, and that won't feel good. But for some, that level of exposure will be really meaningful for them.
Grace Berman: Yeah, I know we do that in our devita University and in wisdom homerooms to celebrate successes. And I think it really, what I've heard really resonates with teammates to hear other teammates presenting on these accomplishments.
Doug Miller: Yeah, the other ones are more individual focused, whether it's, you know, using. Utilizing the core Value pins or the Core Value awards in terms of acknowledging and appreciating individuals for their contributions towards the goals. But you've also got access to those as well.
Grace Berman: Yeah, wonderful. Well, Doug, those are a lot of ideas, so let's skinny it down. If you could just choose one, what would that one be that you would ask our leaders to try right away?
Doug Miller: I think the most important one on this list is asking the team what they want, how do they want to be celebrated and honored?
Grace Berman: That's a beautiful one.
Doug Miller: Some people, I mean, we haven't brought up pizza yet. Some people are actually going to want that. Pizza party, I don't know.
Grace Berman: Pizza party is quite popular.
Doug Miller: You know, the food, the food option, or the happy hour. I don't know.
Grace Berman: Food is my love language. Yes, you've got me pinpointed. All right, well, that's a very simple, practical tip, so go out and try that right away. Doug, thank you for sharing your wisdom, your stories, your tips today and throughout our whole coaching miniseries. And as a leader who is far from perfect, far from done, I truly appreciate the time and the grace, no pun intended, As I continue my lifelong journey to becoming a better leader and a better person, a better human, it's really helpful for me to hear that I'm not the only one who struggles with some of these practices and that there are some practical, tactical tips that. That I can try just to get 1% better.
Doug Miller: Yeah. And grace, while you're saying all of that, you added a lot of value to this as well. And I just really appreciate your partnership and your willingness to support making this podcast happen. You are the heart behind this podcast, so I just really, really honor and appreciate you for all you put into it. And, uh, you're welcome. And for you listeners out there, we know, we know it, we know you have stories and tips. Tell us what they are. We want to hear from you. So click on that survey link in the show notes and give us your insights and feedback. And if you enjoyed the podcast series, please be sure to show your love by submitting an Apple Podcast rating or review.
Grace Berman: Yes. And if you've enjoyed, uh, this episode in particular again, please share it with a teammate so we can continue to spread ripples throughout the village. And finally, make sure you follow this show so that even though this miniseries is over, you don't wanna miss any of Our Future DeVita Leadership Insights podcast episodes.
Doug Miller: You know, since this is our last episode in the miniseries, I don't wanna miss this opportunity to ask listeners. Also, Grace, go check out, uh, the sister series, the DaVita Power of Women Podcast. I know that you're also really passionate about this series, Grace. What else would you say here?
Grace Berman: Yeah, I've had the honor of hosting a couple of episodes for the depau podcast, as we say, the devita Power of Women podcast. And it really is such a truly special thing for devita to give voice to topics that are top of mind for women leaders and fostering the sense of community and belonging for all of us. So things like imposter syndrome and work life balance, being a working mom, things that are just being able to talk about these issues is just so helpful and to hear from other people, uh, leaders around the village. So please do check it out. Doug, until our next episode, one for
Doug Miller: all and all for one.
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