Favorite traditions for basking in the glory of a first-authored paper or awarded grant

Celebrating lab successes creates a culture of compassion, motivates lab members, and teaches the next generation of scientists to lead with kindness.

Accomplishments

• Passing qualifying exam
• Thesis defense
• Postdoc departure
• New hires
• First-author paper
• Paper accepted
• Grant awarded
• Graduation

Celebrations

• Personal note in a book that is relevant to the lab/team
• Personalized memento (e.g., belt buckle, photo/frame)
• Perpetual trophy that is passed from first-author to first-author
• Champagne toast – bottle signed by honoree(s) and kept in office/lab
• Champagne toast – honoree pops the cork and cork is glued wherever it hits the ceiling (cork is labeled with occasion and date)
• Pizza party organized by honoree(s)
• “Decorate to destruction” the desk of honoree(s) (e.g., glitter, silly string)
• Food, lots of food – meals out, treats brought in
• Slack #feelgood channel to post highlights and congrats
• Local-themed care packages for new hires
• Lab swag (e.g., stickers, masks, socks, mugs, hats, swords)
• Arcade team challenge
• Gift cards
• Lab dresses up like the PI
  

End of Year Traditions

• Boat trip
• Arcade team challenge
• Field day with traditional games (egg and spoon race, three legged race)
• Escape room
• Bowling
• Paying it forward – extended lunch to shop for adopt-a-family programs

Do you have a favorite tradition to add to this list?  Share in the comments to help spread the good vibes.

More Resources

Celebrating “The Climb”
Small Wins for Sustained Success: The Progress Principle
Microaffirmations

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