The thing that kept my Microsoft team going during a brutal seven-month project wasn’t what you’d expect.
I was leading a digital marketing team responsible for a major launch.
The stakes were high.
The pressure felt relentless.
We spent way too many late nights eating bad pizza in Building 18 conference rooms.
A couple of months in, one of my team members suggested we create a rotating award—something fun, fast, and ideally free—to lift morale.
Everyone brought ideas.
The one we picked? A flak jacket.
Each month, it went to someone who had stepped up to take on a tough challenge.
(To be clear, this was not a participation trophy.)
The winner got to:
→ Add their own flair - a pin, a patch, whatever made it theirs
→ Nominate the next recipient
The jacket did its job and then some.
If this were today, it would probably have its own TikTok account.
Here’s what I learned:
When you’re leading through sustained pressure, you can’t expect people to hold their breath until the big finish.
Progress markers matter.
Each small win gives your brain a dopamine hit that says, “This matters. Keep going.”
That’s how you build teams with long-haul capacity.
The ability to keep showing up, even when the road is long and the goal feels far away.
That launch became one of dozens I worked on at Microsoft.
But I still remember the flak jacket.
So much that I’ve shared the idea with coaching clients ever since.
One Seattle team created the Whale Award—a stuffed orca.
A startup uses a vintage coffee mug.
A construction team passes around a tin monkey in a hard hat.
Different tokens. Same purpose.
They remind us that small moments of recognition create the fuel to keep going.
So, I’ll ask you this:
What’s your team’s flak jacket?