Organisational Milestones

Organisational Milestones

Headmaster Dr Alec O’Connell

Today’s waymarks to benchmark our past, current, and future growth and success

While the word ‘waymark’ is not commonly used, the term ‘milestone’ is very much a familiar part of today’s vernacular.

Historically, waymarks were carved from stone or wood and positioned at the side of the road to show the distance to various places, especially to the nearest large town. These signposts provided hope for weary travellers in search of an end to their long day of trudging through the countryside. Typically, the stones were placed a mile apart. Each ‘mile stone’ was given a unique number, serving as a mile marker. Our modernday use of milestone was inspired by the Romans’ ancient practice of using waymarks. Today, most people are familiar with the word ‘milestone,’ but the term is used in a slightly different way. Today, it is far more commonly used to measure an important event in history, someone’s life or that of an organisation.

Milestones can also elicit a sense of real passion, as evidenced in Jesse Jackson’s words about the election of Barrack Obama: “For me, Barack Obama’s election was a milestone of the most extraordinary kind. On the day he was elected I felt such hope in my heart. I thought we were seeing the beginning of a new era of equal opportunity across race and gender such as America had never known before.”

This year marks two significant milestones for Scotch College – our 125th year since our school was founded and the 75th year since we started our pipe band. Why then are milestones important to organisations such as ours, and why should we celebrate them?

Milestones build morale. Regardless of what is being celebrated. Organisational milestones such as our 125th year are emotional-based, and getting people to connect emotionally with our community is critical to celebrating our past and future success. Celebrating school, work, and personal milestones not only helps people acknowledge their successes, but it also provides opportunities to strengthen bonds with family, friends, and co-workers. Positive memories of past accomplishments help motivate people to pursue future goals.

Celebrating milestones, whether small or large in gravitas, is important and shouldn’t just be reserved for obvious celebrations such as birthdays, weddings, and graduations. Milestones come in all shapes and sizes. They may include completing an important work project, doing well on a test, finishing a course of work, or any number of other accomplishments. In today’s rapidly moving world, we are consumed by the pace of change, jumping from task to task in rapid succession. In doing so, we run the risk of forgetting to take time to ‘smell the roses’, failing to live for the moment and take time to congratulate ourselves and celebrate our successes.

Scotch Pipe Band performing at their 75th Anniversary Sundowner

So much of our personal growth and effective habits depend on our interactions with others. In turn, celebrating such interactions leads to the development of ‘emotional banking’, a term coined by Stephen Covey. Recognising significant milestones also builds affective commitment, a construct developed by Meyer and Allen, and one which I investigated as part of my own doctoral programme. Affective commitment is a conceptual framework which acknowledges that emotional attachment to an organisation is an important essence of organisational commitment. Both constructs create an atmosphere of trust, buy-in, and in our case, alignment to what the College is trying to achieve.

The other reason to acknowledge milestones, is that they can break up the thought of achieving what may appear to be the unachievable. In the case of Scotch College, the first milestone was the very birth of our College. Jane Alexander was surely not consumed envisaging where the College would be in 2022. In 1897, she simply wanted a Presbyterian school where she could send her boys. I doubt she was worrying whether the College would still be here in 2022. The number of staff and level of resourcing we all enjoy today is the outcome of Jane Alexander achieving her first simple but seminal milestone.

Consciously celebrating and acknowledging milestones can also yield psychological benefits and provides structure. Rewarding individuals or organisations for their respective successes, no matter how small, gives something to look forward to.

Celebrations can also help people transition into new phases of life. Weddings are celebrated because they join two individuals into a married couple. Baby showers aren’t just about giving or gifts, they’re also about celebrating people who are about to transition into parenthood. Celebrating the end of a degree programme is also important because it helps students transition into a new phase of their life, regardless of whether that means pursuing advanced roles, such as managerial positions, or shifting fields entirely.

Harry Evans receiving a Speakers Challenge award from Headmaster Dr Alec O’Connell

The organisational structure of Scotch, represented by three sub schools, Junior, Middle, and Senior, is designed to deliberately provide our boys with a journey that has built-in milestones, or rites of passage, as they graduate from one sub school to another.

Personal growth is important. Rewarding yourself for your achievements, whether that’s learning a new skill, finding a new job, or completing a class, can lead to your next step forward. Why? Because celebrating small goals can encourage you to achieve larger ones. For example, if you want to learn a new language, you need to acknowledge yourself for hitting daily or weekly studying targets. Daily celebrations can be as simple as indulging in your favourite food.

Celebrating milestones also helps reinforce positive behaviours and attitudes, both important when tackling a new task or challenge. Whether you’re celebrating with co-workers because your team landed a big contract, or with classmates after finishing a tough semester, acknowledging milestones can help nudge you towards future successes.

In essence, milestones highlight a significant track record and can assist in planning for a successful future. Most milestones take time to achieve, that’s why they are worthy of celebration.

In our case it allows us to showcase our College’s track record. Still operating 125 years since commencing, gives us credibility and a very proud and strong statement about our longevity and associated security. When you have been around for 125 years and have over 16,500 graduates, and 1,463 current students from PK–12, it means we are continuing to grow and clearly doing something right. Most importantly, it provides on-going security, alluding to a bright future for our College.

All positive messages are worth acknowledging and celebrating. No doubt we have so many waymarks and milestones ahead, many of which we cannot even imagine today, which will be met through the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of those to follow. While we may have achieved much in our 125 years, there will be many milestones to come. This thought is beautifully captured in words attributed to Bishop Oscar Romeo from A Step Along the Way.

“We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realising that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.”

Our job is to continue planting and nurturing our seeds.