“By a show of hands, how many of you have too much trust back at the office?” The room of HR professionals laugh like Jerry Seinfeld is in the house.
When I speak about employee engagement, the response is the same when I ask, “How many of you celebrate too much at work?” The laughter from the crowd says it all.
People need to be appreciated. One way to show your gratitude, as a leader, is to celebrate your team as often as possible.
THE NEXT LEVEL JOURNEY
Over the years, I have embraced the practice of discovering a keyword for the new year. Once identified and defined, the theme brings focus, shapes the experience, and sheds light on the path. A quick review of just the past four years, reveals the leadership nuggets I’ve gained and added to my work as an executive coach.
2016: The Year of Disruption
The intentional interruption of doing to think.
2017: The Year of Clarity
The deliberate alignment of purpose and structure to achieve victory.
2018: The Year of Opportunity
The cultivation of environment and culture to inspire people.
In my book, Leaders Create Space, I expand on the lessons learned during those years. United, the individual experiences are now, “The Three Creations of Leaders.”
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- Leaders create space to THINK.
- Leaders create clarity to ACT.
- Leaders create the opportunity to GET BETTER.
Last year’s theme and lesson were:
2019: The Year of Responsibility
The freedom to answer for my role in the Story.
The Next Level Journey, from “Here” to “There” involves all of these leadership and life lessons. This year’s focus completes the model for performance improvement.
Drumroll, please!
2020: The Year of CELEBRATION
To recognize and honor noteworthy progress in the Story.
2020: THE YEAR OF CELEBRATION
In the “Here” to “There” Journey, we learn to celebrate along the way to breakthrough performance. There are four components that bring structure to celebration:
- RECOGNIZE — to celebrate requires paying attention so you can acknowledge the existence of incremental wins. When your only as good as your last sale and you live in a monthly statement cycle, it’s easy to overlook and even minimize the “little wins.”
- HONOR — in the scope of changing behavior, you have an opportunity and obligation to respect “baby steps” of personal development and performance improvement.
- CLARITY — setting expectations and having agreement regarding goals is required to establish what is noteworthy, what is important, impressive, or a significant effort.
- PROGRESS — behaviors, actions, and habits that indicate you’re making headway provide energy and encouragement towards the ultimate victory. The objective is to keep moving forward.
The celebration is easier when you remember you’re writing a Story. Every day you live is an opportunity to keep writing. Gratitude for life and the privilege of serving the people you lead is the foundation of celebration.
NEXT LEVEL LEADERS CELEBRATE THE PEOPLE
In the Next Level Journey, Spacious Place is living life with purpose and passion while seeing and serving others. Do you see and serve people?
In Ken Blanchard and Renee Broadwell’s book Servant Leadership in Action, the authors point out how vital recognition and appreciation are to an organization’s success.
People thrive when they are recognized for their contributions to an organization’s success. A team’s continued engagement in the execution of an organizational vision is directly influenced by the leader’s ability to celebrate them in meaningful ways.
Servant leaders understand the impact celebration has on the health of their organization. They make celebration a high priority in their leadership and are always looking for new ways to acknowledge their team’s success.
Servant leaders understand that when the team experiences a win, they must pause to celebrate that win before they can expect the team to move on to the next goal.
CREATE SPACE TO THINK
“Awards can give you a tremendous amount of encouragement to keep getting better, no matter how young or old you are.” — Alan Alda
How are you celebrating life?
How do you celebrate others?
Here’s to making 2020: The Year of Celebration!
Celebrating you,
Steve
Transform disruption into clarity for life and work!
Order my new book Leaders Create Space today. Check it out on Amazon!
Photo by Malachi Brooks on Unsplash