Celebrate
the incremental achievements, not just the final results. This communicates progress, inspires others,
and reinforces successful, repeatable behavior. ~Gary Burnison, The Twelve Absolutes of Leadership
In the midst of heightened security alerts, continued violence,
and gruesome massacres, last week the city of Chicago was given a reason to
celebrate. Jackie Robinson West, a
little league team from the south side became the National Little League
Champions and lost the World title in the finals to South Korea. The south side of Chicago has been in the
news almost exclusively for the violence that continues to plague that part of
the city. That made this Little League
National Championship even more worthy of a celebration.
These 11 and 12-year-old boys played their hearts out but had
no idea how their victories were impacting an entire city. When they arrived home and entered the
airport they were greeted with thunderous applause and cheers. Then there was the parade ending at
Millennium Park with 10,000 fans supporting these boys who were honored by the
Mayor. That was followed by appearances
at a Cubs game and a Sox game. In
between there were numerous TV interviews and next weekend I believe the entire
team is off to Disney World for continued celebration.
As the adults nearly forced their exuberance onto these youngsters,
when the boys were interviewed and asked what they looked forward to most, the typical
response was "sleep." These boys were
exhausted; but it was clear, the city wanted and needed a celebration. I
would even go far as to say the city was desperate
for a reason to celebrate.
Several years ago when I began a program to become a
certified coach, I thought the practice of beginning every training session
with the opportunity for anyone to share any recent victories or reason to
celebrate was sort of a waste of time.
But, I soon realized that we don't do nearly enough celebrating. We focus on what's bad, wrong, not working,
causing us frustration, etc. and take far too little notice of what is worthy
of celebrating. So now I've actually
incorporated the practice of beginning with celebrating whenever I do
leadership training.
I'm not arguing that we ignore the negative or problems that
need to be solved. But I am suggesting
that we find ways to tip the scales a bit more on the celebrating side of the
equation. Dwight Frindt, co-author of Accelerate: High Leverage Leadership for Today's World says, "Acknowledgment
and celebration are essential to fueling passion, making people feel valid and
valuable, and giving the team a real sense of progress that makes it all
worthwhile."
In honor of Labor Day (and Jackie Robinson West), let's all
find a way to celebrate our labor this week.
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