“Life is what you celebrate. All of it.” ― Joanne Harris
Throughout the coaching process, I invite my individual and team clients to celebrate their accomplishments and learnings.
It seems simple enough, but for some of the leaders and teams I’ve worked with, asking them to celebrate themselves is on par with having a root canal.
They’ll question themselves (“Have I done enough to celebrate? Was what I did good enough?”) or wonder if they are being indulgent or overly self-involved if they acknowledge their successes.
But I think celebrating is an important skill to develop, both for leaders and teams, and here’s why:
- More than overdone cliche, celebrating our individual and team accomplishments, both large and small, allows us to notice and recognize our progress.
- Allowing ourselves to account for our successes (and our failures) help us to keep on track with and continually refine our goals.
- Celebration allows us to learn from our experiences, notice what created success, and be grateful for our learning and progress.
And especially as we approach the end of the calendar year, it’s a great time to step back, reflect and yes, celebrate!
Try it out! Looking back over this year:
1) What do you want to celebrate or acknowledge?
2) What have you learned? What progress do you notice?
3) How can you use this information as you look towards next year?
In the Comments below, I’d love to hear what you’re celebrating!
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Before specializing as a professional coach in 2004, I spent more than a decade in leadership, management and program development for state and local government and non-profit organizations. Now I get to help leaders and teams have more clarity and ability to stand up for what's important in their work and in their organizations. Working with me, leaders and teams find more meaning and purpose, feel happier and more confident, navigate change and conflict, and work together better.
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