INsight/ Why Celebration Matters

Manila, 12 August 2020 — Three ways leaders can celebrate.

In #Grow3Leaders, we celebrate our first anniversary this Saturday, August 15. We take the opportunity to ask ourselves what achievement, breakthrough, or insight each of us is most excited about for our leadership in the workplace. 

First Anniversary to Celebrate

We have a lot to celebrate. Over the past 12 months, we have learned about 12 effective leadership behaviors and practiced these with the help of 36 tools. We’re passionate to drive change in our workplace, community, and world. And we know that to get there, we need to drive change in ourselves.

Our approach in #Grow3Leaders it to take on that challenge with colleagues — we call them Collabmates — to work on creating positive change incrementally. Our challenge directs us to influence our first workplace change in just 6 to 8 weeks. After celebrating that change, we can for another positive change, and another, with the same Collabmates, or by spreading the circle to give other colleagues a chance to learn and collaborate.

Zooming out now, how are you driving change in your workplace, and how do you celebrate your achievements, breakthroughs, or insights? What are you most excited about in your leadership in the workplace over the past 12 months? It’s well worth taking some time to reflect on this and write it down or record it in a video clip.

Celebrating Progress at Work

In my practice of coaching leaders through transitions, I discovered how celebrations are an essential part of the process of navigating a transition successfully. Not just afterward, but especially during the process.

Making progress is a powerful motivator. That’s the message of Teresa Amabile at Harvard University, shared in her book The Progress Principle. From what I see in my coaching experience, I fully agree with her. 

Too often, however, a brief awareness of satisfaction about our progress will get quickly overshadowed by a sense of trepidation and anxiety about our to-do list for the next days. Do you know that feeling, with that list never getting any shorter?

It’s good to know, therefore, that the power of motivation can be boosted when we actually make time to celebrate our progress and achievement and find creative ways to do just that, as a part of our workweek. 

Why not make a list of 10 ways you can celebrate progress at work (or home), so when you are due for your next celebration, you can just pick from the list which way of celebration you will choose? Lists made by my coachees will often range from 5-minute activities all the way to short holiday treats to revitalize. Many leaders have told me how they never thought of this before, and how it has made a big difference when they did this.

Now we’ve covered the first way for you to start having frequent celebrations that are built into your work and personal life. When you discover the power of celebration it can feel as if your motivation for work and life is boosted with new energy. That helps to level up in your performance and satisfaction, and you will feel ready to take on bigger challenges.

Two More Ways to Celebrate

Now, what are the other two ways leaders can celebrate?

These two ways have been known to wisdom traditions around the world for a very long time. And recently, medical science has started finding encouraging correlations to satisfy our thirst for knowledge and data in the 21st century.

I am referring to two celebration practices that you can easily adopt in your routines, and which can bring immediate benefits in your work and life during the Covid-19 pandemic, and afterward of course.

The first practice is to celebrate gratitude, and the second is to celebrate forgiveness. I have turned these practices into a daily habit to list three reasons for gratitude in the morning, and three persons to forgive at the end of the day (regularly including myself).

When you think of the wisdom tradition that guides you in life, I’m sure you can find ready support for these practices within your tradition. Additionally, from the world of science, research conducted at Johns Hopkins University, Mayo Clinic, Berkeley University, and from the discipline of Positive Psychology can help to understand how the practices of celebrating gratitude and forgiveness can help to improve your health and immune system. Then you can continue your exploration and look up research in your own country and language to deepen your understanding.

Celebration in Your Leadership Practice

In this post, we have looked at three ways to make celebrations a part of your leadership practice. Even during the pandemic. I’m looking forward to hearing from you about how you incorporate these practices into your work and life. Send me a message in LinkedIn or request to join us in Grow3Leaders.