Celebrate

Celebrate

“We don’t need a herd of chickens. We need a team of eagles.” Rudnesky

Celebration is an essential component of any organization. As a society, we Americans celebrate just about anything. So, why not celebrate success and collegiality within our organizations? Whether it’s school, workplace, a team, or a community group, celebrate when you achieve your goals. In our organization, we celebrate being together among other things. We celebrate a strong start to the New Year. We also celebrate a strong finish at the end of the year. We have a half-left celebration midway through the year. Don’t keep the great things happening in your organization a secret.

We celebrate each other. Most celebrations become traditions. If your celebrations become traditions please do not forget to fine-tune the quality to appeal to different stakeholders and different types of colleagues. We have a team picture each year along with a team huddle each month. The year is started with a staffulty field trip. We have a leadership summit. Leadership Olympics occur towards the end of the year.

A lot of times what makes you feel great makes other people feel great as well. How did you celebrate today? We do a plethora of celebrations. No one has ever come up to me and said, “Hey, stop celebrating so much.”  What are you going to celebrate today? Self-communicate a celebration then spread the fun.

Significance can occur in some of the strangest situations.  We hosted a leadership conference that included over fifty organizations. There was an abundance of breakout sessions, an opening and closing, and just fun in general. Here is an email from one of our staffulty members:

“I woke up Friday not feeling well, but knowing we were hosting the (leadership) conference gave me the strength to come into work. The pep rally was one of the best I have ever seen!  The energy in the room was awesome.  I was sitting near Charley and watching the smile on his face was priceless.  Both the kids and adults all seem to enjoy every second of it.  Throughout the day I heard people saying such great things about our school and our students that it almost brought tears to my eyes I was so proud.  Even in the bathroom there were teachers taking pictures (we have murals and quotes) to share with their schools when they returned.  I found myself last night thinking again how truly fortunate I am to be a part of such a great school.  I know it was a team effort, but none of it would have been possible without you.  You are truly an inspiration to so many teachers and students.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.”