“What’s celebrated is repeated.  The behaviors that are celebrated are repeated.  The decisions that are celebrated are repeated.  The values that are celebrated are repeated.”

Andy Stanley

Very bluntly I am not good at this.  It has always been a challenge for me to pause and slow down long enough to celebrate success.  For anything that is accomplished I am immediately thinking and working on the next thing.  As a person who derives my motivation internally it just doesn’t hit my radar screen.  This is not a good or positive trait and is one that I continually have to work on.  I find that this quote does an excellent job driving the “why” behind the celebration and reinforces what a leader must do to help their team achieve continued success.

To perform at a high level a team must know what great looks like.  When they achieve success celebration is what reinforces the behaviors that it took to get there and instills them into the culture.  In essence, celebration is creating the culture of the team or organization based on success and winning and instilling a desire to do it again.  

Thinking more on this it brings some questions to mind.  Without a celebration will anyone know what great looks like?  How would anyone know to do it again?  If you don’t celebrate, will people know what it is that is valued by, and expected from, you as a leader?