Leaders should consider spending more time celebrating achievements within their teams and organizations instead of rushing headlong into whatever is next. Granted, the anticipation of charging ahead can be exciting. The pace, however, may leave people exhausted and feeling under appreciated. Is what we just accomplished worth anything? Is it only about the next goal or new theme?

The coming weeks are a good time of the year to identify and celebrate:
• successes (large or small)
• progress along the path
• what was attempted and learned

Thank team members for their efforts. Share memories of how it happened. Enjoy celebrating together.

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” Tom Peters

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One key reason teenage drivers crash four times more often than older drivers is an underdeveloped skill of scanning – glancing around for 360 degree awareness. Leaders can struggle with the same weakness in an organizational sense. Disruptive ideas, be it innovation opportunity or business model threat, will most likely come from outside your industry.

More experienced leaders are better prepared to understand significant outside developments and how they apply. However, it requires looking around. These activities can help you hone scanning skills:

• Read or skim a wide variety of magazines
• Talk to people in different industries
• Attend other industry conferences

“Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.” Booker T. Washington

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Don’t expect your team to become strong by itself – as if by spontaneous combustion. Strong teams develop with external energy, that is, individual team members committing to each other and to their common cause.

Whose job is it to build a strong team? Obviously, the team leader bears direct accountability. That being said, if you are the member of a team, you need look no further than yourself. Do not think it is the job of the team leader only. Everyone on the leadership team can take responsibility for strengthening their level of commitment to one another and the cause.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” Helen Keller

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