What and when to celebrate

When executing strategy, the road often seems long and the weary don't get enough rest. To keep the team morale up, celebrate successes.

The first question is what to celebrate? First understand two anchor points:

• Where you were at the 'start'.
  
• Where we want to be at the 'end'.
  

Compare your current location and decide if you want to celebrate the distance you covered from the 'start' or celebrate progress towards the 'end'. Each has a time and place, which leads us to the question of when to celebrate?

Celebrate before the team needs it. If you celebrate when the team needs it, they will associate celebration with their darkest hours. They will soon enough see the lack of authenticity.

Remember that celebration is an opportunity to send a message about what is important to the organization. It has a purpose much more than to just make the troops 'feel good'.