Celebration

The mentality of our society is that you either win or you lose. We wait until the end of the project or the end of the year to see if we achieved our final objectives before celebrating. But High Performance Teams are driven by energy that the team creates within itself. One source of building team energy is to stop frequently to check progress and to celebrate any small successes or victories. These may involve recognizing that some progress has been made towards the team goal, or that the team has learned a new technique for improving its quality, or simply that the team has learned a new thing about how to work together more effectively. Championship professional sports teams are a good model for High Performance Teams. Even the casual observer will note that teams stop to celebrate great plays, touchdowns, three point shots, or difficult goals. Win or lose, as the game progresses, these sports teams are building team energy with these small celebrations of success.

Small celebrations should be quick and invigorating. A typical celebration begins when a team member recognizes that the team has something it needs to celebrate. The team member voices the success to the other team members. Heads nod in agreement and the team member leads the others in a short cheer. The cheer can be elaborate or as simple as everyone trading high fives, or pumping their arms in the air and shouting, "one, two, three, YES!" Elaborate cheers might involve something usually observed at high school or college games that's been tailor to reflect the team's goal or identify.

• Additional Cheer Examples

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