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Celebrate Good Times, Come On!!! (Let’s Celebrate)

By Alan Gehringer

This is one of those songs that sticks in your head and you can’t get rid of it, right?  However, you have to admit, it really sets the tone for a celebration, which brings me to the topic of this blog.  How much time do you spend celebrating the good times and accomplishments in your company?  Part of the Rockefeller Habits methodology is to develop a theme each quarter and plan a celebration and reward when your team hits their targets.

This is an area where I see a lot of room for improvement.  Verne uses the analogy of celebrating the last class on the last day of school.  I have often used quarterly rewards to boost morale and encourage performance. Celebrating only once a year is just too long for most people to relate to.

So, let me tell you about a recent celebration we had at Rhythm Systems.  We just recently re-branded the company from Gazelles Systems to Rhythm Systems.  This was a natural evolution as the software we use is called Rhythm and Patrick Thean’s recent book is titled Rhythm.  There has been a lot of work behind the scenes the past few months to accomplish this, particularly from a content and marketing standpoint.  The good news is, our customers are very happy with the transition, and we have heard nothing but positive feedback.  So, after the heavy lifting was done, a celebration was planned.

Here is what the event looked like. 

  • We gathered the entire team together for two days of festivities.  This entailed flying team members in from around the United States, a big commitment from the start. 
  • Next, we had our monthly coaches’ meeting followed by an incredible evening of fun and food.  We started the evening by having a wonderful catered Malaysian dinner.  Of course, there was way too much food, but we did our best to put a dent in it. 
  • Then, we went around the room and shared our most recent victories about the company, our work and our clients.  Then we shared what we were thankful for and a glimpse of how we saw the future unfolding for our company.  I have to tell you, there were many heartfelt words and sentiments shared, and even a few tears.  This was a very moving experience.  We actually captured each person talking on video. 
  • After we finished sharing, we moved on to an incredible ice cream bar catered by an outside vendor.  We chose from a variety of ice cream flavors and then added as many of the twelve toppings that we wanted.  Definitely icing on the evening! 
  • One of the team members even prepared four Jib Jab videos featuring every member of our team for a good laugh.

RhythmSystems_celebrate

After departing in a food coma, we returned the next day to resume our gathering and celebration.  We spent the first part of the morning dining on some wonderful treats from a local French bakery, reviewing our clients’ progress and victories and getting an update on our marketing efforts.  We then worked on our contribution statements (something we committed to in our Covey training last month) and shared how we all are going to personally and uniquely contribute to our future growth and success of the company. 

Next (you probably guessed it) we had another incredible feast catered by our favorite Asian Fusion restaurant and a special cake.  (We eat very well!)  After the feast, awards were given to those who played an integral part in the rebranding effort and lived one of our core values of “Going the Second Mile” during this transition.  To top off the two days, our Rhythm Ambassador passed out beautiful vests and jackets to the team adorned with the new Rhythm Systems logo.

Our team does a great job of celebrating and we do it often with food and chocolate.  The result is a team that feels appreciated, connected and committed to achieving our long-term goals and BHAG.

I felt so good when I left that while sitting in the airport during my layover, I sent a thank you note to share the positive feelings I had from the celebration and being with my team.

And so, I leave you with a few questions to ponder:

  • How is your team celebrating their successes throughout the year? 
  • Are you developing a celebration and reward to support your theme each quarter?
  • Do you have an annual celebration?
  • Are you looking for the bright spots each week in your meetings, even when things are difficult?

If you answered no to any of the questions above, I encourage you to give it a shot next quarter.  The celebrations don’t have to be complicated, fancy or expensive, they just have to be fun. I have a few clients that have made “Having Fun” one of their core values, and I can assure you they are celebrating!

Good luck celebrating your successes, Alan

 

Executive Summary from Patrick Thean's book Rhythm

Alan Gehringer

 

Photo Credit: iStock by Getty Images