Centered Leaders Create Joy

How long does it take to achieve your biggest goals?

Even if we're on track, big goals take a while to achieve. There's much work to do in the mean time, and progress is not always obvious. People look around to see where the excitement is.

Team members can become discouraged or distracted. What's a leader to do?

Centered leaders create joy within their goal achievements.

Joy that goes beyond accomplishment. Joy that comes from an inner, centered satisfaction in doing the right things and focusing on what matters. Intrinsic joy manifested by extrinsic celebrations.

There are many ways to do this, including:

- Recognizing great efforts

- Increasing one-on-one communication

- Coaching frequently

- Smiling!

- Debriefing mistakes and looking for opportunities

- Celebrating both personal and team milestones

- Remembering birthdays and anniversaries

- Demonstrating progress thru metrics or charts

- Building enthusiasm

What ways can you think of to create joy within your team as you move forward toward your goals?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

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