Step 10: Stay Charged Up: Celebrate Results and Renew Your Hopes

Overview

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whether you are a top executive, a middle manager, or a team member, you have tremendous potential as an agent of hope. You can use the simple, often subtle actions of the ten-step process to help your group shift from fear-filled dynamics to hope-filled results.

Unfortunately, typical recognition systems in business, education, and many other areas focus on individual achievement and competitive results, not cooperative success. Many people get hooked on stories about conflict (who did what to whom) or winners and losers rather than on examples of how people worked together. Managers ask for teamwork, but they reward individual achievement. This is fear at work: fear that you won't stand out, that someone will advance at your expense, that you're not in charge, or that you don't deserve to be in charge.

Even informal measures send strong signals about what's valued. For example, some organizations have more parties for people who are leaving than they have to celebrate effective results among those who stay. Think of the message that a pattern like this conveys. It's probably not the one you want.

If you want your team to be its best, you must reinforce the members for pursuing their shared hopes rather than their personal agendas. This sounds good, but it is easier said than done. Praise for contributing to a successful multiperson team feels much more diluted than the glory of being the "most valuable player." Thus, team effort merits extra recognition.

This step shifts the typical dynamics and constitutes the important conclusion to the process. It's the resource that will keep your hopes energized and your process of learning, growing, and succeeding flourishing.