Celebrate good times… c’mon!

Greenlights held its annual Crossroads Conference for Nonprofit Excellence about a month ago, and I had the honor of choosing the background music while folks were milling around the exhibition hall. One of the first songs that came to mind was “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang. You know what I’m talking about. But in case you don’t, check out this video to refresh your memory:

I love this video. There must be 12 or 15 people on stage, all celebrating and having a good time together. Why this song? For me, Crossroads was a way of celebrating our success. I met countless current and former clients of Greenlights and heard touching stories of how we’d impacted their organizations. The conference created a venue for the nonprofit community in Central Texas to come together and celebrate its success as a sector, and that was a pretty special thing.

Celebrations don’t have to be big, though. You could… Start your team meetings with highlights of your work. Take time to celebrate the completion of a major project. Take time to celebrate during your projects. Heck, take time to celebrate the beginning of a major project! Resources are scarce for many of us, and as a result, small victories aren’t so small anymore.

How does your organization celebrate its success? Personally, I value the importance of taking time for yourself as a way of celebrating. In that spirit, I’m off to celebrate at Big Bend for a few days.

Happy trails!
Taylor