Hello Susan. What a great story and leadership approach. It reminds me of the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) angle we use in consulting projects. The concept of AI is to look for what is going well and do more of it rather than look for what is bad and wrong.
It appears that you directed the language and thereby the attitudes of your team by focusing on how to move foward vs. staying stuck in the past. I can imagine morale increased tremendously with this approach. When people focus on the positive; creativity and energy increase.
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful example of leadership, Susan. Continued success!