Tuesday at 2:00pm with Russ

It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)

Greetings to you!

Each week I send out a short leadership blog that's called "Tuesday at 2:00pm". The purpose of this is simply to provide a brief thought on leadership that you can read and think about in just a few minutes. I send it out every week at 2:00pm (PST) and encourage you to make an appointment with yourself to pause and think about the thing I'm writing about.

Russ...

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Connection doesn't happen on its own. You have to design your gatherings for the kinds of connections you want to create." Priya Parker

What does this stir up? Either write me HERE or comment at the end of the blog post HERE.

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This month, I'm going to dive into a few quotes from Priya Parker, the author of the book, The Art of Gathering. I've been talking about this book for the past few months, and I thought I'd choose a couple of her quotes on the importance of gathering together just to encourage you to explore the book more deeply.

To read past quotes & thoughts.... CLICK HERE.

I love the line of Parkers quote above that begins with: "Connection doesn't just happen on it's own."

That is so true! I think that sometimes we assume that we only need to invite people in, and the rest will just happen.

In her book, The Art of Gathering, she really spends the book talking about being INTENTIONAL. Sometimes her words are so obvious, but I found myself relating so much to my lack of intentionality and the lack of effort.

Getting people in the room is just part of the event. Getting people to truly connect with each other is a whole other issue.

I remember an event I was leading a couple of years ago, and this young guy on my team came to me with an idea to help people connect. My first reaction was, "this will never work." I knew the Community, and I didn't think they'd respond well to being pushed out of their comfort zone. However, after thinking about it, I gave the guy a green light, and he did his thing, pushing people to engage in genuine conversation in a room of over 200 people. The results? People Loved It! They engaged, they enjoyed it, they commented on it, they built new relationships and they had fun.

I had to realize how many times I haven't tried new things because I didn't think this could ever work! (Good call Austin!)

Helping people truly connect takes being intentional but it also means taking some risk.

How have meetings you've attended been INTENTIONAL in helping people connect?

DEEPER STILL:

Here are some questions to ask yourself as you plan and prepare any gathering of people:

  • What is my GOAL for the event?

  • How do I want people to FEEL after having attended?

  • What could KEEP US from fulfilling our purpose?

  • WHO will guide us towards the goal?

  • What happens if we get OFF TRACK? Who will do what?

This is simply proactive planning.

And here are some reminders...

  • Have FUN. Laughter breaks down many barriers.

  • Break people into SMALLER GROUPS. If you have a large group (anything over 12 people), breaking into small groups helps people engage better.

  • Model VULNERABILITY. If you want people to be honest, you need to model that.

  • INVOLVE OTHERS. As the leader, you don't have to do it all. Others will have great ideas as well.

  • CELEBRATE. Big things, little things, anything. There is always something to celebrate.

Remember what Priya Parker said earlier.... "You have to design your gatherings for the kind of connections you want to create."

And when all else fails, just bring a Piñata to any gathering and you'll experience the true magic that can happen!

What have you personally done to make connections happen in a unique way at an event?

 

Things I'm Reading, Listening To and Watching This Week:

Source: www.leadermundial.org