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:
"A gathering begins at the moment of invitation. It doesn't begin when people walk in the room." 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 this thought from Parker on gatherings. It's the word ANTICIPATION.
Anticipation is simply looking forward to a future event or the feeling of excited expectation for something that is expected to happen. The other word used there is EXPECTATION. Expectation is the state of looking forward or anticipating.
The quote simply reminds us that there is incredible POWER in using anticipation and expectation to help people get ready for a gathering. It doesn't start when people show up, but much earlier!
I have missed this so many times. I assume that a meeting or an event just takes place during the timeframe I've put on my calendar. I know that I am thinking about it and preparing for it ahead of time, but I don't want to assume that others are thinking that way.
In my head, here's what I'm assuming you're thinking about prior to my meeting or gathering:
I'm assuming you're really busy, and you're not thinking about it at all.
I'm assuming you're regretting confirming and that you aren't looking forward to getting together.
I'm assuming you've got better things to do with your time.
I'm assuming that you're going to attend for the "bare minimum" because you want to get home early.
I'm assuming you're just doing me a favor by attending.
All of these assumptions might be correct or they might be completely wrong, but the reality is that they have the potential to radically affect how I plan, prepare and anticipate the gathering we're going to have.
Why do we ASSUME people aren't excited about the thing we're working on? Why do we ASSUME people are just being nice in attending, and that they don't really want to.
We need to STOP.
While there might be truth in some of this, we need to help people to engage in a deeper way, and we do that by bringing purpose, energy and creativity into every gathering we host or lead, from a small staff meeting to a large event.
There will be people who aren't able to engage, but we need to plan for those that are willing, who want to anticipate what's coming and who really care about what we're focused on!
Do you think about this when planning a gathering? Do you try to determine everyones motivation or lack of engagement? How does this affect you?
DEEPER STILL:
Recently I was hosting a networking breakfast, and typically we get 15 - 25 people who regularly attend, but on this morning, I looked at the registration list on my way to the car, and then spent 30 minutes driving to the restaurant beating myself up because we only had 9 people sign-up. I was trying to figure out why, and I was thinking about changing future events, and I was asking myself hard questions about purpose, and basically I walked into the room with low expectations, with low energy and feeling defeated.
In reality, 9 people didn't show up, but 7 did! So, we circled up, sat at one table, and spent 2 hours in deep conversation...I heard from multiple people, "one of the best networking breakfasts ever!". And it restored my soul.
As leaders, sometimes our expectations get in the way of what we're really hoping to accomplish, so this is how I am learning to manage this:
#1) I PLAN AND PREPARE
If it's 7 people or 200, I want to be ready, doing my part and doing my best.
#2) I LEAD WITH PURPOSE
We are gathering for a reason and we're going to lead with that and bring purpose to everything we do.
#3) I RALLY CREATIVITY
I don't have to do it all. I lean on others to bring in creativity, new things and fresh ideas.
#4) I BELIEVE IN WHAT WE'RE DOING
The gathering has to have purpose, it has to make a difference, and because of that, I'm going to assume that you want that as well.
#5) I ANTICIPATE SUCCESS AND IMPACT
This isn't "just a gathering". There will be fruit and impact, and that's what's going to drive me, not trying to measure attendance.
I'm out of time and I didn't get to talk about how to help people ANTICIPATE. Let's come back to that again next week because this is a really important part of any gathering!
Think about the best GATHERING or MEETING you ever attended... what made it so great?
Things I'm Reading, Listening To and Watching This Week:
The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker I encourage you to read or listen to the book. It will get you thinking!
Barnabas Orange County is hosting our final Summit of the year on November 18th here in Newport Beach. Come and hear Phil Payne speak from Living and Learning International. Come and be inspired! If you'd like more information, write me HERE.
Found these Sink Stoppers on Amazon. Just got them, but I think they'll help me with a sink problem at home!
I just listened to a podcast from How I Built This where Guy Raz interviews Chip & Joanna Gaines from Magnolia. Really enjoyed it.
Talk about "Gatherings with a Purpose", this month Leader Mundial has hosted Leadership Summits for men and women in leadership in Ecuador, South Africa and Philippines. Late this week, our EuroAsia Summit begins. All of these events, planned with purpose, will engage over 200 leaders from over 20 countries impacting many, many organizations!