Giving thanks
The fall season feels like the real ‘new year’, doesn’t it? There’s a back-to-school invigoration ushered in by the crisper air, turning leaves, and renewed focus that begins in September. There’s an upswing of energy — projects and people beginning and reconvening after the hazy dispersement of summer — and at its peak, we reach Thanksgiving.
In Canada, Thanksgiving is this coming weekend: a pause for reflection at the peak of our season of productivity: we take a moment to reflect on our good fortune, most especially in the people around us.
Here’s the question of the day: how can we best-merge the two seasonal vibrations of renewed focus and thanksgiving gratitude?
And here’s our suggestion. Point some of that golden energy into getting better at convening.
You may already be perfectly attuned to the value of the people in your professional sphere. But we can always improve how we interact with those people: how we unite them, how we engage them, and how we stage the room for their best contributions. All this with a street-level affinity for — despite all the best intentions — what aspects of organization bureaucracy has often wasted their time or worn weary their enthusiasm.
“All too often we try to bully or incentive people into action rather than shifting how we organize ourselves around our work. Meetings can matter! The more engaged people are, the greater ownership they feel and the more motivated they are to generate results.”
To understand what attracts the best and brightest energy of the best and brightest people in our sphere, we’ve got to understand what saps it. And we’ve all been there, right? Called — often repeatedly, and in a way that interrupts our own flow — to meetings that don’t add clarity. Or to meetings that steamroll over the hesitations, histories, realities, or simmering questions obvious in the room. Or to meetings that fail to cut a path through the cacophony, but only amplify it. Or to meetings that compromise the credibility of an effort.
This Thanksgiving season, take some time to make the most of every convening. Because the best way to show gratitude — as leaders of organizations, teams, projects, or movements — is to live it by treasuring the time and the value of others.
Leading Effective Meetings: The Start-Anytime Learning Experience
Leading Effective Meetings is a multi-layered, four-part learning experience that transforms the productivity and engagement of your leadership. Participants receive videos, articles, practical and inspiring resources, reflection exercises, and access to an online community of fellow learners.
MODULE 1: Why engagement rules
We all spend a lot of time in meetings. The quality of that time makes or breaks our impact. How can we set the tone for clear action, diverse input, exciting ideas, and meaningful progress? In this first session, Tim and Tuesday lay the groundwork.
MODULE 2: Designing impactful time
Productive, well-orchestrated meetings are not a matter of talent or chance. It's a learned skill. In session two, Tim and Tuesday chart a straight line between time spent together—from a thirty minute check-in to a multi-day intensive—and momentum.
MODULE 3: How to amplify productivity
In shared work, patterns of input and response dictate our impact. In session three, Tim and Tuesday run through the architecture of productivity, exploring how we can predict and amplify the best of how people rally together.
MODULE 4: The good-meeting culture
To shift our impact, we've got to shift the status quo. In session four, Tim and Tuesday examine the culture necessary for time well-spent, examining how to hardwire a repeatable process that draws the greatest enthusiasm and learning.
It’s a Canadian Thanksgiving gift that not only benefits you, but everyone in your orbit. Until October 15, 2019, we’re offering an amazing 50% discount on LEADING EFFECTIVE MEETINGS! Start this self-led online course can start anytime — even right now — for just $49.50 USD/person for this limited time. Use the coupon THANKS at registration checkout to take advantage of this limited-time special pricing!
Check out Tim's blog on Leading meetings that matter, every day for some more on what has inspired us to offer this training. Or, register and begin today.
Cheers to our favourite ‘new year’ and all the renewal it brings. Let’s make the most of it!
