By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you conduct even more productive staff meetings.

Have you ever designed and delivered an Invocation for your staff meeting? I have. And I found the process instructive for both my staff and me. Perhaps my experience will inspire you too to write your own Invocation.

I’m not talking religion here. I’m talking business- the business of staying focused on the business at hand.

Most of us are familiar with the Invocation that calls upon a Higher Power to bless whatever initiative is taking place. But the kind of Invocation I’m talking about calls upon the higher power in each of us to perform more creatively and productively. The kind of Invocation I’m talking about calls upon the participants to stay focused on the task at hand and to work together toward a successful conclusion.

I really liked the idea of an Invocation for staff meeting. The Invocation seemed to set the tone for the work that would follow. I continued using this Invocation at our subsequent staff meetings primarly because the Invocation seemed to focus our work together and made us more productive.

In writing my Invocation, I had to first decide what’s the most important thing we focus on and why. Then I had to make sure my staff could buy into my focus on their terms not mine. In other words, my Invocation was something we collectively could sow together for our mutual benefit and sew together with whatever threads of our expertise we brought to the staff meeting. To help you develop your own staff meeting invocation, study my Invocation that follows:

PAEN TO PRODUCTIVITY

Let us clothe our thoughts in a well threaded garmet of organized thinking, active listening and cooperative understanding.
Let us creatively sew together the threads of our collective fascination, inspiration, and imagination.
Let us continue our work together, capably and credibly, sowing the seeds of possibility.
And let us enrich and enlighten each other in today’s staff meeting.

Today’s ImproveMINT
Develop your own staff meeting Invocation to keep your leadership skills in mint condition.

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