Category: Meeting Magic

Invocation: Sewing The Threads of Purposeful Action

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.

Sewing The Threads Of Imagination Together In A Staff Meeting

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. Continue reading “Invocation: Sewing The Threads of Purposeful Action” →

Meetings: Make Commitments not Appointments

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here are a few ideas to help you get more control over your calendar. Reading time: 4:17

I seemed to be running from one meeting to another. And often I was running late. Finally my New York team started joking with each other that “he’s on Chicago time.” I would rationalize my tardiness with something like: “I have too much responsibility to parcel my time out to the precise minute. Besides I can be a few minutes late. The important aspects of the meeting usually don’t start until a few minutes into the meeting anyway.”

But that was before I met our new company president. I always was on time for her meetings. One day the president seemed to be in a philosophical mood. She looked at her calendar for the day and said more to herself than to me:

” Leaders are never too busy to lead.

  1. They invest time. They don’t spend it.
  2. They make commitments not appointments.
  3. They fulfill their promises rather than fill full their calendars.”

Continue reading “Meetings: Make Commitments not Appointments” →

Collaborate With Off-the-Wall Thinking

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to spice up your staff meetings with a brainstorming session. Reading time: 4:19

POST IT NOTES With a sense of urgency in every step, the corporate executive marched into the conference room and glared at his colleagues seated for their weekly staff meeting.

Then an eerie, tension-filled, pregnant silence commandeered the the safety and security of the conference room.

It felt as if were High Noon at the OK Corral.

Suddenly the leader seemed like a gunslinger, itching for some action. He flung his hand into his pocket and drew- OUT a stack of Post-It notes. He waved them around as if they were a gun, and commanded: ”STICK ‘EM, UP! ”

They did.

Within a few minutes the surrounding walls were festooned with 3X5 cards and Post-it notes in so many colors they looked like butterflies hovering over the walls.

Indeed the most effective leaders turn meeting rooms into team thinking rooms. They have a penchant for displaying and sharing ideas that involve all meeting participants. Continue reading “Collaborate With Off-the-Wall Thinking” →