Great Meetings - The Recipe: Part 1

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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The Convening Method is much like baking a cake. Purpose is the flour, convening is the yeast. Convening activates purpose. The ingredients, all added at the right time, consciously tended in a step-by-step manner, can be successful time after time.

The recipe for convening transformational meetings follows a path:

1. Start with a clear purpose and success factors. A two-sentence statement will do.
2. Your agenda comes next. It will embody your purpose along with what you are to do together to reach your success factors or intent.
3. Your invitation simply outlines what you are to do together that integrates purpose and intent.
4. Giving thought and consideration to the space in which you meet is often neglected. Think what would stimulate and enliven the attendees beyond all the necessary materials.
5. In creating safe spaces for authentic engagements remember the cultural norms and what agreements you wish to have to allow people to settle in and feel safe.
6. Once in the meeting, how many times and how many ways can all the voices be heard to allow the opportunity for full participation?
7. Essential conversation is the result of the preparation you have put into the first 5 steps of the recipe. Here we are aware of mood and level of connection each has for engaging in the agenda. Has the space been created for mutual trust and respect?
8. Calling for a commitment to action brings clarity to what has been agreed to. A commitment to action invites responsibility, accountability, and commitment to an individual and collective way forward.

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In Part 1 we gave you the recipe or the method. In Part 2, next week, the yummy ingredients!

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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A Case Study in Collaboration: Whole Person Leadership for Women

by Patricia Neal

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"What is most exciting is that even though there are clear outcomes and objectives for the program and each session, we also know that this is a dynamic and emergent process"

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As Oprah said beautifully at the Golden Globes recently: "A new day is on the horizon [for women]." Now is the perfect time to explore and bolster whole person leadership for women.

A year ago, Rachel Harris had the idea to renew an offering for women leaders from 2008 as a way to explore what Whole Person and On-Purpose Leadership means in the world of life and work for women leaders today.

What it means to be a woman at work has evolved significantly since 2008 to include an understanding that to be a great leader, integrating who you are with what you do is crucial. Additionally, the definition of "leader" has expanded beyond a title to include situational leadership that calls on not only functional capacity, but capacity for authentic engagement and collaboration. Perfect opportunity!

Your WPL Faculty

What began a year ago as an endeavor of 2 expanded in scope and capacity with the addition of Center for Purposeful Leadership team members as content contributors, and so much more...

With the addition of this dynamic team, what has transpired is a collaboration of spirit and expertise. I presented the initial concept and inspiration as a basic framing. Since then, each team member has assumed a role of stewardship and primary contributor to design from not only their area of content expertise, but from many-decades-real-time experience with the challenges and opportunities for women in the workplace, as well as their own personal and professional development.

This evolution to stewardship didn't just happen by accident. We utilize the principles and practices of convening to create a consistent structure, path and map to build trust and mutual respect, parallel to getting work done.

We follow the thoughtful 9 steps of the Convening Wheel as the structure of each meeting and conversation. At the center: the heart of the matter.

What is at the heart of the matter is always a crucial place to begin. So, what IS at the heart of the matter? First and foremost, we are colleagues that did not know one another before being introduced by CPL becoming trusted colleagues and even friends. What is crucial is a relationship-first orientation.

Next, in a collaboration structure that is developing quickly to meet the timeline of the work to deliver, there are some crucial constructs still being worked out:

• How are all voices heard?  
• How do decisions get made that honor each voice and expertise?
• What are our individual and collective values?
• What does excellence look like for each of us and for the whole team?
• What do we agree are the "non-negotiables" for trusted participation and delivery of content?

We are "building the ship" as we design program and presentation together. We set sail next week on January 22 for the first of five Zoom video sessions and complete in May for a 2-day in-person Summit.

What is most exciting is that even though there are clear outcomes and objectives for the program and each session, we also know that this is a dynamic and emergent process: the learnings that emerge from each of the sessions and [very accomplished] participants will guide and propel us towards that final two days that will be more about co-discovery than about teaching and learning.

I can't wait to see what happens and who we will be by June 1!

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2018 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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3 Most Common Convening Questions (when the meeting goes off the rails)

PHoto Credit: Daniel Scotton

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The consistent themes for why people enroll in the Art of Convening trainings:

• their meetings, retreats and even conversations are totally not working,
• or
• they realize things could be a whole lot better, better efficiency, better buy-in, aligned outcomes.

1. The #1 common question is “How do I handle the person who dominates the meeting?” or “the non-stop talker” or “the bully.”

2. A 2nd common question is: “How can I make a difference if I’m not leading the meeting?”

3. The 3rd most common question: “How do I get people engaged to participate in the meeting and get aligned? When we walk out the door, the real meeting begins in the hallway.”

Click here to read how Bob successfully addressed some of these questions in his organization:  http://conta.cc/2EqHA4R

We will offer our learnings in future posts.

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Message for 2018 from Craig & Patricia

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AoC book ranked 73k out of 8,000,000

Good News! Many thanks to those of you who recently bought the AoC book. Out of 8,000,000 books we were ranked 73,000 this week. What a testament to your support and the power of convening. BTW, we were also #26 in Business Communications and #71 in Running Meetings & Presentations. Still time to buy another before the new year 

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2017 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Holiday Message from Center for Purposeful Leadership

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2017 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Five Most Common Convening Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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"Convening is about being open to relationship rather than closed. It is a challenge to choose to stay connected and open when our lives and schedules are full and our time is precious."

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By Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Managing Director, Editorial, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.

Craig and Patricia Neal have been organizing gatherings and meetings for decades across the nation and have a pretty solid idea of what works and what doesn't. However, even seasoned conveners still make mistakes when bringing people together or forget what really matters.

In this entry, Patricia and Craig list the Five Most Common Convening Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them):

1. Not "Staying Connected": Convening is about being open to relationship rather than closed. It is a challenge to choose to stay connected and open when our lives and schedules are full and our time is precious. Stay connected by knowing who you are and how you want to be in relationship with others. You always have a choice when you walk into a meeting: do you want to be connected, or stay closed? Choosing connection can lead to collaboration, creativity, purposeful outcomes.

2. Fearing Rejection: The fear of rejection can derail our ability to extend a wholehearted and sincere invitation. Invite often - for all kinds of things - and experience acceptance and rejection as others’ freedom to choose rather than a personal success or failure. We often think that colleagues are too busy to talk beyond the cursory business at hand, but when we persevere, people are grateful for the opportunity to catch up and reconnect. Our fear of rejection, rather than rejection itself, was holding us back.

3. Making Assumptions: We say “assume and doom.” When we assume others know what a gathering’s all about, we put our gathering squarely in the realm of the unknown. Make the purpose and desired activity for a gathering as clear and explicit as possible - even if it seems unnecessary. At one important meeting, knowing we had only an hour, we jumped right into the action items. We neglected to set the context, assuming we were all on the same page. At the end of the meeting, people had different understandings of the purpose of the meeting and were not aligned in a commitment to action.

4. Reluctance to Impose Our Will on Others: “You’re not the boss of me!” How often have we said or heard words like that? But providing structure, environment and terms of engagement is a crucial part of convening. People need structure. If there is no structure, people look to create it. At a recent family gathering, we felt we should not be too controlling, but this led to a lack of clarity in stating the terms of engagement or agreements for a discussion. Everyone jumped in, in their own way, with cross-chatter and began talking over one another. It would have been better to state our expectations ahead of time to enable all people to be heard.

5. Impatience and Judgment: The compelling desire to “Just get on with it!” can rush us obliviously past the most important pieces of wisdom and capability present in our gathering. Remember, anyone included is equally important and essential. At the beginning of most meetings we do a check-in to hear from everyone. This one time we were 15 minutes late. we suggested we skip the check-in and move right into the agenda. Halfway through the meeting we realized we didn’t have everyone’s attention and didn’t have the necessary alignment to make important decisions we were there to make.

There are actually four other scenarios that generate obstacles for effective convening but we chose the five most common. What do you think? Did we choose the five most common? Do you have any feedback or ideas for us?

Stay tuned for the next article on 5 Things that Work and Matter.

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2017 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Talent Revolving Door? The Soft Stuff is the Real Stuff: 3 Steps to Engagement

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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"Patricia and Craig recently presented at GTS Government IT Symposium, Dakota County employee development, Work/Life Expo for Women, and other venues with the focus of purpose, leadership, connection, engagement."

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70% of American workers don’t feel secure in their job and with their company/organization.

What most want in life was to be “valued” as an “individual”.

An avalanche of research shows the most common reason talent walks out the door is their manager who is either micromanaging, not recognizing others’ contribution, and/or disengaged. More research shows that a sense of purpose and related skillsets are essential for authentic engagement. How are the two connected?

GTS Government IT Symposium

Patricia and Craig recently presented at GTS Government IT Symposium, Dakota County employee development, Work/Life Expo for Women, and other venues with the focus of purpose, leadership, connection, engagement. The “soft stuff”, the “touchy-feely” stuff. Right? Well, to quote Seth Godin* in a recent blog post, “Let's stop calling them the 'soft skills'.” 

What is at the heart of the matter? Your values as a leader are on show with every action. The “Talent Revolving Door” is a direct indicator of values of the

leader and/or the organization. Authentic engagement is an attractor and creates greater ease of communication and delivery because it builds trust. Trust is everything.

Organizations are scrambling for value-add for their product or service, differentiators to attract great talent, and increased productivity to do more with less. Authentic engagement is not only an expression of leadership values, but creates the conditions for collaboration at a truly different level.

HR is now recognizing that hiring for emotional intelligence skills is crucial to an individual’s ability to integrate into and connect with your culture, build trust, and deliver results. It is a key indicator of success.

Here are 3 steps to engagement:

1. Commit to building authentic engagement as a skill set
2. Commit to practice
3. Commit to measure progress

1. Building authentic engagement

What are the essential elements? Engagement is more than creating exciting events or one-time recognitions. Fundamentally, engagement is about connection. The ability to connect with others in a way that lets them know they have been heard and you are seeking to understand and clarify what is needed, is foundational to building trust. In order to do that you must build the "muscles" of purposeful leadership: purpose, emotional intelligence, conversational intelligence, convening intelligence. 

2. Commit to practice

Just like an athlete building new muscles, building new skills requires practice, practice, practice! Learn, Practice, Repeat!

Some of the tools and concepts CPL employs include:

• 9 Steps to Collaboration from The Art of Convening (CPL)
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• Conversational Intelligence Assessment (CPL)
• Trust Changes Reality (Conversational Intelligence, Judith Glaser)
• The Business Case for Trust (Vivian Jenkins-Nelsen)
• More resources listed below

3. Commit to measure: informal and formal ideas

• Give people stretch assignments and new opportunities to contribute and learn. This shows you have paid attention enough to measure their current condition, progress and can identify opportunities for them to grow.
• Recognize and reward your people for their contributions.
• Walk the floors to initiate regular conversation.
• Convene virtual “town hall” conversations for new ideas.
• Pulse Surveys. Short, frequent surveys are a great way to maintain a consistent pulse on the vibe in your office.
• One-On-Ones.Another great way to measure engagement is through one-on-one meetings with employees.
• Stay/Exit Interviews.

#Talent #AuthenticEngagement #Purpose #PurposefulLeadership #Collaboration

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Resources: 

The Art of Convening book

Seth Godin blog

A Primer on Measuring Employee Engagement

Why Talent Walks Out the Door

What It Costs When Talent Walks Out the Door

Conversational Intelligence

Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2017 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2017 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Purpose Moment

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#PurposefulLeadership #Purpose #Leadership #Convening #ArtofConvening #Engagement

2017 Center for Purposeful LeadershipThe Art of Convening

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Work/Life Expo was an impactful day

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"Creating a New Story for Work/Life: No More 'Business as Usual'"

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Vivian Jenkins Nelsen and I really enjoyed participating in a fantastic day of visionary and practical stories and learning experiences at the 2017 Work/Life Expo. Our workshop topic was:

"Be a Purposeful Agent of Change in Your Organization: E.Q. for Leaders". We covered a rich list of topics from "The Business Case for Trust," one of Vivian's favorite subjects to the ROI of Purpose and Engagement for powerful collaboration. Contact us if you'd like to know more!

"At the heart of the matter is purpose. Recent research shows that a sense of purpose, not a specific set of characteristics, is the key to successful leadership. How do purpose and emotional intelligence work together? How do you find or align your purpose with your leadership? How can this transform your leadership and your team or organization? Thriving cultures create higher ROI and engaged people. Engagement is about linking life's purpose with work that matters. Engaged people are happier, more alive, productive and collaborative. Having a clear purpose is the key to successful leadership and thriving organizations."

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We covered trust, EQ/emotional intelligence, CI-Q/conversational intelligence, neuroscience of connection, purpose, purposeful leadership, engagement, meeting design-- an amazing amount of information in a short amount of time.

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