Follow up to Tools of the Trade: Ziti

This morning I was sorting through my many thoughts from last nights meeting as I also sorted through silverware, pots, pans and plates.

Last night was really fun! There is something to be said for sharing conversation around a meal rather than around a conference room table

Here are some things I noted:

1. One of the most important actions I could participate in was listening. Leading, like everything else has a time for speaking and a time for listening. Last night some of the ways I felt we made the most progress was for me to listen.

2. The guys around my table are deeply invested in making the arts at Cypress work. These are folks who don't stop short of investing not only their skills and time but often even their funds directly into making things in the arts at Cypress better.

3. They had great ideas. I walked away from our meeting with two pages of implementable ideas. Ideas that will improve our services and improve our serving.

What have you done to hear from your team members on their thoughts for the team? I would strongly encourage sharing a meal and some laughs together. It's a great use of time and energy and hopefully a way to not only make a meeting not look like a meeting but a way to show your appreciation for your team.

[image by E.A. Sanabria]

Lincoln Logs, Play-doh and Finger Paint

Each creative planning meeting I try to start with a question that will stimulate community building and/or creativity. I am sure that resources exist for these types of openers/icebreakers, but that would be way too easy! As always, I must reinvent the wheel and come up with my own.

This week I decided to ask my team "if I were to give you the options of Lincoln Logs, Play-doh and Finger Paints which would you choose and why?" The responses were very interesting and shed a little light on our team dynamics. We had one finger painter, one sculptor and two Lincoln Loggers.

What a cool dynamic to have people who "play" in different ways. This is evident in how we approach service planning and is also helpful in knowing more of how each of us is wired.

So, what do you choose?

BTW, I'm one of the two Lincoln Loggers.... Who would've guessed!