SEED TIP OF THE MONTH | OCTOBER
Are You Contributing from Your Sweet Spot?
Enliven
“If we were a theatrical production team, when I am at my best, I’d be…”
Each time you plan a meeting, we invite you visit to the “Meeting Check-Ins” section of the SEED Library. It is chock-full of ideas for opening a productive meeting. You will find “purposeful questions,” “appreciative questions,” “stretch questions,” “questions for decision-making,” and more. If you facilitate a lot of meetings, pin the “check-in” page to your browser for ready access to inspire your designs.
Here’s a check-in question that relates to our September blog post. Have you ever tried this one? It’s a great way to learn about your team:
Ennoble
Imagine having 10 people gather for a meeting, and you invite them to reflect silently for a moment on their all-time best experience of teamwork. Then you instruct them to take one-minute each, in turn, to complete that sentence above, and explain their response.
In case you are wondering if this is a waste of precious meeting time, stay with me a moment. Imagine the first respondent, your lead advocate, says something like this:
“Well, I’m not really one of the performers, at least I prefer not to be in the spotlight, believe it or not. In my best experience of teamwork I was the one who made sure everyone was ready and on the mark to get started. I loved doing that. I’d want to be the stage manager.”
And the next person, your volunteer bookkeeper says,
“My best team experience was not at work. When I’m not at work, I’m usually the one asking questions like this. I think I’d be the make-up artist, making things fun and light, bringing out each personality.”
Then your office manager says:
“I want to direct. I tend to see the big picture. I’ve always got that big vision in mind and I see how we can get from here to there. I want to help everyone align so we can get there faster.”
Are those three speakers currently in roles that allow them to be at their best? If they are in the right roles, does everyone on the team fully understand each other’s gifts?
This type of “check-in” question is far from superfluous. It immediately elicits heart-centered responses. It injects a touch of playfulness, which supports creativity in your meeting. And you get to glimpse each other’s souls for a moment. Your team will self-organize to elicit more of each other’s best. Your work will reflect the glow of everyone contributing from their sweet spot.
Share what works. We will be delighted to add your questions to the library!
