Choose Joy

 

Surround yourself with people who bring you joy. It is so easy to allow the lows of life to affect us. Why surround ourselves with people who wallow in the lows. Lift your vibration. Joy takes practice.

Choose Joy

Believe In Magic

Believe In Magic

50 Things Money Can't Buy

50 Things Money Can't Buy

Meeting Management - Agendas

For the Reader’s Information: We will be using our initials for these conversations we have so, Lynne Brown (LB) and James Latour (JL).

(JL) Now last week I said that business meetings can be fun! No, I wasn’t crazy. They truly can be and I aim to make most, if not all of my meetings just that bit lighter than the regular same old same old. Last year I managed a project locally to help teens to set up a movie theater. We had to have weekly business meetings. Now if you know teens like I know teens, same old, same old just doesn’t cut it. So I had to put variety into the meetings to keep their attention. This ranged from changing location, changing the room around, having snacks and even playing ‘games’ to keep them engaged.

This week we are going to look at agendas. Most of us are used to the agenda that goes from the top of the page down to the bottom of the page. I will talk a bit about this one. There is another type of agenda, which can be a tool to help keep people on track, the Mind Map. Lynne will address that one because she was the person who introduced it to me when I was the secretary on a committee a few years ago. When she came into the room with it, I have to say I wondered what to do with it. But as the meeting progressed it made my minute taking a real breeze.

So let’s get back to the regular agenda. First let me say that I think it is important to do three things:

1. HAVE an agenda

2. Get it out in lots of time for additions

3. Stick to it as best as you can

1. A lot of people don’t use agendas. Then they tell me as their consultant that they are accomplishing nothing at their meetings. It is so important to have an agenda at meetings as they are the road map to where you want to go; what you wish to accomplish. Without it you have no reins to pull back on when the horse veers off the beaten path. An agenda not only helps you keep on track, it tells the participants approximately how much needs to be accomplished and maybe even how long it will take. In fact I’ve worked with agendas where each item had a time limit next to it.

It also helps the minute recorder/secretary to keep accurate meeting minutes. A good secretary will even use the agenda to scribble short notes on the actual page, while writing out the bulk of the meeting on another piece of paper.

2. There are some benefits to getting the agenda out in lots of time.

• You are showing participants courtesy. They have a better idea of how much time it will take away from their schedule, hopefully.


• You have a chance to control the meeting before it starts by giving the guidelines. You also allow opportunity to add items to the agenda BEFORE the meeting. It is so unproductive to have a dozen agenda additions at the start, or during the meeting. You will lose control of the meeting before it gets off the ground.


• You also make it look good for yourself. Your participants think, “Wow! James is organized. I better get on my game too.”

3. This is crucial. I believe agendas need to show respect to the attendees. When you are calling a meeting, sending out an agenda, you are saying, “This is what we will talk about at the meeting and I, as the Chair, am committed to keeping us on track and respecting you and your time.

So the typical linear agenda may look like this:

Agenda
“Board” Meeting
Date, Time & Place

1. Call to Order

2. Reading of the past meeting minutes

3. Financial Report (if applicable)

4. Item 1: Presentation, discussion, voting, questions

5. Item 2: Same as above

6. Item 3, etc…

Next Meeting Time:

Meeting adjournment

Now you may wonder how you can have fun when you look at that agenda. Be creative. Laugh a little. Loosen up, especially if it’s going to be a long meeting.

Another possibly creative way to work an agenda is to use your computer to project the agenda onto the wall or screen. This keeps eyes forward and on the Chair and is also ‘environmentally friendly’, which is what a lot of people are moving towards.

(LB) As James indicated I am a proponent of using mind maps for agendas (and a bunch of other stuff). The visual is different and quickly catches people’s attention. So a mind map agenda would look like this:As you can see it is bright and easily followed. Normally I start at the top right side and work my way around in a clockwise direction. There is lots of space to take notes. In the beginning people may be a bit resistant to this graphic. Over time that changes. One of the beauties of this format is that you can project it and have someone make the notes right onto the map as decisions are made. It becomes a living record that can be quickly shared.

These are just a couple of the types of agendas for standard Board  meetings. They are also a good template for staff and committee meetings. As you can see, we had much to say about this issue and it looks like we will be doing Agendas part 2 next week.

 So stay tuned. Next week: Agendas – Part 2

Meeting Management - Agendas

The Right Time, Person, Reason

The Right Time, Person, Reason

Practice the Presence: Practice when?

As I’ve said in previous posts I grew up in a very conservative religious atmosphere. We were told that we should do ‘devotions’ every morning before the day started. This way we began the day with an attitude of gratitude and forgiveness. It made sense. But for many years I struggled with that discipline because I was not a morning person. It wasn’t until I was in my forties that I really began to appreciate mornings. Over the last two years that switched back again due to some health issues. Recently that seems to be switching back again.

This morning as I sit by my living room window and watch the neighbourhood wake and see cars moving and people starting to walk – even on a Saturday, I realize how truly blessed I am. I live in a place where, although it’s winter, the temperature only drops below freezing occasionally. There is very little snow. I was surprised yesterday to get up to a weather warning signalling a snow fall and high winds. When I was growing up that meant blizzard. But we had neither in this community. Other parts of the province were not so lucky though.

Practice the Presence: Practice When? As I said in the opening paragraph I was taught that morning was the best time for this. And for many it is the best time. Some are morning people and get up either before or at the crack of dawn and meditate, do yoga, read, pray, exercise. These can and are all expressions of a being present, practicing the presence. For others the morning are early and harried. So it’s not the best time for them. They choose evening or afternoon or after the kids are gone to school. In the years that I struggled to get myself out of bed leaving enough time to practice devotions or meditation I would sometimes just fall asleep! It was really not very helpful. In fact it was downright frustrating.

I have learned that as many ways there are to Practice the Presence, there are many times to Practice the Presence. One of the beautiful things about true spirituality is that rules are gone! You choose to listen to your intuition and see what is most beneficial for you. You choose the time, the place and the way you do it.

Most mornings when I rise I take time to have a decent breakfast and sit quietly often with a cup of coffee. When I am done my breakfast I read a bit and journal a bit. Currently I am in the second year of Melody Beattie’s More Language of Letting Go. I think that I may just continue with Melody next year and do the daily reflections on her website. Some mornings I also may do some meditation depending on how I feel and how much time I’ve allowed myself.

This is my quiet time. This is the time that I reflect and project my life.

But there are other times too. Times when practicing the presence is not about sitting quietly. I have been doing a fair bit of driving this week. I practice the presence then too. I do have to be careful how I do it? It can so relax me that I am not really present to my driving. That can be and is dangerous. But I sometimes choose quiet music like Enya and just breathe, clear non-beneficial energies away, prepare for where I’m going, especially if I have any concerns about the meeting or place I’m heading to. Or, I may just put on something more stimulating and sing my heart out. I love watching the faces of people in the other cars as they chuckle at the nutty singer in the next car. Sometimes I am in a fluster and I take time to acknowledge The presence of One greater than I. And sometimes I take time to acknowledge that I am part of that presence.

Recently I was offered some part-time work doing various tasks for a local funeral chapel. I have officiated at funerals and celebration of life services for years. For a very brief time about 14 years ago, I started to train as a Funeral Director. But to many things that were going on I’m my life at the time I left the program before I ever really got started. I obviously made an impression on my Manager and her District Manager because it is they who called me back. They have both retired now and he and his wife purchased the local funeral chapel and my former Manager is also working there part-time.

I was working as a Director (Usher) at a service last week. As I watched this family pouring out their grief after losing their young son something extraordinary happened to me. He was in his thirties and leaves two small children behind. It was very sad. As I stood there I was suddenly made aware that I could Practice the Presence now! In so doing I became centered and aware of Spirit in a wonderful comforting way. I then projected that upon the family. I blessed them. In my mind’s eye I reached out and touched them and sent them supportive energy. Suddenly the sadness I was feeling was gone from me. I felt that it such a privilege to be part of their grief; to be able to bless them at such a terrible time in their lives.
My Truth:Over the last few of years as my life started to really do the loop-de-loop on the roller coaster ride I have learned that when I call out and ask God to be with me I am reminded time and again, that She already is. I’m just not allowing my awareness to know that He is present. It’s not a matter of Spirit being present. It’s a matter of me being present. It doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing or how I’m feeling I am always in the Presence. God, the Universe, Spirit, Creator (whatever you are most comfortable using). So really it matters not When I practice, because I can Practice the Presence at anytime under any circumstance. I just need to be present enough myself to realize that I am already in the presence. Practice the Presence: Practice when?

You're Not Too Small

You're Not Too Small