Intus Personal & Group Transformation
Intus on
  • Home
  • Services
    • RIM (Regenerating Images in Memory >
      • RIM
      • Purchase RIM Sessions
      • Learn RIM
      • FAQ's About RIM
      • RIM Research Papers
    • Organizations >
      • Culture & Barrett Values
      • Employees
    • Circle Process
    • Michael Kline - Speaker / Trainer
    • Personal Growth >
      • Success Principles
    • Corporate & Non-Profit
    • Meditations
  • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Blog

Meetings by Candlelight

8/28/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Conway Daily Sun
August 28, 2013
By Michael Kline
Since the discovery of fire, humans have gathered in circles around the fire to tell stories, share ideas and solve problems. Today, our work circles have morphed into long rectangular tables and the fire has moved to one end, known as the PowerPoint presentation. Various members of the circle no longer tell stories. Instead, one
speaker, who wields the remote control of the presentation slides, tells the story. Not surprisingly, most people think meetings are a waste of time.  At home, the situation is often worse, partly because it is more important and partly because it should be under our own control to do better.  At home, our circle gathering at mealtime is often lost to fast food on the go and eating at different times, with no time for sharing, caring or engaging in real communication. Do these things matter? If so, how do we fix it?

In the work environment, employees are looking for more meaning. Employers are seeking engagement from/with their employees.  Their actions demand compliance, but seldom, if ever, promote engagement.  Is this topic about motivation?   Daniel Pink, in his book Drive, teaches us what science knows that business does not. Science knows that intrinsic motivation is more powerful than extrinsic motivation. Business thinks we are motivated exclusively by
dollar incentives. Science knows that once minimal financial needs are met, money is not an effective motivational tool for most people.  

Far more important, is being part of something important, making a  contribution that matters, having positive relationships and feeling engaged. Think about the best boss you ever had. Chances are, that boss made you feel
great about yourself and brought out the best in you. When you do your best work, I bet you were lost in the work, and did not notice the time passing or other distractions. We call that being in “flow”.Flow cannot be bought with the
promise of a bonus.  Positive relationships, engagement (flow), a sense of meaning and achievement happens
when we turn off the PowerPoint and put the fire back into the center of our circle. (We use a candle as a reminder of the metaphor). It happens when we face each other and we have a different kind of conversation. It happens when we all tell our story with intention and we all listen to one another with attention. I must sound like I just got back from a hippie retreat where we all sat around a circle and sang Kumbaya.  I did, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is wondering what is wrong with his or her business or family. The biggest real-life challenge to this concept is time
and the biggest reward is anything you want.

All this takes time. So we risk productivity and we slow down. When we slow down and have this experience, we learn from one another. We make it safe for quiet people to speak and share their otherwise hidden wisdom.  We identify real problems and solve them, instead of rushing judgments and covering up symptoms. We build trust. When we have trust, we make decisions faster and with more confidence. With trust, everything moves faster and costs less.  In low-trust environments, everything moves more slowly and costs go up. 

Steven Covey, in Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times, calls this “moving at the speed of trust”. When we slow
down, and invest in the painfully slow, but hugely rewarding process of listening to and valuing one another, we actually are speeding things up.

The reward comes in the form of building a team that cares. Actually, we are building a tribe, who lives to come to the circle around the fire and share and care, and contribute their ideas and solve the group’s problems and commit to the collective future and who asks for what they need and who give what they can. We have the power to create such an amazing existence.

I found my inspiration for returning to this seemingly basic, yet complex and ancient idea of gathering and communicating, from the book The Circle Way, a Leader in Every Chair by Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea. I just returned from The Circle Practicum, a five-day intensive retreat (www.peerspirit.com) with the authors and a group of business people, teachers, legal professionals, ministers and dreamers who were so inspirational, I can’t wait to share more with you. Stay tuned, or contact me for details.

Michael Kline is a local retailer, success coach and trainer. He may be reached through his website, www.klineseminars.com, or e-mail, mike@klineseminars.com.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Michael Kline

    Archives

    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    June 2020
    May 2020
    July 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    July 2018
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    May 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    October 2010
    September 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All
    Attitude
    Business
    Business 7 Habits
    Business Planning
    Business Training
    Chili Cookoff
    Client Relationships
    Coaching
    Community
    Customer Service
    Emotional Intelligence
    Employee
    Employee Benefits
    Fullfillment
    Goal Setting
    Gratitude
    Happiness
    Happiness At Work
    Health Care
    Home And Work
    Job Performance
    Job Satisfaction
    Kindness
    Leadership
    Learn Rim
    Life Balance
    Management
    Marketing
    Meetings
    Neuroscience
    Personal Growth
    Personal Responsibility
    Planning
    Real Estate
    Retreats
    Rim
    Rim Coaching
    Rim Training
    Sales
    Self Awareness
    Self Help
    Self-help
    Stephen Covey
    Strategy
    Systems
    Uncoachable
    Wisdom

    RSS Feed