by Betsy Wright
Strategy is really the foundational principle of Orange (that’s why we often refer to our philosophy as the “Orange Strategy”). One of the most overlooked ideas in leadership is the importance of meetings – maybe we already consider ourselves experts on this topic because meetings already take up a lot of time on our schedules! In reality, it’s important that our time is spent in purposeful and productive meetings with the right people.
So we’ll be looking at two themes this month: controlling your own schedule (instead of letting it control you) and scheduling consistent meetings with your team to keep everyone on the same page.
This month on Fridays- we’d love to highlight your favorite tips and tricks to having a better meeting. Maybe it’s a new technology or maybe it’s something you do to get everyone back on track. Share your ideas in the comments of any post this month and you might be spotlighted on Friday Favs!
We know that you lead in several ways at any given time. You lead yourself, you lead volunteers, you might lead a staff, and you often lead up. So here’s what we have in store for you in our premium You Lead content. We will follow also be talking about the same topic here on the always free Orange Leaders blog. If you have the Orange Leader Handbook– this focus is from p. 45- Consistent Meetings.
A BOOK REVIEW on The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working by Tony Schwartz.
This new release takes a hard look at how leaders and employees are expending their energy as well as how we are RECOVERING our energy.
A PODCAST Interview with Matt McKee and Jeanne Stevens.
Jeanne Stevens has to keep her schedule under control in order to keep her priorities in check. In addition to having two kiddos, Jeanne and her husband recently started Soul City Church in Chicago, Illinois AND she’s an author, speaker, and one of the lead pastors.
A VIDEO of Anne Jackson.
Anne’s a church leader and an author who’s experienced burnout and come back from it. Check out what she has to say about being a leader and remembering that your schedule is only a piece of paper or a lot of pixels. You’re the one that gets to drive it…not the other way around.
A REAL LIFE Case Study of Southwest Airlines.
Whether or not Southwest Airlines flies out of your nearest airport, we all have lots to learn from their organization. Take a look at the way they organize their entire scheduling and meeting processes.
As a BONUS: STAFF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT.
We’re including another book review with this portion of YouLead because we felt that it would be a great tool to reinforce this month’s topic.
BOOK REVIEW:
Orange Revolution by Adrian Gostick & Chester Elton
Not only does this book have a fantastic title, it also has some pretty good information in it as well! We all want high-performing teams, and there are lots of ideas to help you reach that goal; such as motivating team members, trust among your team, leadership at all levels and recognizing successes.
A CHALLENGE for your next big Meeting:
Pull out your calendar and schedule an upcoming staff meeting to discuss this topic with your team. We’ve already done the legwork of brainstorming creative ideas to engage your team and questions for challenging everyone to discover how your organization can take one more step in the right direction. Won’t it be great to have a strategy for the time that you spend with these great folks?
Last but not least, a SENIOR LEADERSHIP PODCAST Interview with Jeff Henderson & Gavin Adams.
Jeff has made a career of organizing teams. He’s the campus pastor for Buckhead Church in Atlanta, Georgia and his team is one of the most productive groups around. Listen in as they talk about the value of having effective and consistent face-to-face time with the most important leaders in your organization.
