Hi. My name is Remarkable House. That is what Kevin and his team (and his family) call me anyway. For a long time I was a family’s home – for about 47.5 years anyway. But, for the last 3+ years I’ve been the offices for The Kevin Eikenberry Group (actually, I’d prefer to say the home). I’ve also written a couple messages to you (Kevin’s readers) in the past – which I never expected. After all, I am a house.
Kevin asked me to write this week to tell you a bit about the team’s planning meeting that happened last Monday. I don’t really know what Kevin wants me to write about – so I’m going to write what I want. Besides, I’m older than he is anyway. . .
Basically, it was a good – and very busy – day.
I think if you had been at the meeting you would have noticed a lot of things. As a house, I really noticed three things specifically. And from listening to Kevin and others talk inside my walls over the years it seems these three things might be useful for you too:
An agenda.
I’ve heard it said that many meetings are very effective, and I’ve heard Kevin talk about the importance of an agenda. One of the first things he said at the meeting was, “we’ll practice what we preach by using this agenda template”. At the end of the meeting (which finished two minutes late) all agreed that the agenda – especially the desired outcomes – kept them on track towards the most important outcomes.
Mission.
After Kevin talked about the agenda, he spent about 5 minutes talking about why The Kevin Eikenberry Group exists and what the team is trying to accomplish together. I could tell that conversation set the tone for the day, brought the team together and reminded everyone about what is most important. Those ideas and that overall mission (to help more leaders make a bigger difference in the worlds around them) was referred to and discussed throughout the day.
Resistance.
Kevin suggested several ideas which received less than warm reactions! The interesting thing is that as a team they worked through the concerns and issues and, as a result, all agreed that better decisions were reached. In some cases, Kevin’s original plan was adopted; in others adjustments were made. Personally, as a house where people come to work, I’m glad they worked through the resistance, rather than Kevin just bulldozing (ooh I hate that word) onward with his ideas.
Hopefully these ideas will help you in your meetings and as a leader. It seems like they could help any leader or organization be more successful.
P.S. The picture is from one of my walls. It is my favorite wall in the house because I get to remind everyone who looks at me about these important ideas.
Oh, and one more thing – here are two other articles I’ve written for Kevin, in case you missed them:
Stress and Passion and High Performance
My Report on Year End Activities at The Kevin Eikenberry Group
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