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Ramblings
At the moment, Iâm reading The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, by Priya Parker. Itâs the most interesting and impacting book Iâve read this year â and this comes from a person who reads tons of nonfiction books.
Think of this: we meet all the time. Whether itâs a professional meeting, a baby shower, Christmas, a casual dinner with friends, an online community⌠Meetings are omnipresent in our lives.
But do they spark joy? Is your Monday meeting with your team really insightful?
My 20-year-old sister recently told me she didnât enjoy Christmas as much as she used to when she was a kid. âThatâs normal,â I thought, âweâre not kids anymore. No more Santa Claus or mountains of presents â thatâs what made Christmas exciting.â
Well, thatâs not what Priya Parker says.
Whether youâre dissatisfied with your yearly Christmas family dinner or with your weekly team call, the reason is exactly the same in both cases: your meeting doesnât have a purpose.
To be successful, each meeting must:
1) have a clear purpose â a why
2) be designed to align with that purpose
âGetting marriedâ isnât the purpose of a wedding, just like âmeeting to discuss booksâ isnât the purpose of a book club. Thatâs what we do at such events.
If adults donât enjoy Christmas as much as when they were kids, itâs because this event doesnât align with its new purpose. When we were kids, the magic was the âwhyâ â but as adults, the purpose of Christmas is different.
To me, itâs an occasion to reconnect with my family and laugh together. But the event itself isnât designed to serve that purpose: we havenât changed a single detail to our Christmas dinners in over 20 years, so itâs still designed to please children.
If I were to redesign this particular meeting to align with its new purpose, I would probably make it less formal and include time to play games in between meals, for example. This would definitely contribute to making us laugh and connect as a family, hence serving the new purpose.
How can you apply this to your own meetings?
Think of all the meetings you host and attend. Do they satisfy you? Are they useful?
If not, reflect on their purpose. What is it?
Now, how can you redesign this meeting to better align with that purpose?
Redesigning can be as simple as removing a table.
If the purpose of a meeting is to brainstorm creative solutions to a problem, participants will feel more confident and safe to share their thoughts if theyâre not all seated formally around a table.
Think of your next meeting. Whatâs its purpose?
Share your thoughts:
Make your own drink
I recently came across this Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe.
Itâs easy to make and you wonât need an excessive amount of ingredients.
Enjoy! â
â Alicia
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