Issue No. 240 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting helps you ease into 2012 with an easy-to-read 52-page “boost” that might also give your team a new tool for blessing your customers, donors, board members, volunteers and others. And this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.
Outside-the-Book Boosts
Happy New Year! If you still have unread books from 2011, I’m giving you grace—and a soft landing for 2012—with this issue’s brilliant book, plus a brilliant idea.
Think about this one on two levels:
Level #1: a very unique way to bless your family, or your team, or your board, or your donors, or your volunteers—or all of the above; a page-at-a-time.
Level #2: Borrow the author’s idea—and create a similar-type book, published by your organization. I’ll explain.
The book itself—with bright graphics, unique size and rich, thick, coated card stock—invites you (no…compels you) to thumb the pages. The title grabs you: Boost! (Hey…I could use a boost!). The subtitle revs up the motor: “52 Infusions of Wisdom to Revolutionize the Way You Think and Live.” Hmmm.
Here’s the simple, but radical idea: each of the 52 pages has a Twitter-length thought and a Bible verse. The back side of each page/card is blank, designed so you’ll detach one page per week—and presto—you’ll now have a year’s worth of wisdom “infusions” to post on your refrigerator, desk or in your car.
Example: “Fight these three evils all your days: cynicism, fatalism, and narcissism. Instead, look for and embrace these three friends: faith, hope, and love.” (I Corinthians 13:13)
My own market research with Boost! was pure gold. I passed the book around the table at a recent board meeting—and asked members to detach one of the 52 pages and then share the wisdom. Several mentioned how the verse, and/or the thought, was especially appropriate to the challenges they faced that week. Bingo! (Or should I say “Boosto!”)
Dean Curry, the author, is pastor of LifeCenter, Tacoma, Wash., and uses these inspirational and motivational “shots” to encourage people when he speaks to service organizations and Fortune 500 companies. Like this one: “Gratitude makes problems small and lets God be big.”
Honest: it would be very tempting to list another 20 or 30 of his tweets here—they are that good (and equaled only by the outstanding graphics)—but then you wouldn’t buy the book, and his copyright lawyer would call me! So…buy the book!
When the book arrives, then host a “Boost! Brainstorm Breakfast” and discern if the “Level #2” idea might work for your organization. Think about creating your own 52-card book with 52 wisdom thoughts. If you work with churches, ask 52 pastors to contribute a page; or 52 donors, or 52 volunteers, or 52 students, or 52 homeless shelter guests. You get the idea. But get Curry’s book first—the gold standard in packaging—so you’re not tempted to photocopy or quick print your finished product. Cheesy doesn’t bless!
To order this book directly from Dean Curry Books, click on this title: Boost! 52 Infusions of Wisdom to Revolutionize the Way You Think and Live.
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) What would be your Twitter-length (140 characters) “wisdom infusion” for an inspirational book?
2) Author Dean Curry’s radical outside-the-box idea was to tear a page out of a book every week—so that after 52 weeks, the “book” is empty. What was our best “Thinking-Outside-the-Box” idea in 2011?
Meeting Boosters - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit
One of the big ideas in the Meetings Bucket, Chapter 20, in Mastering the Management Buckets, borrows a page from Jim Rayburn, the founder of YoungLife, who preached that it’s a sin to bore a kid with the Gospel. It’s also a sin to bore our team members and board members with poorly planned and executed meetings!
There are five “Energy Boosters” in this Meeting Buckets chapter you can use when your meeting starts spiraling into boredom hell. Here are two:
IDEA #1. STAND AND SHOUT. “OK, we’re almost ready to make a decision. Let’s all stand and go around the circle and give your opinion on this. One minute maximum per person.”
IDEA #2. TRIADS. Use this approach when one or two people are monopolizing the discussion. Break into groups of three and ask the facilitator of each group to report back. Write the conclusions on the flipchart. (Remember: people are either readers or listeners.)
For more resources, including a downloadable Word document for one-on-one weekly meetings, visit the Meetings Bucket webpage.
BOARD GOVERNANCE RESOURCES & TRAINING:
March 13, 2012 (Dallas) – ECFA Nonprofit Forum: Nine Governance Essentials for Nonprofits (with John Pearson, Dan Busby, Steve Macchia and Michael Batts)
ECFA Blog on “Governance of Christ-centered Organizations" – Add your thoughts and comments to John Pearson’s weekly blog posts, including: “10 Questions to Ask Before Joining a Board.”
Comments