Smooth as Butter

Meetings! They can be the bane of productivity. We have our fair share around here like everyone else. Often our meetings hit snags. Somebody asks a question, and before you know it, you are not only off topic, but deeply involved in serious discussion of importance that has to be explored, but has nothing to do with the agenda. How frustrating!

Particularly this is true if there are philosophical differences of opinion. You cannot move forward if every horse hitched to the wagon is trying to run in a different direction. Of course, you want a balance of perspectives, but at some point the talking has to end and the action begin.

As we have been working on our strategic plan, our mission and vision statements, our core values, we have encountered all sorts of conversations and the process has been lengthy. We are moving forward, but sometimes it feels like less than a snail's pace.

Then there are days like today. Somehow we found ourselves in a good place. There was conversation and discussion, but it was extremely productive. We lay our concerns and ideas and suggestions boldly on the table, held them up to scrutiny, then made decisions and moved forward!

This was our second round of defining core values. The first one made about a millimeter of progress, and got tabled. Today though, we marched bravely through each value, crafting our innermost guidance system into meaningful succinct wordage with which we all felt comfortable.

Smooth as could be. We ended our meeting ahead of the scheduled time, then sat there looking at one another in amazement. No one moved. We didn't want to break the spell. Bask in it as long as you can, because a meeting like that doesn't come round too often.