Some of the men of Mentor Discover Inspire have been gathering in weekly team circles since the 1980s. There is a wealth of insight and wisdom regarding what works and what doesn’t work for a successful team meeting. This time, through a social media query, we find out a few tips on what does work.
Greg Powell
A great team meeting happens when men are heard.
Bob Walker
Create a CPR that takes care of the men. Have a purpose. Create some fun and, if you have an agenda, realize that it may not happen so don’t be married to it.
Michael Burns
A contribution to a great team meeting is my participation. At a great team meeting, our presence is a present that we give to others.
Brad Leslie
7 – 12 MEN would be a good start
CPR – Everything
Have a purpose for the Team that is bigger than the Team and outside of the Team
Be in Service – aka – so ya wanna be a HERO?!?!
Darwin Planter
What Brad Leslie said. Start there. If it ain’t great, ask again. After that, I would add tools. Make and keep commitments. Enact and practice discipline. Create a safe place to tell the truth, and then tell the truth. And so much more.
Eric Mortimer
- Have an Interesting Leader: Ensure the leader is engaging and charismatic. Don’t suck.
- Align with Vision and Future Focus: Make sure the meeting connects with the team’s vision and has a forward-looking perspective.
- Introduce Something New: Men hate change, but they appreciate new ideas and opportunities.
Pete Hymans
1) Bring “new.”
2) Be sure the content gives enthusiasm, skills or wisdom.
3) Do only a tiny bit as a leader; DELEGATE well ahead of time.
4) Bring puzzlement and deep thinking.
5) Having interaction, inter-dependence of the participants works well.
Thomas Farrell
Seeking out, attracting and being around quality men.
It’s the men and not the processes and widgets that make things quality.
James Garrett-Rempel
Showing your heart always.
James Turner
Great CPR = Great meeting. Keep it simple. Trust the process. Your results are arms around the men securing your purpose of caring for them through the masculinity of leadership with the context of strengthening the team. 
Did I just say that?
Michael Fowlkes
Great team meetings happen when you buddy the men up to do exercises, rituals and fun and physical activities. It gets more men involved in the production of the meeting and greater ownership in the meeting. Also, great team meetings happen when you have an exercise or a ritual that has men reveal a different side of themselves. It’s maybe something that nobody on the team ever knew. It allows men to get more connected, bonded.
Justin LaBarge
Men revealing the truth about their father. When men reveal their father to the men, it is enough to move every man to tears. Great team meetings can also be ugly. Confronting an ugly truth. Or maybe the fire department shows up. Or the weather suddenly changes for the worse. Men recognizing in the moment there’s opportunity, in the face of discordance, for TEAMS to ACT! An old team of mine invented the term “agendacide,” which is when the captain has the wisdom to kill the agenda in order to prioritize what’s happening in the moment.
Paul Mack
First putting the men in the present moment, not just in the future or God forbid just in the manual. If we get red flags from a man or men’s words, we at least pause to ask them if they would like support in the circle. Even just a brief one PRE-CLE, if you will.
Gary Boutin
Ask for help to create a good CPR, also trust a couple of men to take over parts of the meeting so you’re sharing the responsible leadership roles with future DCs and team captains.
Frank Tritini
The man who owns the meeting creates it from a very selfish place. He creates a meeting around what he needs not what the team might need. And it works for everyone. I’ve never seen this technique fail.
Jim Ellis
Great meetings are when the context of the “team” players, playing at the team level, know that part of their job is to have the Team Leader win. Proactively communicating with TL ideas of what could be at the meeting.
For Zoom Meetings – Eric Louie
- Ensure all men are in a safe location, where confidentiality can be held high. Clothing not optional. Please wear a shirt.
- Use breakout rooms when possible to create even more intimacy with smaller circles.
- Minimal or no distractions.
- Men are prepared to be vulnerable and honest.
- Exercises are designed to engage men in full participation.
- All men, especially new men, are provided space and time to reveal anything important.
- Team leader can be an example, and be the conductor, just not the controlling force. Let it flow.