Issue No. 17 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features another book and a bucket. The book gives you a head-start on physical fitness and its relationship to organizational health. The bucket showcases Ted Engstrom’s nifty system for building your week around 21 time blocks. And here’s a memorable outline for your next staff meeting. William A. Ward said there are four steps to achievement: Plan Purposefully, Prepare Prayerfully, Proceed Positively, and Pursue Persistently.
One of the greatest gifts you can give to your staff members is good health. Your organization must be healthy, you must be healthy, and your team members must be healthy. Good fitness doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Like anything else, it takes intentionality and advance planning.
So today, before Christmas and those dreaded New Year’s resolutions, paint a picture for your team of what good health would look like next year. No sermonizing—just vision-casting. Spiritual health and organizational health are often diminished by poor physical health.
Here’s an excellent resource, Fit After 40: 3 Keys to Looking Good & Feeling Great. (If you’re under 40, you’ll blink and be over 40, so buy the book anyway.)
Coach Don Nava, the author, has been a professional fitness coach for more than 25 years. He knows gimmicks don’t work. Nava’s Team of 3® concept combines the best of accountability and encouragement. The Coach says, “Information + Application = Transformation™.” To subscribe to the Spiritual Fitness with Coach Don Nava eNewsletter, email coach@theprevailteam.com.
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. What changes could we make in our organization to help promote fitness and better health?
2. Estimate the cost to our organization (and our mission) of the total number of sick days taken by our employees in the last 12 months.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Insights from the Management Buckets Workshop Experience
Ted Engstrom went to heaven (at age 90) in 2006, but the wisdom of World Vision’s president emeritus lives on. In countless CEO Dialogues, Ted admonished busy CEOs to schedule a week using 21 time blocks.
You have seven morning blocks (7 a.m. to 12 noon), seven afternoon blocks (12 noon to 5 p.m.) and seven evening blocks (5 p.m. to 10 p.m.). Adjust the times according to your lifestyle, but just end up with 21 blocks of time.
Then agree with your team and your spouse (if you’re married) how many time blocks you’ll work each week. Most people work five morning blocks and five afternoon blocks for a total of 10. Some people add one or two evenings and perhaps a Saturday morning. If your job requires weekend speaking (two to three blocks), you may need to take time off during the week (skip work two afternoons, for example).
The main point: work hard when you’re working, but don’t dabble at work when you’re not working. (“I just need to check my email—then I’ll take the kids to the park.”) Live a balanced life. And most important—get agreement from your board, your boss and your spouse on the proper balance of work time versus off time. I know an executive assistant who monitors her boss’ schedule—and when the time blocks hit the maximum number for a week, she blocks the remaining times off his calendar for golf or family. He works hard, but he’s not a workaholic. .
Attend the next CEO Dialogue in Palm Springs, March 12, 2007.
In our Management Buckets Workshop Experience, we bless you with practical ways to make The People Bucket a joy in your life as a leader. The People Bucket is one of 20 Critical Competencies Required for Leading and Managing Today’s Nonprofit Organization. Email me for the 2007 workshop dates.
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. How many time blocks do you normally work? (If you do email and other work projects at home on evenings and weekends, you’re working!)
2. Do you have your spouse’s and boss’ OK on your normal schedule?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Download the Management Buckets brochure
PS. Click “Forward Email” below to recommend this free eNews to a colleague.
