This post is part of series. Go here to the read Strategic Planning I: Flip Your Org. Chart
Our team follows three rules in every strategic planning meeting we facilitate.
Rule #1: Knowledge is not a club to bang over someone’s head—or something to hold over people to prove how smart you are.
Rule #2: If you know something, share it. Give it away. Let other people question it, reshape it, and build upon it.
Rule #3: “Love the one you’re with.” Don’t look over someone’s shoulder for the more important person in the room. Invest in the person in front of you. Talk with them. Listen to them. Be curious about what they see that you do not.
These rules strengthen relationships. But they do something else, too. They reorganize power by bringing humility, care, and kindness into the room.
These things matter all the time, especially when you’re up against it and it feels like the world is out to get you.
Earlier this year, during the ICE occupation of the Twin Cities, there literally were people on the streets of Minneapolis and Saint Paul out to get you. They carried assault weapons. They were pulling people from their cars and raiding homes without warrants.
At the time, we were working with a group of Somali public health leaders. The day before an in-person meeting, the federal administration announced that it was going to deport members of Minnesota’s Somali community, describing them as “fraudsters,” “criminals,” and “the worst of the worst.”
We knew we might have to cancel for everyone’s safety, yet every one of these leaders showed up. We acknowledged what was happening. We made room for the moment. And then we got down to business.
The courage in that room was built on some very simple things, similar to those listed above:
- Honor each other’s strengths.
- Share what we know freely.
- Show up for one another.
In that room, the power created by those acts was greater than the power of fear and retribution. We went to work. And we were all the better for it.