Who Is At Your Table? – Inviting Your Circle and Extending Your Sphere of Influence

Who are you as a human? A leader? A worker? What has happened in your life to make you who you are today? Think about the people who influenced you, inspired you, built you up, challenged you, or questioned you. They are a part of the residue of who you are and who you will become. The question is have you ever thought about who these people are and the power they have had in who you are today?

Each of us has a tribe, whether we know it or not. That tribe is an invisible circle of influence that surround us. They impact us in powerful ways as long as you have the right people. We listen to them, spend time with the, work with them, talk with them, reflect with them, live with them, hang out with them, and we ask them for advice. The one thing that we often don’t think to do with them is invite them.

Our entourage might be there automatically but are you intentional with how you tap into their powers to access them even more? We can do this by being more intentional and actually inviting them to the table. We sometimes forget that we all have access to a tribe whether we know it or not and we get to decide who is a part of it. We only have so many seats at the table so we have to be very intentional about who gets a seat. We need to be intentional and find clarity with exactly who we need at this table in order to have the best conversations.

However, in order to start inviting people, they actually have to want to be there. Well, my friend, that part is up to you. Think about how compelling your reason is for them to want to be there. Think about how you will impact them and serve them. In other words…what is in it for them? Will you provide encouragement, grace, innovation, momentum, authenticity, creativity, honesty, inspiration, and motivation? How will you push them? How will they push you?

The conversation must be a part of an environment where minds working together, pushing each other and rigor are the main dishes. Change the conversation so that it is meaningful, inspirational and inquisitive. Create a space for people to contribute and be invited to challenge compassionately.

We sometimes have different groups of mentors seated at different tables. There might be a table for friends, work partners, family, sports teams, etc. However, the important thing is that your tribe are not just followers or sit backers. Get them out of the spectator’s seats and invite them into the conversation of taking action.

As a leader, you must take a deep look at who is at your leadership table for teachers. Think about whether you have generators or consumers. Consumers are the ones who might sit back and consume the information but never really do anything with it. Generators are the ones who will take the information and take action to generate the strategies within their teams. They are the ones who will build the capacity of difference makers within your culture. They will affect the community in the most powerful way. Having generators at your table means that they will bring momentum to the conversation, life to the action steps, and challenge the comfort in order to grow. They will provide the nudges and the pressure of moving the community to take action more effectively than, if you as the leader, did it. It takes away the top down notion and becomes a growth minded thriving culture because the conversation changed at the leadership table.

As a leader you must create that environment for the teacher leaders where robust dialogue is appreciated and not shut down. ‘No’ is not always a bad word but rather it is viewed as an invitation for deeper dialogue, negotiation and innovation. The leader must be willing to change the seats and take control of the invite list if needed in order to get the right people at the table. Be intentional and clear on your expectations of the criteria in order to work together to create a thriving culture that works together. Your influence on the conversation will be crucial and will set the conversations where you may not be a part of or needed. Set the expectations to be based on evidence of impact with support from you where needed.

Your circle of influence must be an exclusive list that should be reserved only for those that will add value to the conversation and to whom you can add value. Each may play a different role but they are all there for the right reasons – to have forward moving, solution based, conversations.

Here are some types of people you may want at your table:

The Motivators – They are the ones who bring joy to the conversation and notice the small wins.

The Coaches – These people are the ones who are willing to mentor and guide alongside other community members.

The Sculptors – They are those who are not afraid to lean in and mold the conversation into a different shape. They push the envelope a little and ask the hard questions and perhaps point out the mistakes you may have made as their leader. However, they do it for the right reasons and they are the ones who make you stronger and able to pivot better.

The Guides – They serve as the example for you. They may not be a part of your teacher team but rather they are a part of your administrative team or perhaps giants in the field who have paved the road before you. They are the ones who have done this type of work before you and can advise on what not to do or do. I like to refer to them as the ‘Dumbledores’ who provide the grace, the peace and the promise that things will all work out.

Your circle of influence will be your greatest power for your entire community and for you personally. They will grow the dream, cultivate it, and make it happen in a collective and capacity building way. In other words, if the right people are not at your table, then you need to change the seats.

Click here for a FREE guide on ways to ENGAGE YOUR TRIBE!

OR

Grab the FREE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WORKSHOPPING YOUR MEETINGS.

My students and I have a podcast called Even If You Miss. It is a wellness podcast by kids for kids. It is also available on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!