What If Every Meeting Ended Like This?
The other week, at the end of our Church Leadership Team meeting, we did something that is completely ordinary for us. We all joined hands and prayed together. Rev. Cindy offered the prayer which wasn’t long or particularly fancy, but it gathered up what we had been doing together. It reminded us why we had met in the first place, expressed gratitude for the people around the table, and gave thanks that we have the resources, abilities, and opportunity to do something meaningful together.
And as she prayed, I found myself wondering: What if every business meeting ended that way? Now, I’m not suggesting that every corporate boardroom suddenly become a religious gathering but what if, before everyone grabbed their laptops and coffee cups and hurried off to the next thing, they stood together for just a moment? What if they dared to join hands and someone simply said: “Before we leave, let’s remember why we did this.”
Maybe the answer would be, “We’re trying to build something that makes people’s lives easier” or “We want our employees to have good jobs and provide for their families”
or “We’re trying to create something useful, beautiful, safe, healing, educational, or worthwhile.” Even meetings about budgets and staffing and deadlines have a why buried somewhere underneath all those spreadsheets. And I can’t help but wonder what would change if we ended meetings by naming it.
Would people argue differently if they knew that, ten minutes later, they would be holding one another’s hands? Would decisions look different if the last question wasn’t simply, “What did we decide?” but also, “How does this serve the reason we exist?” Would workplaces become a little less transactional and a little more human?
There was something powerful about looking around that church table and remembering that none of us was there simply to approve minutes, discuss finances, or make plans. We were there because we love a community and believe we have been entrusted with something worth caring for. And we were grateful…not only for the work before us, but for one another and for the means to do that work.
Maybe that’s what so many meetings are missing…just thirty seconds at the end to remember: We are people, sitting around a table with other people, trying to accomplish something that matters. Imagine how the world of work might change if we never left the table without remembering why we came to it and how valuable the others are who are working with us.
Journeying together in faith and love,
Rev. Candi
