We are grateful for the passionate people we work for.

"When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life!" - Greg Anderson

Happy Thanksgiving from Reach Partners.

When a group of people gather to serve on a board, committee or coalition, a best practice of the convener is to devote 2-3 minutes at the start of each meeting to recap previous efforts and share the vision towards progress.  As a leader the group you have the opportunity to create a positive environment for work and expectations.  

People make better decisions when they have context for the question, need or purpose. Start with a statement of purpose, declare the meaning in why are you meeting. Dignify past efforts, ever so briefly provide the facts: the who, the what, the why or when. Finally, prepare your people to be decision makers. Let them know what needs attention and motion today. A brief summary at the start allows everyone to move as a team and step into the role of decision maker.

Anita, Reach Partners

  At Reach Partners, we approach most of our client work as projects which simply means our work is performed with a definite beginning and ending to produce a unique outcome.  No matter if we are managing and executing a project or a team of individuals are executing the deliverables knowing where to store, access and distribute stuff can save time, resources and headache. Not to mention we feel like a rock star when we can lay a finger on the answer from a project completed 5 years ago or 3 years from today. It all has to do with organization.

Manage the deliverables

• Store deliverables in a central place.  Depending if team members have the same level of access you may need to assign a gate keeper and create access controls.
• Name your files.  Create a nomenclature that can stand-up to time and stick to it. The deliverable is not complete without the correct naming conventions. Share the rules with the team, make sure everyone sticks to it.
  
• Put files into good buckets. When I worked for an architectural firm we created different folder sets depending on the type of design or building project that way someone looking at the project files could quickly identify the type of project and when it started and where to find sign-offs, progress reports, financials or designs.  
  
• Create a deliverables document. This map can outline the deliverables' due dates, resources, milestones and who’s responsible. 
  
• Create a system for versions. Use document tracking, establish file name version numbers, color code, use archival folders, use it all to keep versions under control.  See #2, the deliverable is not complete without the correct name. It does your team (or future self) no good to hunt thorough multiple “Final” documents.
  
• Back it up. Test your back-up procedures and make sure they work.

Rachel Asleson, Reach Partners

I love reading a book I get to annotate with notes, multi-colored highlights, sketches and creases. Since college I haven’t had much need to work so hard to note a reading until recently I read Napoleon Hill’s Think & Grow Rich with a group of likeminded people lead by professional coach, Jodee Bock of Bock’s Office Transformational Consulting.

The experience challenged my thinking towards the positive, increased my expression of gratitude and engaged me on a new conceptual path of understanding reality and how I see and meet the needs of others. Subsequently, the reading led down a book aisle new to me and towards to a number of personal development books and blogs, a genre previously ignored. To name a few:

The Seven Mindsets, Scott Shickler & Jeff Waller
The Fire Starter Sessions, Danielle LaPorte
Daring Greatly, Brenè  Brown

We all want to experience the best of our lives, our relationships and work and while simply reading about where the faith and vision for this “best of life” experience will not bring nirvana, surrounding yourself in positivity, gratitude and a sense of possibility can prompt transformation. It’s up to you to do the work, change your attitude and proclaim a life of meaning and depth. I do recommend a mastermind experience coupled with a thoughtful reading of a book of choice.

Meanwhile, for those unfamiliar here is a quick and dirty summary of Think & Grow Rich:

• Fix in your mind the amount of money you wish to possess (this doesn’t have to be about cash, but about what you desire). Be specific. Be definite.
• Determine exactly what you intend to give in return.
• Establish a date you intend to possess your desire. Be specific. Be definite.
• Create a plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once- whether you are ready or not.
• Write a clear, concise statement of your desire, a time limit, what you intend to give in return and describe the plan of action, read it aloud twice daily.  “I am so happy and grateful that…”
• Believe it. Believe yourself in possession of your desire and actively and repeatedly imagine you are in possession of it.
• Repeatedly replace negative thoughts, influences or suggestions with positive.
• Have faith, a created state of mind that is thought+belief+emotion, in your self-reliance, your desire, the cooperation of others and your will towards action.
• Develop persistence to create the habit of faith (see above). 
• Above all, a nurtured love of humanity, a willingness to serve others, adherence to truth and justice in all you do and a belief in self are the basis success.   

What are your favorite personal development reads?

Rachel Asleson, Reach Partners