Years ago I was in a new role and at the last minute discovered that one of my “other duties as assigned” was to lead a service project at a summer camp before it opened each year.

So I made a few phone calls to invite some people to join me.  One of the calls was to a young mother that I had just met.  Two years later as I prepared for a move, that woman came to see me.

She emphasized the importance of that invitation and stressed that it was the spark that ignited her fire.

Prior to that call she had been thinking about changing her membership, and going somewhere else.  After being invited to participate and making one personal connection with someone, she got more involved.   As more time passed her sense of belonging and her ownership in the future of the organization increased.

And it all started with a personal invitation.

[Tweet “No matter what kind of organization you lead, personal invitations will ignite your growth.”]

I recently facilitated a meeting and heard these words; “This is the first time I’ve been invited to be a part of something where everyone was given the opportunity to participate, treated equally, and listened to.”

Yeah for that organization!  They’ve sparked!  …Now they need to make that practice a standard operating procedure!

[Tweet “Have you ever sat on the sidelines, waiting to be invited? “]

Have you ever felt joy and a strong spirit of contribution and ownership when someone asked your opinion, listened and responded?

If you lead an organization:

• Are you assuming that employees, members, and volunteers: know you want them to think, know that you are receptive to ideas, and  know how and where to plug in?
• Have you ever extended a personal, specific invitation for them to participate in your vision and your growth?

…And if you engaged them successfully in the past, how are you inviting new people and keeping senior people engaged?