The Art of Gathering

Our COO Nicole Dill has been praising a fabulous book called The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker. It’s a book about gatherings, parties, meetings, and the moments and opportunities where humans come together for a shared purpose. If you consider yourself a host or community builder, this book will help you refine your craft. It speaks to how you arrive at a crisp purpose for your gathering, how we often let the guest list define the purpose instead of letting the purpose define the guest list, how to prepare people to arrive at your gathering in a headspace to be fully present, and how to incite vulnerability, how to manage conflict, and how to make events that are powerful in their connection and spirit.

The book has made me think about treating the work week as a gathering. How might we change team meetings, team communication, and team connection if we imagined ourselves as hosts of our team in a gathering we call the work week? What kind of magic and intentionality might sprout? How might we spark delight and connection amongst our team? How might we surface new and different behaviors if we elevated the work week (and our office space) from the realm of simply the time and the physical space where work happens and into the realm of an extraordinary gathering?