Leading From Behind: Wedding Weekend Success

Happy Tuesday, It has been a long several days and it is good for my wife and I to get back to some form of normal. Although we partied pretty hard and will need several days to recover from this one. In a really good way.

The last I wrote, we had the wedding of my daughter this past Friday. It was an amazing day. The weather was fantastic, the ceremony beautiful, and the reception was off the hook.

My goal for the evening, besides seeing our youngest get married to a really good man, was to create the opportunity to start a bridge for the two families. A very strong, mostly American family with generational values and traditions, blended with a very strong Lebanese family with strong values and traditions.

A point that I did bring up during my speech.

The bride and groom are the star of the show, they should be. For my part, in working to help create a bond, I decided to include a few sentences of Arabic, at the very beginning of the father of the bride speech.

Every person that I spoke with from my son in law’s side, said that I nailed the Arabic and thanked me for the gesture. Everyone I spoke with, especially the bride and groom, said that it hit the mark.

The entire speech was a success.

The other part of this was to encourage my family to be part of the celebration, especially the parts that they did not understand. For example, there is very large celebration as the bride and groom enter the reception hall. I have learned this is called the Zaffe, and it was fun and it is impressive. At one point, guests surround the couple on the dance floor as they are being lifted into the air. The groom on shoulders and the bride in a chair. I looked over to one side noticing that the groom’s family, knowing what is going on, had all converged on the dance floor to celebrate. My wife and I quickly went table to table to get more people to the floor to join in this amazing celebration.

The entire evening was a success.

But not just the evening. The next morning there was a large group of my new son-in-law’s family gathered in the lobby for breakfast and coffee. As my wife and I approached with some of our family, you could not help but feel the acceptance from everyone. Folks recognized who we were and made a point to greet us, speak with us, hug us. We were all family and friends now.

You might be asking; Tom, I am not giving a speech at a wedding. I have a group of workers that I am looking to encourage to buy in to the tasks of the day. How is this relevant to our roles as leaders?

Valuable Question.

To be effective in motivating our people for an extended period of time, taking the time to think outside the box is important. Look for creative ways that you can bring your team together in a way that encourages inclusion. If you know that you have a group of folks that like golf, take an afternoon and go to the driving range. And go with them, even if you do not like it. That may not be possible, so how about gift cards for a round of golf. A group of folks that speak Spanish, take the time to ask them to teach you some phrases that you can use during a team meeting. And remember, this will take time and effort. Working to break the workplace traditions that have been there for generations will take time. Not just to implement, but for your folks to truly believe that you care. Look for ways to affect meaningful, lasting change.

Great leadership is not selfish or self-serving. It does not come from a place of title or power. It comes from a place of heart, caring, and goodness.

Have a truly awesome week.