Is there One among you that does not belong?

In an article on productivity on Inc. Drake Baer shares nine tricks that influential execs use to improve the effectiveness of their meetings. It is a good list, mostly.

What stood out to me was this about Evernote's chief:

"Evernote CEO Phil Libin always brings a high-potential employee to participate."

At any given meeting at Evernote, there will be someone there who doesn't belong.

This is by design. The cloud note-taking startup has an internal program called "officer training," where employees get assigned to meetings that aren't in their specialty area in order to explore other parts of the company.

"They’re there to absorb what we’re talking about," Libin says. "They're not just spectators. They ask questions; they talk."

Libin got the idea from talking with a friend who served on a nuclear submarine. In order to be an officer of such a sub, you had to know how to do everybody else's job.

"Those skills are repeatedly trained and taught," he says. "And I remember thinking, 'That's really cool.'"

It is a discipleship mentality that I think we are missing at many of our churches (and other organizations as well). The mentoring, or at least exposure, of others to train them up. And it is not just watching, these officers in training are interacting and participating. Does this happen on your elder board, your staff team?

Not a bad idea. Bring someone with you that doesn't belong...