Manalizing Tribe Meetings

Connecting

We spend about 15 minutes at the beginning getting to know each other. Not in a business way, not in a superficial way. We have often already connected, so seeing a man again is like meeting up with a lifelong friends - only many of them. These are men who will go to war for you.

New Guy Intro: Who you are

A typical introduction is void of anything we care about. Your name, your job and title, the number of kids you have. Where you live. Honestly, we don't care about that. We don't want to know what you are, we want to know who you are. To get to that, we might ask you about your beard, your favorite hobby, or what you bought at your last gas station visit. Yeah - we're more like that.

The Declaration

The first organized part of every meeting is the declaration. It sets the tone and the meaning for each tribe meeting. The opening declaration is read aloud by the tribe leader.

Return and Report

The man of honor from the previous event has a duty - to begin the meeting by reporting how the previous month's event affected him. He answers questions like "how did it feel to be heard"? "What takeaways did you get from your moment on the spot?" "What did you like the most and what did you like the least?" "What were the moments that surprised you the most?" "Do you feel like you were spoken to honestly?" and "How did your time on the spot change your approach to life?"

Man on the Spot

At each meeting we give one man the chance to be seen and heard. There is nothing superficial about this. The question we begin with is carefully crafted: "What are you dealing with?" First, we give a man enough time to talk about what's hard for him. This is a focused description of what is hard for him at the moment. He may cry. He may express hurt. Then we do our best to support him with truth - not sugar. Nothing bonds men like this moment, and it happens at every meeting.

The Honorary Declaration

Asking a man to read the honorary declaration is like giving the game ball to the player that won the game. This is man that was vulnerable or that was insightful. This may be the man that spoke the hardest truth. We're not there to pour glaze on each other - we're there to save lives and build men. We're there to be a group of men that talk about what men don't talk about, and the man that does that best is selected to read the honorary declaration for that meeting.

Resolution

The meeting is hard. It can tear your heart out. It can wrench your guts. It also bonds men like super glue. This is the time for men to talk about that, resolve the emotions, acknowledge the hard, and appreciate each other in a more personal setting.