Last week, we talked about how unprofessional calling for meetings could be. This week, let's peep inside that conference room and see what happens inside. From the outside, the room looks big, professional and important. Usually it is attached to some big shot person (CEO, MD, GM or any other acronym you can think of!) Just outside the room, people would be whispering “oh, is he in a meeting?”, “when will the meeting be over?” and listen to the world classic response to that “I don't know”. Generally, there are mixed emotions about the conference room: fear, respect and mysticism! Think of a cross between a crystal ball and Pandora's Box! Inside the conference room, there is a huge (and very heavy) oak or mahogany wooden oval shaped-table. Expensive wood = Important executives! On the corner of the room there is a coffee maker, with a few mugs, spoons, and sugar packets on the side. Croissants and donuts come later (but no Falafel sandwiches!)The chairs are normally big with wheels. Wheels are essential in meetings' chairs. You need to spin around on them before or after you make a contradicting statement, so the wheels come handy, as a more dramatic way of expressing one's self. Imagine not having wheels, the executive will have to stand up and do the spinning himself, Shakira style. (There is a special training for that if you wish to perform that movement in case your respective companies cannot afford the wheels!) As big executives start arriving, coffee and small talk are pouring. As the bigger boss arrives (you see, all others are bosses, too) they start heading for the seats. The small talk does not stop; it just takes a turn towards the bigger boss. What seems like a little talk drags on as they wait for the rest of the guys to show up. By then, nobody is really sure what time the meeting should start, finish or what the agenda is like. Normally the big boss would make a statement that gets the attention of all. It's normally a piece of news or a question. Either way, executives jump in, volunteering answers or how or where they can get answers. If it is a problem question, a clever (and fast) executive will provide a solution. For the remaining period of the meeting, there will be two camps: the one supporting the solution, and justifying it, and the other camp opposing the solution, and justifying it. Sometimes you also get the fence sitters waiting to see how the boss reacts! What a waste of time, discussing just one idea in all this time? God bless Alex Osborn's soul who told us years ago to brainstorm before discussion. Have the ideas in quantity, then discuss, clarify, eliminate, group….whatever you want to do. Osborn (1888-1966), an advertising executive, developed the brainstorming technique in 1942 suggesting a lot of room for creativity, long before Edward De Bono's Lateral Thinking came to play. Osborn or De Bono, we will still debate over one single idea in meetings. And you know the funny thing, we're not even sure if was the purpose of that meeting! But wait, it gets worse, in those meetings, no one will dare ask “is this what the meeting is all about, or was that just a question from the boss?” No one will dare ask the no-no question “when is this meeting supposed to finish?” In a recent seminar on meeting management and facilitation skills, a young executive commented on that thought “I could never ask my boss that!?” “Why not?”, yours truly replied. “My boss would think I don't like the meeting!” So this is the perception of asking perfectly normal questions in meetings. Who said we need authority to ask the “when and what” questions about meetings. Or how come you are allowed to ask the “where” question? That's the puzzle for me! I remember in one of my first meetings in Xerox, I asked my fellow sales reps about the matting's “when and what”. The reaction I got was a smile, a shrug that suggests “you're still new”. Well, today after spending nearly 40 years in the business, travelled the world from the US to Europe to Africa and the Far East, attending thousands of meetings, I still think, then, I'm new! Final words: Meetings are the most expensive means of communication compared to e-mails, bulletin boards, telephone calls, SMS's, memos….etc. Use it well and save time, money and above all maintain your and their sanity! Question of the week: Do you tell your team the “whens and whats” when you announce a meeting? And do you stick to those?
Attar, an independent management consultant and organisation development authority, delivers seminars in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East. email:[email protected]
