Watching People Have Meetings
Denver was fun, and we talked with lots of folks in creative fields out there. The tech industry is big there, especially satellite design and software development, in addition to all the cool artists down in LoDo. In talking with people about their work lives, one complaint we heard was about sitting along the wall in a conference room while others discussed the business at hand...in other words, watching other people have meetings
Though you want to be careful not to overdo it when it comes to having meetings, they really can be helpful sometimes, mostly for discussions and information sharing rather than for actual decision making. But they're typically only useful if you are participating in them. Having your Creatives sitting there watching other people have a discussion is usually pointless, and a waste of their time, time that could be spent being productive for you and your firm. There are few things in life that seem more worthless to someone than sitting there watching other people talk when you're getting nothing from the experience.
You might think your Creatives need to hear the information that comes out of a meeting, and that's why you invite them in. But think about that. If they really need all the details because they're such an integral part of what's being discussed, they should be in a position to contribute, not just sit and listen. If they DON'T need all the details, but just need the results, then you could probably give them a synopsis of it later rather than making them sit through the whole thing. Part of your role as a leader is translating the big boss' guidance for the worker bees, so maybe they don't need to sit through 3 hours when you could give them a 10-minute post-game show instead.
Your Creatives are highly talented professionals (at least, they should be, if you're hiring properly). If their project is being discussed, they should have a voice. on the other hand, if the discussion doesn't really concern them or require they're presence, you should be using them more effectively by having them do the work you pay them to do, not sit around trying to keep their eyes open while someone explains a simple concept with 547 PowerPoint slides.
Bottom line: meetings aren't a spectator sport. Unless, of course, you have great donuts.
Though you want to be careful not to overdo it when it comes to having meetings, they really can be helpful sometimes, mostly for discussions and information sharing rather than for actual decision making. But they're typically only useful if you are participating in them. Having your Creatives sitting there watching other people have a discussion is usually pointless, and a waste of their time, time that could be spent being productive for you and your firm. There are few things in life that seem more worthless to someone than sitting there watching other people talk when you're getting nothing from the experience.
You might think your Creatives need to hear the information that comes out of a meeting, and that's why you invite them in. But think about that. If they really need all the details because they're such an integral part of what's being discussed, they should be in a position to contribute, not just sit and listen. If they DON'T need all the details, but just need the results, then you could probably give them a synopsis of it later rather than making them sit through the whole thing. Part of your role as a leader is translating the big boss' guidance for the worker bees, so maybe they don't need to sit through 3 hours when you could give them a 10-minute post-game show instead.
Your Creatives are highly talented professionals (at least, they should be, if you're hiring properly). If their project is being discussed, they should have a voice. on the other hand, if the discussion doesn't really concern them or require they're presence, you should be using them more effectively by having them do the work you pay them to do, not sit around trying to keep their eyes open while someone explains a simple concept with 547 PowerPoint slides.
Bottom line: meetings aren't a spectator sport. Unless, of course, you have great donuts.
posted by Will at
3:00 AM
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2 Comments:
Once upon a time, my client wanted to interface two of its disparate systems, hence they invited both of the vendors in the meeting. In the meeting, it was clear that the "business people" still did not agree on how they wanted the information to be exchanged, hence it was quite pointless to invite the technical people in. The vendor from the other side blew their top. :P
Bad enough to do it to your employees. Maybe worse to do it to your vendors. Can you imagine doing it to your clients? (shudder)
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