Productivity Without Meetings

In case you did not catch this from the title of this article, I am not a fan of meetings. I am also not a fan of articles on why meetings are not a good business strategy. They all make the same points. I shall not do that:

I once had a colleague with whom I shared an overriding emotion: We could not stand each other! She did not like me. I did not like her.

Many decades before, I had friends with a daughter who was four going on forty. She was also my friend. When a storm was brewing, her facial expression would change. And if there was thunder, she would go into panic mode. Diversions - reading to her, talking to her, watching television, playing a game - did not work. The only thing she wanted was to sit on someone's lap, be hugged, and left alone with her fears and teddy bear. When someone told her, "Sweetie, there's nothing to fear. That's just God bowling!" she looked at her like she was a moron. She knew the science. Talking about "heavenly bowling" was of no help. (General rule to remember: Never talk down to children!)

Fast forward to my former colleague.

One day I was walking past her desk. There was a serious storm outside. I recognized the expression on her face because I had seen it on my little friend's face years earlier. So I grabbed a chair, put it beside her desk, held her hand, and told her "It will end in a bit."

When the storm passed, she looked at me, smiled and said, "Thank you. But I still don't like you!" I smiled and replied, "You're welcome. And I still don't like you."

A few weeks later the boss called me and another director into his office. He had two projects he needed completed and told us to choose which we wanted. We literally flipped a coin. Then the boss asked us to choose our teams. He chose people he liked; I chose the women I did not like. They were both surprised and wanted an explanation.

Referring to the other director, I told the boss, "He's going to be working with his friends. They'll do a good job, but they'll be pushed for time because they'll be talking about their families, plans, things that friends discuss. It will take time away from the project. They'll have meetings. We won't. She's really good at her job. She'll do her job; I'll do my job, and we'll be done in half the time, meaning we'll have time to make changes."

And that is exactly what happened (only we did not need to make any changes since we got it right the first time). We were finished in three days, the other team took five (and they also got it right the first time).

The boss called me into his office: "Is the lesson from this that I should have staff who don't like each other but work well together?" I said, "No. The atmosphere would be beyond toxic. What you need are staff who respect each other and your time. After all, everything we do here is on your dime."

ARE YOU AN EXPERT IN YOUR FIELD? THEN I INVITE YOU TO BE A GUEST ON MY PODCAST, BRUCE HURWITZ PRESENTS: MEET THE EXPERTS. FOR COMPLETE DETAILS, TO APPLY AND TO SCHEDULE AN INTERVIEW VISIT: https://hsstaffing.com/video-podcast

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