Is it time yet to say 'No' to meetings!?
george koshy plammoottil
Communication professional now in Tech #WaffleStreet mode | Doting dad, avid traveller, product & comms geek, dormant Venture Capitalist #Nomad , Apolitical! #TIPvolunteer
The hottest topic today in Corporate America, besides the bloodshed on WallStreet, was the plan by a leading company to do away with meetings.
For those who may have missed it, here's a link
Well i can say with no regrets yet, that i have consciously stayed away from any meetings that do not require a direct and deep contribution from me, for over 1.5-2 years now. Was obviously not the easiest task to execute; with senior individuals on the client side often getting annoyed. But gradually they understood how value through contribution could undermine the requirement of a physical (or virtual) presence.
Obviously, you do not count one-on-ones as meetings and parallelly, i have ensured I've always been available (almost 24x7x365) even at the shortest notice when required. And when unavailable, there is always someone who could fill-in for me.
It clearly meant starting with a plan. And the plan happened once the objective of any task i was involved in, was clearly documented and the steps to reach a solution clearly articulated.
The next step was to always ensure other team members (both upstream and downstream) were identified and their decision making hierarchies made known to the entire project team.
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Work had to be clearly split amongst team members and timelines made well known to everyone in the team. It is here that the inter-dependencies were articulated and reminders set for team members to ensure one does not hold back the other; or are in a position to clearly give each other a heads-up.
Conversation reminders and updates. A timely update sheet as well as a dashboard ensured everyone knew what the other person was up to; and also gave a transparent dipstick of the overall project at every stage. The system also had a built-in plug-in to collaborate one-on one and to constantly communicate when necessary
Once we got through the stages of breaking stereotypes and out-learned the art of group validation putting more emphasis on individual and peer validation; it was a journey of the self. To learn, unlearn and to get used to this new form of working.
Now all i had to do as a team was to copy paste the system across several parts of my life.
No, it did not make me less social. Infact, i met more people qualitatively. Also ensuring i did catchup with people i worked with for reasons other than the project, often yielding better results. Sometimes even leading to collaborations beyond the current project (when we understood mutual capabilities better). Yes, there has been savings on coffee and unwanted calories from the 'meeting room cookies'. But calories have added itself back through lunches or a friday all-nighter that was not about the work we were currently on!
Not saying either is good or bad - just sharing how i made it work for myself. Would love to hear your thoughts
Founder, Accolade PR
2 年There's a famous story quoted in one of the earliest books on Advertising by the legendary David Ogilvie. The story goes thus: " An army commander wanted to send a message to the Headquarters. He decided that communication by word of mouth would be a good idea. So the first soldier relayed to the next soldier the message. The message was : send us reinforcements. We are going to advance". The message was relayed personally from one soldier to the next. And the last soldier reported the message: "Send us three and four pence. We are going to a dance ". Meetings become necessary to avoid such instances and get everyone on the same page.
Global HR & Transformation Leader | CHRO | M&A | OD/OE | Driving Strategic, Scalable People Solutions
2 年Interesting, there are organizations that are trying meeting free Fridays