Tripod Columns: Tales from the Trenches by Catherine Hedgecock

<body bgcolor="#FFFFCC" link="#FF0000" vlink="#990000"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td valign="TOP" align="CENTER" width="178">  <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="170"> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="100%"> <a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/adm/imagemap/logo-map.html"><img src="../../../../../img/nav/www_subdomain/logo.gif" alt="Tripod Map" border="0" height="58" width="170" ismap></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="100%"> <a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/adm/imagemap/universal-map.html"><img src="../../../../../img/nav/www_subdomain/universal.gif" alt="Member Services Map" width="170" height="45" border="0" ismap></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="100%"> <a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/adm/imagemap/zones-map.html"><img src="../../../../../img/nav/www_subdomain/zones.gif" alt="Zone Map" width="170" height="69" border="0" ismap></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="100%"> <a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/adm/imagemap/pods-map.html"><img src="../../../../../img/nav/www_subdomain/pods.gif" alt="Pod Map" width="170" height="18" border="0" ismap></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="CENTER" valign="TOP" width="170" bgcolor="#999966"> <form name="pod_list"> <select name="pod_name" onchange="self.top.podRedirect(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value);"> <option value="">What's Your Interest?</option> <option value="Activism">Activism</option> <option value="Animation%20Central">Animation & Cartoons</option> <option value="Crafty">Arts & Crafts</option> <option value="Beer%20Lovers">Beer</option> <option value="BookTalk">Books/Reading</option> <option value="Carburetor%20Junction">Cars</option> <option value="TechBits">Computers</option> <option value="Mac%20Computing">Computers (Macintosh)</option> <option value="PC%20User">Computers (PC)</option> <option value="Cooking%20Capers">Cooking</option> <option value="Education">Education</option> <option value="Mod">Fashion & Style</option> <option value="Freebies">Freebies</option> <option value="Gamesta'">Games</option> <option value="Genealogy">Genealogy</option> <option value="Holiday">Holidays</option> <option value="Alternative%20Health">Holistic Medicine</option> <option value="Funny%20Bone">Humor</option> <option value="Film%20Buffs">Movies</option> <option value="Alt.Music">Music (Alternative)</option> <option value="Musicology">Music (General)</option> <option value="Critters">Pets</option> <option value="Photography">Photography</option> <option value="Christian%20Fellowship">Religion (Christianity)</option> <option value="Stone%20Circle">Religion (Earth)</option> <option value="Romantic">Romance</option> <option value="Natural%20Science">Science (Natural)</option> <option value="Science%20Fiction">Science Fiction</option> <option value="Smallbiz">Small Business</option> <option value="Spirituality">Spirituality</option> <option value="Extreme%20Sports">Sports (Extreme)</option> <option value="Sports%20Fans">Sports (General)</option> <option value="Sweet%20Tooth">Sweet Confections</option> <option value="TV%20Lounge">Television</option> <option value="Second-Hand">Thrift</option> <option value="Travel">Travel</option> <option value="PageSlave">Web Design</option> <option value="X-Squared">Women's Issues</option> <option value="Writers'%20Block">Writing</option> <option value="Zine">Zines</option> </select> </form> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> <td valign="TOP"><base target="_top"> <form name="navbar"> <table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" align="RIGHT"> <tr> <td valign="MIDDLE" align="MIDDLE"> <a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/work_money.html" target="_top"></a></td> <td valign="MIDDLE" align="MIDDLE"> <a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/work_money/index-html/anchor_toc.html" target="_top"></a></td> <td valign="TOP" align="RIGHT"> <select name="pod_name" onchange="self.top.podRedirect(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value)"> <option value="">Related Pods</option> <option value="Freebies">Freebies</option> <option value="MacComputing">Mac Computing</option> <option value="PC%20User">PC User</option> <option value="Second-Hand">Second-Hand</option> <option value="Smallbiz">SmallBiz</option> <option value="Travel">Travel</option> </select></td> </tr> </table> </form> <br clear="ALL"> <p>  <p> <p> <p> <p> <table cellpadding="5"> <tr><td valign="TOP"> <p> <p> <p> <p> <p><img src="../../../../../work/columns/hedgecock/trenches/img/www_subdomain/trenches.gif" width="180" height="235" alt="Tales from the Trenches"><p> <b>by Catherine Hedgecock</b> <p> <b> <font size="+1">T</font>HE <font size="+1">M</font>EETING <font size="+1">M</font>ALAISE</font> </b> <br> <p> <p>Published December 9, 1996<br><p> <p> <a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/work/archive/hedgecock.html">Other Columns</a> by Catherine Hedgecock<p> </td> <td><font size="+1"> <p> <p> <font size="+2">W</font>hat's the deal with meetings? Nobody can seem to run a good one. Everyone complains about them. And for the most part, very little of substance gets done in them (if you exclude socializing with colleagues and meeting your bagel quota). No matter what type of business, part of the country, or stage of enlightenment a company is in, it's nearly a given that meetings will be deadly. <p> <font size="+2">T</font>here are a lot of reasons for this. Managers can often be a big part of the problem. One friend of mine had to attend a weekly meeting with her peers and their manager to go over results and projections. Whoever was most behind on results would get "reamed" -- receiving a serious, top-of-the-lungs, insult-filled dressing down. Naturally, everyone dreaded the meeting. The manager's tactics did inspire some to work harder in order to avoid humiliation, but for the most part these meetings killed morale. My friend transferred out of that department. The manager was eventually promoted. <p> <font size="+2">S</font>ometimes, just the rumor that a manager is prone to fits or retaliation will kill the potential brainstorming that meetings can foster. These rumors can grow into a workplace legends. At a couple of my jobs, I was warned on the first day that the big bosses had fired someone, maybe several people, for disagreeing with them in meetings. Being new, I kept my mouth shut. Even later, when the threat of dismissal over a difference of opinion seemed slight, I was cemented into the culture of the closed-mouthed. I would nod and smile through meetings, afterward exchanging e-mails with my coworkers about all the things we didn't say.</font> <p> <font size="+2">W</font>hich brings up another problem with meetings: Most people don't like speaking up and making themselves vulnerable. Folks who have information and good ideas don't often volunteer to share. They complain about nothing ever changing, but they never offer the ideas that could promote change. Even the best managers can't run effective meetings by themselves. </td></tr> <tr><td valign="TOP" width="160"> <font size="+2">This was California -- they might not go for hugs at IBM.</font> </td> <td> <font size="+2">I</font> think the culprit that lurks beneath all these meeting problems is a corporate culture that emphasizes covering your own behind. We may think we want to accomplish something in a meeting, but we're not willing to take the risk of saying something stupid or doing something wrong. The culture teaches us to play it safe, even if we bore everyone and waste a lot of time. It doesn't seem to matter that people are sometimes praised for speaking up, making suggestions, or voicing an unpopular view. After a brief rocket-like burst of optimism, these incidents peter out and get swallowed by the speak-no-evil status quo. <p> <font size="+2">W</font>orse, it's not really anybody's fault. You can't blame management or employees or consultants or the stock market. Something that's an ingrained part of the culture is very hard to change. <p> <font size="+2">I</font> met a guy named Darrin a few years back who told me what his firm -- a non-profit hunger relief agency -- did about meeting phobia. At the start of each meeting, everyone hugged everyone else. They did it again at the end of the meeting. This embracing seemed to take away the c-y-b attitudes. "It makes you feel like you're all in it together," he said. "We're all working to end hunger, not look good. Even if you get mad at someone or they get mad at you, the hugs take the stings away." <p> </td></tr> <tr><td valign="TOP" width="160"> <font size="+2">Ron wasn't afraid to act foolish if it helped keep people's attention.</font> </td> <td> <font size="+2">N</font>ow, granted, this was in California. They might not go for hugs at IBM. But it worked for some people, and it broke up the attitudes everyone brought with them about meetings. <p> <font size="+2">T</font>he best meetings I ever went to were led by my friend Ron, who worked for an outdoor adventure company. He had to give everyone a lot of information about the weather and equipment and so forth. Some had heard it many times, some never. Ron kept them all awake with humor. He wasn't afraid to act foolish if it helped keep people's attention. He had a large floor fan to cool the room if it got too warm. He'd turn it on and say, "This is my biggest fan." Everyone laughed every time. <p> <font size="+2">N</font>ot all of us are funny, but we can all be foolish from time to time. I don't know if that's the cure for meeting malaise, but a little more foolishness at work sure couldn't hurt. <p> <hr> <p> <p><a href="mailto:cathy@creativesports.com">Catherine Hedgecock</a> is a freelance writer and editor in Berkeley, California. She has written for USA Today, Knight Ridder newspapers, GNN, and other publications. She has won first place investigative reporting awards from California Newspaper Publishers Association, Gannett newspapers, and Best of the West. Ms. Hedgecock is currently writing a mystery novel. <font size="-1"><p>© 1996 Catherine Hedgecock, All Rights Reserved </font> <p> </font> <p> <center> <p> </td> </tr> </table> <form method="POST" action="../../../../../www_subdomain/bin/search/pursuit.html"> <table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" align="RIGHT"> <tr> <td valign="MIDDLE" align="MIDDLE"> <a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/work_money.html" target="_top"></a></td> <td valign="MIDDLE" align="MIDDLE"> <a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/work_money/index-html/anchor_toc.html" target="_top"></a></td> <td valign="TOP" align="RIGHT"> <select name="pod_name" onchange="self.top.podRedirect(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value)"> <option value="">Related Pods</option> <option value="Freebies">Freebies</option> <option value="MacComputing">Mac Computing</option> <option value="Second-Hand">Second-Hand</option> <option value="Smallbiz">SmallBiz</option> <option value="Travel">Travel</option> </select></td> </tr> </table> <br clear="ALL"><br> <table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" align="RIGHT"> <tr> <td valign="MIDDLE" align="RIGHT"> <nobr><img src="../../../../../img/www_subdomain/lycos_power.gif" border="0" alt="Lycos Powered" height="15" width="91"> <select name="cat"> <option value="tripod_www" selected>Search the Tripod Web Site <option value="tripod">Search Tripod Member Pages <option value="lycos">Search the Web</select></nobr></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="MIDDLE" align="RIGHT"> <nobr><input type="text" size="20" name="query"> <input type="submit" value="Search"></nobr></td> </tr> </table> </form> <br clear="ALL"> </td> </tr> </table> </body>