Regular readers will know that we think there is too much cooperation going on - and this is the subject of the first episode of our new free podcast series
A subset of this is the seemingly overwhelming urge to share information.
How often on our conference calls do we experience a moment like the one in the cartoon above. People telling us about their activity, sharing project updates and status reports.
In most cases these topics are of little interest to the participants and such information is shared out of an unthinking attachment to teamwork and team meetings - we have to fill the agenda somehow!
As a test, make a grid with meeting or conference call topics down one side and the names of participants along the top. At your next call simply put a tick in the box anytime anyone contributes during a topic.
At the end of the meeting you will have a graphical record of actual contributions. Discuss what it means with the meeting leader and other participants.
Ask participants (individually afterwards so they will not just be polite) for each session how relevant each topic was to them personally and whether they needed to know the information that was shared.
If you are a real spaghetti team they you will need to know what the others are doing in order to do your job.If you are in a star group (and most people are) then sharing this information is a waste of time.
Do a review now on the information you share in your meetings and conference calls - this can save you a lot of time and improve satisfaction with meetings enormously.
Let us know how it goes
2 responses so far ↓
1 Gerard // Jul 3, 2008 at 10:36 am
I’m a regular reader and now listener and find some really useful articles on your site. Something you describe in your podcast actually happened to me and has left me feeling awkward
I recently tried to ‘disconnect’ from a colleague’s regular bi-monthly audioconference. It is 2 hours long and has no relevance to me and i find myself sitting there, saying nothing and often doing email with my volume button on ‘mute’.
I explained this to him and was polite and open ( saying I was happy to attend as a ‘guest’ if his team really needed some information from me ) but that I could do so much real work in those 4 hours ( half a day! ) a month. His response was pretty negative even though he agreed. Luckily I know him well. what are your views or tips on countering this kind of reaction….just like in your podcast i know for sure if i ever tried to disconnect from anything my boss was in charge of, I would be accused of not being a ‘team player’ ?
2 Kevan Hall // Jul 7, 2008 at 9:35 am
Its a real challenge, we often find that delegates on our training go away very enthusiastic, make real changes with their immediate teams and then run into problems spreading the learning to people who have not thought about these new ways of doing things.
Clearly, the best way is to put everyone through our training or buy them the book
but that is not always possible.
If you are familiar with the star and spaghetti approach we use in other posts and in the book then talk them through it and explain what you are doing.
My experience is that all teams understand the issue once it is explained to them, the problem is that managers with a more traditional approach can see refusal to attend their useless meetings as a loyalty issue or an insult. I think the answer is in educating people and almost giving them permission to challenge the unthinking attachment to cooperation.
Do not forget we are fighting against decades of “teamwork” conditioning, it will take time to change the mindset. The win: win is in reducing meeting time and improving quality – I am sure your colleague could use more time so this is the best angle to use to persuade.
Finally if it comes down to a power issue with your boss you may need to be pragmatic – is the time saving worth the impact on your relationship with your boss – your call!
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