Managing Management Myths & The Legend of the 5-Hour Meeting

Why do people show eagerness and enthusiasm to attend meetings, yet when the meeting begins, only one or a few people speak up; the rest just stay mum and numb throughout? And, look – our manager is there!

A cursory glance, momentarily away from your mobile phone, reveals insights to the dominant and vocal few who are generous with their myopic views and comments. Do quiet people have less to share? Do the talkative ones make the best leaders?

How do we explain such behaviours? What are the mindsets and myths behind such predictable behaviours? How do we manage them?

The classics myths include:

1)    Say less, do less.

2)    Say less, less room for errors.

3)    Those who volunteer get volunteered – so keep quiet.

4)    If you have nothing good to say, keep quiet.

5)    Beware the routine, 5-hour* meeting.

How would you as a leader confidently and purposefully chair, facilitate, collaborate and encourage the introverted and reserved members of the meeting to contribute, without fear or cause for embarrassment?

Here are some ways worth considering:

1)    Draw up an agenda, with clear timelines and keep it visible throughout.

2)    Mark the key decisions you will make; be mindful of the different ways you can initiate group decision-making or, do it by yourself.

3)    Facilitate meetings as you would record the minutes of the meeting; you can be both chairperson and secretary/minute-taker.

4)    Keep the session respectful, reassuring and recognize contributions and feedback.

5)    Keep your goals clear and important; stress the importance of specific issues on your agenda.

6)    Aim to complete the meeting in less than 60 minutes (thus, minutes of the meeting, NOT hours!).

Footprints: I will be off to Ironman Island Langkawi again tomorrow. I will be spending at least three hours at the KLIA, and will certainly think up of juicy topics to post over the weekend before my next flight arrives. Saturday night, a group of a dozen intrepid runners will be doing a 60-kilometre, 6.00pm-till-midnight, rehearsal run on the Sundown Marathon run route. The race on 29 May 2010 expects 600 runners to do the double-marathon. It should be an interesting and memorable night.

* This is NOT a myth. It actually, shockingly, happened – routinely.