Читать книгу Effective Meetings in 7 simple steps - Barry Tomalin - Страница 29

As a final thought, have you ever watched The Apprentice? Think what you’ve learned about meeting organisation and room layout – how does it apply to what you’ve seen on the show? At first, it’s lovey dovey. Lord Sugar arrives in his Bentley. He stands in front of the teams, mixes them up and gives them the task. Fifty minutes later, it’s another story. He sits at a desk in front of a frosted glass door, flanked by his cohorts. Opposite him in two rows sit or stand the two teams. There aren’t enough seats for everyone.

It’s a mixture of theatre style, in this case more like a classroom, and facing rows. The two teams aren’t actually facing each other, but it feels very oppositional – almost like a courtroom. The layout seems designed for maximum superiority (Lord Sugar) and maximum humiliation (the contestants).

This is nothing to do with Lord Sugar, but everything to do with the production values which, Big Brother style, try to create tension and conflict in order to build audiences. The age of the gladiator is not dead! But it’s exactly the wrong way to set up and run a meeting.

Imagine if the approach was cooperative and aimed at showing everyone at their best. People would sit next to, not opposite each other. They would discuss in a circle, a horseshoe or cabaret style, not in facing rows. Lord Sugar and his cohorts would sit among the contestants, not apart from them.

Layout determines whether the atmosphere will be collaborative or confrontational.