Читать книгу Cloud Accounting - From Spreadsheet Misery to Affordable Cloud ERP - David Russell W. - Страница 5

As James entered the conference room, the first person he saw was Peter, chatting with another board member a few seats down the table. James went over to say hello.

“Hi, Peter,” said James, extending his hand.

Peter took the hand, said one last comment to the board member sitting next to him and turned to James.

“James! Hello! How are you?”

“Doing alright,” replied James as he nodded to the other board member. “Company’s keeping me on my toes, as usual.”

“Of course,” said Peter. “Are we still on for coffee after this?”

James nodded. “I believe so.”

“Excellent. Will Esther be able to make it?”

“I think so. I haven’t talked to her this week, but I haven’t heard anything to the contrary. I’ll bet she’s just running a bit late.”

James’ prediction turned out to be true. As the board started reviewing the agenda for the meeting, Esther slipped in and joined the others around the conference table.

Since Esther’s office was located furthest from the non-profit’s headquarters, they were accustomed to Esther joining them around agenda review time. Even Esther’s apologetic small wave towards Peter had become customary. He waved back and she settled in for business as usual.

Except… as the meeting continued, he realized something was off. James could not quite put his finger on it, but he knew this meeting felt significantly different than the ones in the past.

The meeting was primarily reviewing three initiatives of the growing non-profit and the overall status of the organization. James looked from one member to the next, trying to pinpoint what was out of place.

Another board member expressed his feelings on a certain question. Esther smiled once he was finished and looked back at her laptop.

There it was. Smiling looks and encouraging nods had replaced Esther’s usual routine of speaking out with passionate feelings on each subject and driving discussions to decisions. Without Esther’s active participation in the conversation, the meeting had turned into a “feelings fest,” with members expressing their opinions, but no conclusive decisions being reached.

James realized something else. He was not fully engaged either. Typically he would be drawing out the details and challenging people to prove their points. Unfortunately he was distracted by his own problems. He had to figure out how to fix their processes for job costing.

I can get Esther’s opinion after the meeting, thought James. Maybe not, though. She seems pretty distracted. I wonder if she closed another big piece of business.