Читать книгу Will there be Donuts?: Start a business revolution one meeting at a time - David Pearl - Страница 30

A nearly meeting is any meeting where the participants fail to get real value out of their coming together. They are the ones which offer a poor return on the time and effort invested—for the individuals taking part and the organizations they work for.

Nearly meetings are the ones where problems are half solved, the issues are partially understood, the right things are almost said. They come that close to being useful. If you ever stagger out of a meeting room wondering where the day went and what you did with it, you’ve probably been nearly meeting. You’ll have semi-resolved problems, almost discussed what truly needs to be discussed and practically decided what to do about it.

I am reminded of Billy Crystal’s magician character in William Goldman’s fairytale comedy The Princess Bride who claims the hero isn’t alive or dead, but “mostly dead.” And so it is with nearly meetings. We are “mostly” meeting. And it’s completely frustrating.

People complain about the difficulties of virtual meetings—as though if only people were off the phone and in a room together the problem would be solved. All nearly meetings are virtual—whether you are face to face or not. We should probably not even call them meetings at all; missings would be more accurate.

“Busy day, dear?”

“Murder. I’ve been in back-to-back missings since 7.30.”

Nearly meeting is a strange no-man’s-land between being separate and really connecting. I suggest it’s where many of us spend the majority of our working days.