A larger question occurs to me. Maybe the problem isn't with the assumed bad apple. Maybe it's with the concept of the group dynamic still being effective. Let's face it, the way we work has changed radically, just in the past few years. Most of us who work in an office environment are lone wolves. Emailing and other computer activity is done in a state of solitude, even if you are interacting "socially" on twitter or facebook you are alone, typing out pithy observations to the other lone wolves in cyberspace.
So how could any group meeting succeed? Most of the standing meetings where I work have dissolved. If a person can't get out of attending, they are unlikely to leave the iPhone or similar lifeline behind. Of course some folks of a certain age still love to hold and attend meetings. But they have also had to attempt to master the speaker phone, as many of the folks who may have regularly attended a few years ago now are only able or willing to attend via phone. I imagine that in just a few year's time meeting spaces will be almost exclusively virtual, barring the yearly shareholder or other VIP-necessary meeting.
Maybe the bad apple is calling out with a glimpse of the future. Maybe our time would be better spent not in a dead-color-schemed corporate conference space but in a brief face-to-face as we pass each other's desk. That's where most of my best project planning is done these days. See you in the hallway..
1 comments:
Oh, f2f group meetings can succeed well enough. I honestly don't see it primarily as a lone wolf thing (although, certainly, that can be a contributing factor in some situations) -- if the meeting is seen as necessary, if it comes as part of one's workflow and is essentially a way of touching base with your colleagues and to talk out various issues and circumstances, and especially if one happens to like one's colleagues, there's no problem.
I suspect, however, that the bad apple is often someone who already feels overburdened with his/her own work, sees no necessity for the meeting, and resents the extra workload that the results of or reason for the meeting will entail. Under those circumstances, the apple in question might simply be too tired to put on the usual cooperative and glad-to-help face.
Been there, done that, got the "Shame on you!" t-shirt to prove it. [wry grin]
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