Contributions in meetings

(Some) Meetings are really boring.

Especially when there are too many vectors trying to pull in different directions. What makes them intersting for me for some time at least is trying to figure out who is pulling where and why.

The kind I despise most are the ones who speak up just to show that they are there and adamantly stick to their point although it is pulling somewhere else. What they forget is there is always a time limit to the time between which the group has to deliver some output. The meetings are supposed to give outputs...right..

There is a nice theory in OB(organisational behabiour) that explains this.. Click on the line below to get the full funda if u r interested..

Tuckman (1965) discovered that teams normally go through five stages of growth: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and finally Adjourning

Lately, even within a small team, the storming phase takes up so much time that I am really amazed. Especially since I work in an environment where i have seen my seniors so open to accepting counter points when they are wrong and constructively building on it. That's the real kind of stuff that should be a part of consulting. Hopefully that's an attitude I have picked up for the better of me.

What do I do in such situation...I contribute most effectively by keeping my mouth shut. You got to intervene at the right time else you are just adding fuel to fire. (Now don't ask me when is the right time.)

In a wokshop i attended a shortwhile back, they had given us a very simple task. The was a square with brick scattered all through at a distance of 1ft. from each other. The participants were divided into 4 groups and the objective given was simple....all the four groups starting from their respective sides had to crossover to the other side stepping on those bricks. They were not to compete with each other and the task will be complete only when all the four groups had crossed.

The constraints were simple:
Once a brick is touched..it has to be occupied by someone(standing on it or keeping a foot on it)..else it will be removed.
All in a group have to be in physical contact at all times.
If any rule is breached all the groups have to restart.

We started and there was pandemonium within a minute..one of the rules had been breached and we started for a second time.. After n attempts and none lasting more than a minute...the facilitator finally added a new clause...

Only the leader (any one member frm each group) is allowedd to speak!!!!!

Guess what we did not complete the task but at least continued for 4 mins and some of us had crossed over... although we lost several of the bricks in the process..

The learning is simple :
In a team you dont allways contribute by speaking or doing something. There will be times when u can contribute by just meaninglfully following the direction the team is taking..

For those who like visuals... get a copy of "Broken Arrow" and watch it. John travolta sayz something I agree to the core "....Shared Command is not a good idea..." (You will find this line within 30mins of the movie.)

Don't know if i could put the thought correctly..but think over and you will figure out the truth.

*Disclaimer: No funda is completely true in isolation. There are several parameters which should be satisfied.
This funda does not imply that you turn yourself into a social loafer (not contributing at all...taking advantage of the group to hide your laziness). That's the worst kind of people. World would come to a Atlas Shrugged type situation if this disease spreads wide enough.