It’s no secret poor productivity is a defining characteristic of this country. Late to work, early to leave and little meaningful effort in between. Add to that the counter-productive affinity for meetings which we don’t understand are a means to an end and not the end in itself. This problem isn’t peculiar to Trinidad and Tobago, but it compounds an already poor work ethic and keeps this country mired in mediocrity.
My first experience with the futility of meetings was as a journalist at TTT. Gatherings ostensibly meant to determine the day’s stories would descend into bellyaching sessions. Camera men would complain about reporters and reporters about cameramen. Ultimately these meetings would disintegrate. Everyone would walk away and form smaller grumbling groups.
Venturing out on my own I discovered that the enduring affection for the meeting is prevalent in both private companies and government agencies. On one occasion at a government ministry I was forced to wait an hour past the scheduled time for someone who was unavoidably delayed. When that person arrived and there were finally enough people for small goal match, she apologised by indicating she’d spent the entire morning in a meeting set up to schedule a series of meetings. With ministry officers tied up in useless fat-chewing all day, it’s no wonder the public service is one watery steups away from total collapse.
Over several years I’ve dealt with every species imaginable in public and private sector ecosystems. In almost all instances I’ve wasted loads of time on either unanswered emails or phone calls, only to be told by assistants or secretaries the subjects of my inquiries were “in a meeting.” In one case, I tried to contact a ministry official over the course of six months. With every call I was told the individual was in a meeting or rushing off to one.
I squandered the better part of a year trying to reach officials at the Tourism Development Company and was given the same answer, “I’m sorry, he/she/it is in a meeting.” Take a look at the state of tourism in this country and make your own determination about the value of all those meetings.
Meetings can convince people they are actually achieving something when in fact they are stalling on important decisions. For an entrepreneur or small business owner, every hour counts as a dollar earned or a dollar lost. For salaried employees guaranteed payment at the end of every month, whether targets are met or goals accomplished, meetings constitute work.
They also have the peculiar habit of replicating themselves, as if by mitosis. In any given session a topic will arise which can’t be dealt with at that forum. That calls for another meeting so workers and managers could chew their cud some more.
Don’t get me wrong, meetings have their place in advancing productivity. The most effective sessions are those which debate or discuss decisions that have already been made. That way, attendees are armed with a clear understanding of the objective. Here’s an even simpler way of avoiding pointless talk shops: If there is a project on the table but no budget for it, don’t even bother warming the coffee in the boardroom.
I recently read an article which suggested that the average worker in the UK attends roughly three meetings every week allocating one hour preparing for each meeting and 1.5 hours actually attending them. Another article referred to a survey which revealed workers in the US spend 5.5 hours in meetings per week. 71 per cent of them said they weren’t productive.
It isn’t surprising some of the most successful people in the world have scant regard for meetings. Billionaire US businessman Mark Cuban is quoted as having said “Never do meetings unless someone is writing a cheque.” British mega-entrepreneur Richard Branson believes a meeting on a single topic should rarely exceed 10 minutes. Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is known for conducting walking meetings.
Technology today gives us few excuses for burning off precious time locked in traffic on the way to meetings with no clear purpose. Skype calls, emails and video conferencing can all deal with most matters often poured into hours of pointless powwows. In all my years of interminable sit-downs I have never left a single one with a decision, answer or measurable result.
Meetings aren’t work but the mechanism to guide the successful execution of the job. If deployed sparingly and thoughtfully, a meeting can stimulate ideas and spit ball ways to execute them. Far too many of us pass the time thumbing through our smart phones or dreaming about which roti shop it’s going to be for lunch today. And if meetings are time-wasting, “retreats” are an offence against God.
People in this country who have no respect for the value of time cost those who do, money. That has a knock-on effect of contributing to economic stagnation. So how do we address this problem? Well I am sure someone will have their assistant set up a meeting to discuss that.
