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R. Shekar

One of the organisational oddities is the amount of time and effort expended in meetings and conferences with the explicit purpose of ‘communicating’ the state of business or call for action. Strangely enough, only a few of these manage to successfully transact the purpose intended.

After having suffered through such encounters, I have managed to classify them along the coordinates of the emotional reassurance they provide the participants (X-axis) and the meaning or significance they hold as a consequence to all (Y axis).

Banal banter typifies a meeting without an agenda wherein every one is expected to participate and express views that may not necessarily mean anything to anyone. If you are surprised at such a probability, try sitting through some of the infamous ‘exit interviews’ with either side expressing a dire need to stay with the company but helplessly having to part company!

Childish prattle conveys a skilful attempt to safeguard the emotional side of the exchange as the incumbents steer themselves through a difficult situation. Loss of image with a key customer or review of a lost sale to a significant competitor are often undertaken with all due care to put every one at so much ease that no meaningful learning for future may have been unearthed!

Profoundly pretentious meetings are symptomatic of post-audit presentations and target setting exercises of the hum honge kamyaab (we shall prevail) type, full of hype and promise but low on feasibility or commitment. The participants go through the motions of the proceedings with studious scepticism.

Therapeutic exchanges offer a refreshing contrast where every one feels heads and included as to arrive at a solution that is full of promise and excitement. Annual visioning exercises and celebrations of achievement serve to energise and elevate the audience to new frontiers of self-expression.

When you are invited to a meeting the next time, you may set the mood and the tone for the meeting depending upon the intended effect you may wish to create.

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