The Hindu Business Line : Etiquettes at ‘meetings’

Pranav, the CEO of Prabhu Constructions, had a problem on his hands. As a public limited company undertaking international contracts in the hyper growth construction industry, many of its projects were delayed far beyond the committed deadlines for just one simple reason. The origins of the problem were traced to a culture of decision-making.

After observing the senior management during the course of their deliberations during the day, the Executive Coach retained by Pranav, briefed the latter thus:

Drawing up the coordinates of ‘need to intervene’ on the X-axis and the ‘will to do so’ on the Y-axis, the participants seemed to take a premeditated stance they had grown into adopting in order to survive through such meetings.

Subversion characterised a level of passivity that stalled every effort to address the status quo. Lacking in both the felt need to intervene to resolve the issue and a willingness to suffer the ‘pain’ of dissension, they often took the easier way out ceding the meeting over to the more ‘meeting savvy’ members of the company.

Submission typifies the tendency to feel compelled enough personally to intervene but not having the courage to confront the issue or the individual who may be disruptive in his/her stance. Suffering through the meeting in suspended animation, they lose all the steam to countermand the views or decisions, submitting themselves to the outcomes with a resigned reservation.

Aggression is manifest in situations that may warrant no intervention at all; such situations may resolve themselves best over time. And yet a lot of attention and ‘heat’ is brought to bear on the people that they resist any attempt at decision-making or execution.

Assertion is focused on the issue, whereas aggression is directed at individuals accentuating the personality differences. They respect the need for anyone to intervene without prejudice and create invitations for all to enrich the proceedings regardless of how appropriate the idea may be to the occasion.

Etiquettes observed at such meetings help move the culture of an organisation from one driven by the dictates of personalities to something that is institutionalised into a professional work ethic. Was Pranav convinced about the need for an Executive Coach asked the consultant!

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