Please add your comments at the bottom… many thanks.
Time to Read: 52 secs
Time to Listen: 1 min 29 secs
- Show up – this is always a good start – the more people, the greater your chance of a hijack.
- Wait for people who are late, before you begin (it would be discourteous not to).
- Put a very tall pile of papers in front of you – any papers – shows you are prepared.
- The Key – ask questions under “Actions from the last meeting” – get people talking about the issue itself, rather than the importance of the issue.
- Always go for consensus – which means a lot of discussion, debate and disagreement while being sickeningly nice to each other along the way, and, once you have achieved it, it is always so anodyne.
- Ensure that each action has more than one name next to it, or ideally, the name of a function e.g. Finance or HR. – that will never get done, then.
- Lead “the merry dance” – this is where you all dance as close to the main point as possible, without anyone ever raising it directly.
- Periodically comment on how well the meeting is being chaired / going.
- Write frantically – it doesn’t matter what you write, as long as you do, at the right times.
- Towards the end of the marathon meeting ask “I think it is important to remember what we want to achieve here.” Brilliant – the meeting is hijacked, much expensive time has been wasted and you come out the hero.
Have you experienced a hijack?
With my love and best wishes
David
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