Changing the Environment
January
26, 2005 - by
Robert E. Stevens, GENESIS II
(The
Second Beginning) E-Mail: views@aol.com
No, I am not going to talk about Global Warming or Pollution Control,
just the environment under which we work. I have
often written about changing the test environment where we conduct
package and price testing at the point of purchase or group attitude
studies (Focus Groups) in the participants' homes. Now we are
seeing more and more of our office work being conducted in our homes as
opposed to our offices. How about our meetings? Has anyone
experimented with a change in the meeting environment? I know
many companies use off site meeting facilities such as hotels,
recreational facilities, vacation resorts and even facilities set up
specifically for meetings. Are there other places that could add
value to the meetings? I think so.
I read where a Former Chairman of Campbell Soup held a board meeting in
the back room of a supermarket. After the meeting, the board
members roamed the aisles, talking with shoppers about their products.
A very profitable Texas steel company prided themselves on conducting
their executive meetings on the plant floors, parking lot or anyplace
else where the workers were readily available for questions and answers.
I have been told that companies like Corning Glass, Equitable Life
Assurance and Johnson & Johnson noticed that people got too
comfortable in meetings and they were going on too long. so they
removed the chairs. Everyone has to stand up. The average
time spent in meetings was cut drastically. So were the number of
meetings.
In my days at P&G we had a Director by the name of Tim Fealy who
conducted his office meetings without chairs. Yep, vertical
meetings. From personal experience, I can say that the vertical
meeting concept is effective. You get to the point quickly and
resolve the issues in a minimum of time. Would a change in your
meeting environment produce a positive result? Is it worth a try?
As Bob Kriegel says, "Meetings have become the practical alternative to
work." Or as Milton Berle once said, "They keep minutes and lose
the hours."
Views during the Summer Months of "2004"
Since 1994, I have been faxing the Views.
Sorensen Associates wanted to email the Views to
their clients and agreed to email to anyone else requesting them.
This agreement has worked very well, especially for me. During
the summer of 2004, however, while Sorensen Associates was making major
changes to their computer systems, the Views were
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all the other Views I have written since
1994. Sorry about the inconvenience.
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