In these times when we all have to do our bit to save the company money, I am still expected to go to meeting after meeting and seeing umpteen on the screen for an hour when a simple one on one phone call would’ve done the trick. That cost the company money!! Why aren’t people being discouraged from organizing meetings and inviting all and sundry?? I’ll tell you why. They want or need to be seen to be working - and it’s just a lot of hot air. Blah blah blah. Pick up the phone guys - and have a chat. Amazing how much you’ll get done!
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1- My boss told me he goes to every meeting he can. Most of them no value to him but to be faced and to help where he can só in the future he can ask for favors.
2-After I learn that managers get together before the ranking to see who they will protect in each other’s team I lost all my respect to this company.
Not about who does a good job but who will be willing to protect your employees.
Folks are afraid to make a decision, scared of their shadow. So worried to make a mistake and pushed down in the rank/ratings. We need more doers, not scary cats.
75% of meetings don’t impact the bottom line. 40% of meetings actively steal time from activities that could positively impact earnings. Another 20% are (consciously or unconsciously) aimed at spreading accountability....because ‘consensus votes’ mean not one is truly accountable. Truth.
Don’t forget these same mo–ns provide KO feedback to each other in a twisted, contrived quid pro quo, designed to conceal how useless they are. My observation of many of the managers and above on campus is that if you took away their useless meetings, and the administrative tasks (better handled by a contract clerical worker making $20/hour, not some pompous windbag making $300K/year), the company could make the bottom line look dramatically better.
@fac - oh my God, you are so right ! While I got NSI'd, all of those brown-nosers at our department's safety meetings were kept on. They filled up time with all of their shared stories of doing something stup!d, not paying attention, or of "actively caring". The worst thing was that they fed off each other - the same 6 or so people had to add their perspective or their own "that happened to me" twist to the discussion. There was me, rolling my eyes and wondering when the heck I could get back to work (at least while we still had in -person meetings).
So much wasted time, that when it was my turn to run the department meeting (after I had already been NSI'd and decided to leave the company), I received many complimentary private IM's from people who thanked me for getting through the meeting 30 minutes faster than anyone else this year (60 minutes instead of 90).
And don't forget....the first item on the meeting agenda is "When do we schedule the next meeting?"
From the Group Heads to Section Heads and the Divisional managers - most useless bunch. So much money down the drain in terms of salary paid to them.
I tallied up the old backwards Sticky Notes in the director's storage bin yesterday.
Unused, you know, the backwards going kind. All different colors.
340 of em - at 2-3 dollars a piece.
Efficiency is a habit.
@rjo+17Sda5b8 Not sure why you are calling him a troll. Actually "directors" is a term used in EM. For example, "regional directors" over chemical plant manufacturing site managers.
@iof+17Sda5b8 is a troll. EM does not use the term director for its employees
Of course there needs to be a pre-meeting and a post-meeting. And all three meetings need to spend the first 15 to 30 minutes sharing LPSAs (I looked both ways while walking through the empty parking lot).
We better stop and have a pre-meeting to discuss what we are going to cover in the meeting. And follow up with a post meeting so we know who said what and we can rearrange the slide decks at all three meetings. Do I have a consensus?
You are missing the point - the managers and SLSs and the zillion directors and VPs will then have nothing to do if they did stuff efficiently. These id–ts have mastered the art of looking stressed, busy and worried over nothing. The more worried, stressed and busy they look, their bosses realize the value their subordinates are providing. Unless the complete LT and management is flushed under the toilet, things cannot become efficient at ExxonMobil. The protected will always protect themselves and k–l any threats. Why would these managers do anything differently? They are getting paid $200K+ for a low level secretarial job. So they are getting paid 10 times their worth. Good news for them - simple job, fat salary. Bad news - if they lose their jobs, they will be too over qualified to even work as a janitor. So their strategy is to hold useless meetings and stay and look busy doing silly stuff. Got it OP? I got PIPed after 23 years, very happy to leave and find a new job.