It's Just a Meeting! Isn't it?

In this piece of article, I am covering a subject which is most deprioritized in the corporate world – “What do you do for a Meeting”. Do you start by thinking that this is one of the weakest topics covered in my writing? That’s my point!

Let’s begin with this example. Marketing Team sends a meeting invite to everyone, including the CEO, which says “Discussion on Next Quarter Calendar” for tomorrow. What do you do? Accept the Invite. And then, be present for the meeting right on time. Do you think something is missing? No? Ok. Let’s begin the meeting. The CEO before the start of the meeting, does think that there’s something missing. He asks all the people present in the room – “How prepared are you for the meeting?”. What kind of answers do you expect from the group? Some examples as below:

·          It’s a discussion , right? What Preparation for a discussion? Will speak up as the discussion unfolds

·         I don’t think there was anything to be prepared for / The topic didn’t require any preparation

·         My Boss is there, he will ensure the discussions happen in the right direction.

·         It's about Way Forward – you have to speak and we have to listen, what preparation?

·         I have the sales database for past few years readily available on my laptop. Can take out relevant data as soon as required.

·         We will discuss today and will come prepared in the next meeting with the action points.

Whatever words you use or don't use, the underlying tone is that you think you will (actively or silently) go through the meeting without any preparations. It’s a Large forum and no hard questions are asked to “an” individual. But do you even realize what happens in the meetings – people with unprepared thoughts speak about unreal facts stating unclear numbers resulting in no next steps. The entire two or three hours of every person present in the meeting, is wasted! Something more criminal that wasting only your day unproductively. Did you even think why you are called for the meeting? If you believe that you will not contribute to the meeting, can you decline the invitation?

Over a period of time, it becomes a culture. Just see its evolution:

a.      You have never felt the need to be prepared for any meeting.

b.      As described above, the meetings become unproductive with no clear next steps.

c.       So, there are more meetings, to follow up on what have to be the next steps (or whether the next steps discussed in the last meeting were relevant or not).

d.      Because there are more meetings for you to attend, you have even lesser time to think of any preparation for these meetings.

e.      The vicious cycle just started!

And then, there are things called “fake preparations”, which are just the preparations for the heck of it. Over the years I have often made fun of my advertising agencies coming unprepared for the meetings. Their big bosses will come for meetings with no clue of what the brand objective was for the latest campaign. Often I would joke that the presentation made by them was actually prepared in the car drive. The other one was that they would have prepared a presentation for a new MNC and recycled the same to a seasoned Indian company. All these would seem so fake and one thing was clear that in all of these meetings we would not achieve the required results. This was because the discussion was theoretical and revolved around only one thing, "to sell" what the agency had created. It took the cake recently when a partner brand came and presented their launch strategy in India. In that they showed a clip of the fashion show held in Hong Kong. I was left wondering as to what was the relevance of the same. Again the result was the same. We were not able to reach any agreement on stocking their brand. At this very thought, I realize that there’s something fundamentally not in place in the corporate world! 

With regards to meetings, there are other evils too. Some people just forget that they had to come for a meeting! And when the meeting starts and you enquire about the whereabouts of the person, they tell you, “Oh I had this sudden plan of travelling to ABC city, I “forgot” to inform you”. No, I am serious, this is real! Also, something that cannot be measured but is equally important – attentiveness in the meetings. I have always said (or demonstrated) that the productivity of the meeting is directly proportional to the attentiveness of the Boss.

Like Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail!”. This holds true in each and every aspect of our lives and meetings are no exceptions, more because along with our own, it also involves the time and “opportunity” cost of all the attendees of the meeting, some of whom may be high cost resources. Chances are, that some of you may relate to some of the excuses mentioned above. Just think about it that you are being called to a meeting because your PoVs is important to be considered for the meeting.

So the final question is  – Do you justify your presence in a meeting?

Now on, you should! Looking forward to what are you Points of View on this topic.

PS: you can also reach me out at @agrawalsanjeev on twitter.

I pray not for a lighter load, but for a stronger back

This thought is based on a Jewish proverb – “I pray not for a lighter load, but for a stronger back”. I am trying a different approach this time. There are two stories – one which is pictorial and is the inspiration of the thought and the other one is a real life example.

Let’s see how the first story goes:

Do you think we all go through this in our lives? We want our burden to be lessened only to realize that we finally did not achieve our goal. Coming back to modern era and corporate life!

Neeta was furious. Her Boss, Anil, had given her yet another assignment, even though he knew that Neeta already had quite a few assignments in her hands which were nearing deadline. She tried her level best explaining Anil that she just could not take any more projects at this point in time, but Anil just wouldn’t agree. He kept on insisting that Neeta was the best resource available to complete the new project. Neeta was not left with any option but to take the new project in her hands. Upset still, she tried to approach HR to explain her dilemma expecting some help. The HR head, Riddhi, took Neeta out for coffee and asked her about what was making her so upset. Neeta explained that she had only 3 people in her team, out of which one was on marriage leave for a month. She was reaching home late everyday and the pressures were building from the home front too. At this stage, taking another project in hand would be suicidal. She looked up to Riddhi for solution. Riddhi started, “The first question is whether you believe in yourself? What in the World makes you think that you wont be able to take up this project and deliver it in time?”. Neeta was bewildered. Riddhi went on, “Do you think an upgraded version of the new software available will make your task easier?”, Neeta  replied with a “Maybe”. Riddhi added, “Don’t you think that you will be granted a little more extension of deadlines in other projects to accommodate this one?”. Neeta continued to listen more intently as she was seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. And then Riddhi asked the final question – “Do you think this project is important for your career?” and Neeta admitted that she would’ve lost an opportunity if she didn’t work on this project.  Riddhi continued – “Now, weigh the issue rationally. What is more important – this new learning opportunity which would enhance the trust of your seniors further in her, or living in the current situation without pushing a little more? Also, in a month's time, your team member will be back”. Needless to say, after the conversation, Neeta felt much lighter and confident of handling the new project that she had been assigned.

Isn’t this what happens to many of us? As soon as we reach our threshold of our capacity, we start rejecting the newer avenues that come to us. We helplessly say “No” to things without even asking for additional resources that can help accommodate the new work in a much efficient manner. This way, we not only undermine our potential, but also reject the opportunities which come to us in various forms. At the end of it all, we are the losers ourselves. We crib about being helplessly burdened with so many tasks and responsibilities, while it is these tasks and responsibilities, which will take us to the next level!

The only person who can believe in you the most is no one else but yourself! The farther you set your boundaries, farther you will fare! The question is – Are you ready to carry the load? Are you ready of an extended target? Are you ready for more projects to come your way? If your head says “No”, ask your heart!

Looking forward to your views on the same.

PS: You can also reach me out at @agrawalsanjeev on twitter.

How do you go Where You want to Go?

This is a post about the importance of planning and not just engaging in fire fighting. Often most of us are good at fire fighting. Is that enough? Read on......

Pritesh is a fresh MBA and is all set to take the new role of Sales In Charge of a Brand in an FMCG company. On his first day, his Boss told him that they were looking at a 20% growth from this brand in the current fiscal year, which was 50% higher than the growth delivered by the brand in last year. Confident that Pritesh was of himself, he happily accepted the targets and also told his Boss that he will be closing the year at more than the expected levels. Pritesh started enthusiastically  and was focused on solving the problems. As soon as any problem cropped up, he immediately referred to his academic books and came up with a relevant solution. He was efficiently tackling all the problems that were coming up, but somehow, something was not right. He was still not achieving his targets. In the half yearly review with his boss, it was reflected that Pritesh’s brand was growing at the same pace as last year and the targets were being missed. When confronted, Pritesh, as he genuinely believed, told him that the targets given to him were too high to be achieved. And then his Boss asked him, “Ok, what are you plans for achieving the targets in the next six months?”. Pritesh was blank.

A lot of times this is what happens to us. We want to deliver results but we forget the first step that is required for success of any project or delivering any result – Plan. One statement that I have come to believe in, is – “If you can’t put a plan on a piece of paper, there are no chances of being able to achieve the end result”. Isn’t this true for everything that we do in our lives? Now, think of this:

Now for the next six months, Pritesh took 3 days, only to strategize what would he do to get to the sales. He listed down all the possible ways to increase the sales, referred to his academic books and chalked out a month by month plan of the milestones he would want to achieve. Along with top line increase, he also jotted down what were other problem areas like Team Motivation and Margin Management and drafted out a complete plan for next year. Now, every month, he keeps a track of whether he has achieved his target or not.  He knows if the plan worked or not, and in case it doesn’t work he has a Plan B ready to be implemented.  A little deviation from his plan cautions him to take corrective actions. And you can fully well understand what the end result was with this approach.

Anyone who has ever undertaken a complex task, has learned the importance of careful planning. This is relevant to every step in life which you need to “Win”. A “Game Plan” in any sports or “Preparations” for a party at home are all examples of how we need to “Plan” to ensure success. “Good planning conserves resources, prevents wasted effort, and saves time and money. Good planning prevents small problems from becoming big problems.” What happens when you start building a house and in the middle of it, you realize that you have run short of money to complete it? Planning, not only helps in determining the feasibility of delivery of targets, but also for knowing in advance whether any additional resource will be required in achieving what has been targeted. Planning also helps in giving teams (both internal and external) and the support functions about the next steps.  

If your objective is bigger, you will plan accordingly. The bigger you plan, the farther you will go. We saw how easy it was for Pritesh to blame it on the high targets. He was not prepared for the big targets and the fact that achieving them was never going to be easy. If you don’t plan Big in life, there are lesser chances of you making it Big in life, isn’t it? 

At the same time, it is important enough to know that some of your plans can fail too. In such circumstances, we can’t let things happen to us. Instead, it is equally important for us to have a Plan B ready, as an acknowledgement of the fact that plans can fail, but we are ready enough to face it!

The first step is to Decide where to go – near which is easy or far with challenges. If you have decided where you want to go, now is the time to decide How do you go? And then, you do need to know the alternate route too, just in case the first one has roadblocks.  Have a Happy Journey!

PS: You can also reach me out at @agrawalsanjeev on twitter.