PM - Be Brave: Have a Bad Meeting

오랫만에 하버드 비지니스 리뷰의 글 하나 올립니다.
요새는 영 볼만한게 없더니 간만에 읽을만한 글 하나 왔네요. 훔...^^
요약하면 회의 때 많이 싸워라...  이겁니다.
웃고 즐기는 회의 그만해라... 이거죠.^^
좀 많이 찔립니다.

전 많이 소심해서 싸우고 싫은 소리하면 날 싫어할까봐... 그런 말 못하거든요.
아니 내가 일하는데 방해될까봐 그런 말 안하거든요...
그러니 늘 이모양인가?ㅡㅡ;

제가 참 좋아하는 분 중에 내가 칼자루만 쥐어 봐라... 너네들은 다 죽었다... 이런 분도 계시긴 합니다만...^^

여러분은 어떠세요?
싫은 소리 할 땐 하시나요? 아니면... 못하거나? 안하거나?
전 하고 싶은 말이 참 많은데... 못해요...
들어 줄 사람이 없거든요...ㅡㅡ;

Be Brave: Have a Bad Meeting
10:21 AM Wednesday October 6, 2010
by Dan Burrier

It may be contrarian, or just plain paranoid, but there are no five words that worry me more than, "we had a great meeting."

Why? Because rarely is the purpose of a meeting the meeting itself. And often the manic pursuit of making it a good meeting creates a bad result.

What is good? If "good" means that the gathering of people, whether physical or virtual, truly moved the team closer to our core and shared business goals, then it was a good meeting indeed, in fact, great. Celebrate.

But I find too often that when we say "good" we mean "they agreed" or "we got them to say yes" or "we sold them" or "we escaped with our skins" or "we got our way" or "I think they liked us." Whereas often, very often, it is disagreement, discomfort, "no," and a complete lack of classic salesmanship that truly moves the ball forward.

In our work at Ogilvy, I often remind teams that "we're not being paid millions for a meeting at 10am in room 8A." Rather, we are entrusted to build brands, develop market strategies, create sales, and spark true market movement. It is our job to carve out new space for our clients, to set new corporate and consumer behaviors, to create a distinction between need and want, to forge trusted relationships with consumers, markets, countries and geographies.

This is hard work. It's not always pleasant. It is not about the meeting. And it's not always about making the sale.

If you make the sale just to make the sale, you put the relationship at risk. Conversely, put the relationship and the business goal first; go in listening, be willing to be wrong, to adapt, to change, and you may end up simply generating tremendous success, happiness and wealth for everyone instead.

Of course, the person on the other side of the table must be willing to play by these rules as well. Our very best clients value their human relationship with us (and we with them): they share their goals truthfully and transparently, they are willing to disagree and be disagreed with, and they know that sometimes discomfort is the path to greatness. The best of the best — the ones whose businesses achieve a "category of one," that create new movements, that move their brands off the category curve of dull conformity — they are the ones who not only get this, but ask for and encourage it.

It takes bravery on both sides to have a bad meeting that creates great results.

Things to do and watch out for:

1. Immediately celebrate meetings in which people agree, things are bought and sold, smiles are ever-present, if and only if the ball is moved forward. There's nothing wrong with happiness; just make sure the job gets done.
2. Also immediately celebrate "bad" or trying meetings in which people disagree, nothing is sold, nothing is bought, brows are furrowed, and the outcome is more work. Doing the right thing is hard work. Sometimes it takes more than one try.
3. Disinvite those who "really want" to go to the meeting, with no reasons other than "I deserve to be there," "I want MY voice to be heard" or "it's mine." The pursuit of personal approval, organizational advancement or territorial gain never moves the business objective forward.
4. Clearly define the purpose of the meeting—a specific end goal—not just at the start of the meeting itself, but in the invitation. Online, email-based meeting invites have led us collectively to ruin. Don't use hieroglyphic meeting names. Be clear. Succinct. Purposeful. It will help get the right people in the room. And the wrong people out.
5. Love iteration, evolution and the gut rule of "too good to be true." There's always the meeting after the meeting, the inevitable change that comes in by email or phone call. This is a complex, iterative, challenging business environment and we may as well learn to love it.

Either that or antacid.

Dan Burrier is Chief Innovation Officer of Ogilvy & Mather, North America.