by Dwayne Phillips We can have too many people in the room to discuss something. We can also become locked in an inner circle where no one else understands what we are doing. There should be a balance. There are too many people in the room: Twenty people (pick a number) is too many. There […]
Entries Tagged as 'Meetings'
The Inner Circle Versus Too Many People in the Room
September 2nd, 2024 · No Comments
Tags: Analysis · Communication · Concepts · Ideas · Management · Meetings
Questions Without Answers Are the Easy Ones
March 28th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Questions without answers are the easy ones to ask and discuss. I recently saw a movie about folks building bombs. Large parts of the movie were discussions among scientists and engineers about building devices that kill people, but also save lives by stopping the killing. Those discussions were easy, much easier than […]
Tags: Competence · Group · Knowledge · Meetings · Questions · Time
The AI Pencil
February 12th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I share an idea for a manual writing instrument that I had several decades ago. Today’s technology might be ready for it. Several decades ago, I had this idea for a pencil, pen, or white board marker. I shared the idea with a few smart folks. Nothing became of it as the […]
Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Ideas · Meetings · Technology · Writing
The Majority and the Individual
January 8th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Yet another statement about what happens in meetings shows itself to be something to toss away. For some reason, meetings tend to have many statements that are supposed to be proven by time and such but are nothing but folly. I have written about some of these before such as “silence means […]
Tags: Accountability · Competence · Following · Group · Judgment · Knowledge · Management · Meetings · Synergy
Let’s Do Meetings Better
December 11th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We tend to have many meetings—”many” being subjective. Since we do this so often, let try to do it better. I worked for the Federal government for several decades. Government employees meet in groups several times every day. I have also worked for companies on government contracts. We met with the government […]
Tags: Decide · Improvement · Management · Meetings · Purpose · Simple
The Blank Sheet of Paper Test: Part 2
November 2nd, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Everyone claims agreement. Great. Let’s just test that statement with a blank sheet of paper. The beginning of this post is copied from a post a couple years back. Then we pick up with a different test. “We all agree on what we are to do!” claimed a person full of hope […]
Tags: Agreement · Commitment · Communication · Management · Meetings · Writing
The Meeting Is Over, Now
October 12th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Once a meeting ends, the after meeting begins and the real work is done. Can we do this better? I’ve seen it a thousand times—literally a thousand times. I’ve attended that many meetings. The meeting has its agenda and participants. The meeting is conducted. We are finished. People stay in the room […]
Tags: Adapting · Change · Learning · Management · Meetings · Thinking · Work
Ask the Next Question
October 2nd, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips One basic way to think through to the end is to ask the next question. “And then what happens,” a four-year-old child’s question that is asked repeatedly. Yes, some four-year-old children have endless curiosity. That is wonderful. That is learning. Let it flourish. Adults? Sometimes we just want the meeting to end […]
Tags: Learning · Meetings · Problems · Questions · Thinking
Whose Words?
May 1st, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips It is important to remember whose words we are discussing. If you mentioned something, we are discussing your words. If I mentioned something, we are discussing my words. There are ways to back away from our words. I read the words from the PowerPoint. They were wrong. Simply wrong. 1 + 2 […]
Tags: Accountability · Communication · Humility · Learning · Meetings · Mistakes
Culture and Size
March 30th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips A simple equation provides some insight into how culture must change with the number of people in the group. Years ago, the late author and consultant Jerry Weinberg told me of a little equation he used to note the shifts in culture in groups of people. The equation is 3N. If that […]