by Dwayne Phillips The meeting is over. Hereafter, we are having a friendly chat.
The Meeting is Over
August 10th, 2015 · No Comments
Tags: Management · Meetings
Integrity
April 9th, 2015 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We all say that we are people of integrity. But are we? I hate to write this blog post. I know I hate to do it because I have been meaning to write it for seven or eight years, but still haven’t done it. Well, here goes. We like to say that […]
Tags: Integrity · Management · Meetings · Observation
The Purpose of Most Meetings
February 2nd, 2015 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Contrary to management theory, meetings are not about (1) information or (2) decision. They are about nice people in a nice setting. I had always been taught that there are two types of meetings: ones in which the group decided something ones in which information was provided to the group Hearing those […]
Tags: Magic · Management · Meetings
The Bologna Environment
April 24th, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I’ve heard people in meetings tell me stuff that was just pure bologna. Then I had to ask myself why I created an environment where people told me bologna instead of the truth. I once managed a project where an engineer stood in a meeting and explained that a hardware part had […]
Tags: Communication · Management · Meetings
LibraryBox2
March 27th, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I build my own little LibraryBox2. I stumbled across this project recently and, since I am fascinated by libraries and distributing content, decided to try to build one. I am not good at this sort of thing, but why not try it? It worked! I have my own LibraryBox2 (see photo). LibraryBox […]
Tags: Communication · Internet · Library · Meetings · Technology · Wikipedia
So-and-so Won’t Attend
September 5th, 2013 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips That one person won’t be attending today. Everyone sighs in relief. What does that tell us? I’ve attended more meetings than most people. I have 28 years of government work to thank for that. There was almost always one or a few people scheduled to attend the meeting that I was happier […]
Tags: Fear · Meetings · People
Interesting or Stupid?
April 4th, 2013 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes a fiasco provides an excellent learning opportunity as we can study the group dynamics that led smart people to a stupid place. Then again, the fiasco may just be yet another example of stupidity. “That’s fascinating!” That may be a nice way of saying, “How could a group of such smart […]
Tags: Culture · Meetings · Problems · Work
Silence is…
September 20th, 2012 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I was once told that “silence is agreement” and that “everyone who has a brain knows that.” I disagree. Silence is silence. If you want to know what is behind silence, ask. It was 20 years ago. I had sat through some meeting on some forgotten topic where I rolled my eyes […]
Tags: Communication · Expectations · Management · Meetings
Just Say No (to a 1981 office computer)
May 31st, 2012 · No Comments
Sometimes it just isn’t worth being on the leading edge. It was 1981 and an attempt to purchase an office computer turned into a monster. 1981 – the Apple II was fun and the TRS-80 was, well it was something you could buy at Radio Shack. These little computer things could store data on floppy disks. […]
Tags: Computing · Government · Meetings
Three Magic Words that Erase a Negative
May 7th, 2012 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips When you say or hear a negative statement, add “up until now” to erase the negative. These magic words come from author and consultant Jerry Weinberg. They are great erasers. Here are some examples: I am not a good writer…up until now I stutter when I speak in front of people…up until […]
Tags: Communication · Meetings