Richard A. Moran* has witnessed many acts of cruelty at meetings — from public dressings down to Friday 4pm announcements that people are no longer needed.
From time to time most of us have been participants in a meeting where we witnessed cruelty.
The most common form of overt cruelty in meetings is when someone is singled out and berated.
The tongue-lashing can come from a supervisor or really anyone in the meeting — and it is never a pleasant experience when it occurs. Everyone is embarrassed.
My sense is that this form of cruelty is becoming rarer as the workplace becomes a more nurturing space.
A culture that allows for such cruelty is one you should run away from.
Other forms of meeting cruelty are more subtle.
For example, when a ‘know it all’ asks the presenter a question knowing that the presenter has no way of knowing the answer.
Or when that same ‘know it all’ says: “That number doesn’t look right” to the embarrassment of the presenter.
Another very simple form of cruelty is how seats are assigned. Who gets to sit at the table as opposed to the ‘peanut gallery’ at the side, can be a cruel signal.
Meetings that go way over the allotted time are cruel, especially when the extra time eats into a meal or the happy hour.
Meetings that drone on with no end or outcome in sight are, by definition, cruel. The standing meeting where nothing ever gets done is a scheduled form of cruelty.
Maybe the cruellest meeting of all is the one that is called for 4pm on a Friday.
It is rarely the case that something good comes out of a late Friday meeting. That timeslot is often reserved to announce redundancies.
It is otherwise the time when a supervisor might be taking note of the attendance. As in, who is still working and who is on the way to the bar.
If you want to make the work culture just a little bit better, cancel those Friday 4pm meetings.
What other acts of meeting cruelty have you witnessed?
*Richard A. Moran is the Managing Partner at Blue Book Ventures and a San Francisco-based business leader, workplace pundit, bestselling author, consultant and venture capitalist. He can be contacted at richardmoran.com.
This article first appeared at richardmoran.com.
