You have heard of the fog of war. But have you heard of a BOGSAT — Big Official Group Sitting Around Talking? It’s a disease that infects organizations.
Let me share with you a story about a BOGSAT intervention.
I am an expert at leading meetings. I have a natural talent for following and guiding a meeting so the participants produce results and the participants rate it as an effective use of their time.
I was asked by the owners of an aerospace program to lead their weekly leadership meeting. I had finished a consulting engagement for the same program so I had attended their weekly meeting five times to status my work.
As a student of meetings, I noticed that their weekly agenda averaged 6 items but their average completion was 2 items, leaving 4 agenda items unprocessed.
Shelley, the project manager, was leading the meeting. She was inexperienced. She scheduled too many agenda items and didn’t maintain the boundaries of the discussions.
The meeting participants liked to talk. Bernard, the leader of customer support, summed it up the desire to talk nicely when he said, “We need to socialize more so we get to know each other.”
“Please tell me you’re joking,” I thought, “you can socialize after the meeting.”
But Bernard was deadly serious. He wanted to socialize during the meeting.
I met with the owners about leading the group, Robert spoke for the group, “We want your help changing the meeting so we produce the results we need to lead the program.”
Despite hearing all the right words from the owners, a voice inside of me sent a warning by saying, “BOGSAT. You will be tested.”
Those words would turn out to be prophetic.
The first meeting I led went well. I limited the agenda to three items. The participants followed my lead and we finished the agenda with a few minutes to spare.
The second meeting became a test that stuns me to this day.
We finished the first agenda item on schedule.
The second agenda item was a decision about whether to schedule a multi-day off-site meeting for the leadership team.
I told the participants we would go clockwise around the table participant-by-participant giving each an opportunity to speak.
Jacques, who was responsible for user satisfaction, said, “I need to know what’s going to be in the first release of our product.”
I felt an itch behind my ear. I scratched it
Shelley, the Project Manager, spoke next, “I need to know what Bob and John (the owners of the program) expect of me.”
My eyes burned. I rubbed them.
I said, “We appear to be drifting from topic of whether we will have an off-site meeting.”
I tried to focus the participants on the pluses and minuses of having an offsite meeting rather than on issues that could be discussed during that meeting.
But, Robert, an owner, said “Jacques and Shelley have brought up important questions. They must be discussed first.”
My stomach twisted. “BOGSAT!” I thought, “The meeting is about to drift.”
I heard myself say, “No, we don’t have to discuss those questions.”
Robert gave me a stern look.
I said, “This meeting is a mirror to what is happening in other program meetings. The leadership team needs to show that it finishes its work on schedule.”
What was I doing?
I explained to Robert, “If we don’t focus on a single agenda item the discussion will drift and we won’t complete the agenda.”
Robert asked me. “What do you think this meeting is about?”
“It’s a leadership meeting. Leaders make decisions and keep pushing the program forward.”
Was I out of my mind?
I didn’t stop. I said, “If all the participants want to do is talk, why don’t we all go to a bar. At least we can have drinks while we talk.”
I was definitely out of my mind.
“If we are going to keep doing it this way, I’m done leading the meeting.”
I stood up and took down my flipcharts that contained the agenda and the meeting memory.
I sat down.
Silence.
It seemed like an eternity until John, another owner, said, “We need to support strong meeting leadership.”
A new choice was now available to the group. They accepted it.
I felt dazed. I was still there. I hadn’t lost the consulting assignment.
I don’t recommend this intervention for everyone. It worked for me. It might not work for you.
I do know that John, the owner I mentioned earlier, told me later, “What you did then was the best thing that could have happened. It changed us.”
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