5.3 A better meeting

Hello everybody. Does anyone know where Marcus is this morning?

I don’t think he’ll be long. He was just taking a call when I walked past his office.

Alright, thank you.

Sorry. Sorry. Just had to take that call. Right, now. Thank you everybody for finding space in your diaries to come in today to discuss these important issues. I put an agenda together for this session and, as suggested by Alan here, emailed it to you yesterday. So have you all got a copy? Good. Good. Alan has again kindly agreed to sit in on our meeting to facilitate and help us with these long overdue decisions.

Thank you, Marcus. Before we get started, I’d like to explain to everyone a little about my role as a facilitator here. I’m here to help you explore the different areas under discussion so that we might come to some sort of resolution about the issues that are affecting you and your teams. Now, I know time is really precious here, so can I get everybody to agree to set aside two hours for the meeting?

[Murmurs from the group]

Yeah, great. OK, can I also get everybody to turn off their mobile phones please? It’ll just sort of help us focus our attention and lower any sort of disruptions if we’re talking about something important.

[All reach for phones and switch them off]

Good idea Alan.

Thank you.

Right, everyone, phones off. Well, let’s get started then. Louise, would you do the honours with the minutes?

Actually, Marcus, could I get Mark to take the minutes for this meeting? Louise has been taking them in previous meetings and I think it would be a good idea if you get involved in the discussion a little bit more, rather than just note taking

Yeah, of course, I don’t mind. I’m sure I won’t do them as well, but I’m happy to try.

I’m sure you’ll be just fine Mark. Now, the agenda.

Right. Thank you, Marcus, for sending this over to me in advance. It was very helpful and I’m sure everybody’s found this helpful and useful too. I just wanted to check before we begin that everyone’s happy to allow me to be the facilitator for this meeting? Yeah? Great. OK then. Right.

So, this group has been working on details for the office move to Chevely Building in five and a half months’ time now. Now, according to these minutes, you’ve met seven times and you’ve stated your goals are ‘To achieve a successful office move with the minimum disruption to staff …

Right, so the last item on the agenda, which should take us up to midday. So, if we could just look at item 1 – office layout. Now I know there is a strong feeling about this.

Well, it’s the most important item on the agenda as far as I’m concerned.

OK. Perhaps you’d like to bring your thoughts to the table Mark?

Well, I think that everybody here knows what my opinion is. I just don’t know how we’re supposed to concentrate on our work with, well, being surrounded by everybody chattering on phones, walking backwards and forwards to the kitchen or gathering around the photocopiers for a chat.

Well, bearing in mind that the decision has already been taken to move to the other building, along with the limitations that go with it, how do you think we can mitigate these issues for you and your colleagues?

Well, you can’t. It’s a nonsense.

Alright. Well, just imagine, for one minute, there was a way to reduce the disruption for you and your team. How do you think that would look?

Well, I don’t think there is a way to solve it entirely… [thinks] but, I suppose, that if we were positioned in the far corner, away from admin and the printer stations, it might help a bit. I mean it would still be noisy, though.

Alright, but that’s an option to consider. I mean, what does everybody else think? How do you think this solution could affect the issues with your own teams?

Well, I have to say, our concern is completely the opposite. We like to have banter during the day. It gets us thinking creatively and we bounce ideas off each other. The problem is… The problem I see is that we may be the very people upsetting Mark, but like him, we too like to work in a certain way. As long as we’re seated well away from their section – no offence Mark – we should all be happy.

OK. Well, there’s an option we haven’t heard before. Are the plans handy? [plans get unfolded on table]

Good. Right. OK. Well, let’s see where everyone would like to sit. If we can go round the room. Louise?

Oh, I don’t mind. Well, having said that, I suppose it could be awkward if we were spread out too much.

Spread out?

Well, the best bit about open plan working seems to me to be the chance to avoid using email so much. I don’t know about you, but I’m fed up of coming in to 200 plus emails every day, most of which could be avoided by just picking up a phone. [remembers where she is] Sorry, it’s a bit of a thing for me, emails. I just thought if we were all together, we wouldn’t need to email so much, that’s all.

Well, looking at the plan, there seems to be this area here that could suit your team. Michelle and her team could go here, and Grace could go into that bit there, and my little team could squeeze in this bit here by the window. Ah well, that all seems as though it works. If we go on to item 2 then, special requirements.

I’m not sure Marcus that we’ve all had the chance to discuss this properly yet. Michelle, is there anything you’d like to add?

Thank you Alan, yes there is. I’d like to say that I think that these plans have been carefully considered and that individual issues have also been taken into consideration. That said, I do think that we should be flexible, and if we are flexible, everybody should understand that there is some need, still, to compromise.

Go on Michelle.

Well, that window area here, that’s been reserved for the admin team because of the proximity between the recycling bins and the printers. If we were to move it here [pointing at plan], people would be continually walking backwards and forwards through other teams’ sections.

Thank you, Michelle. Marcus? Do you have any thoughts?

Well, surely the printers could be moved somewhere else.

Well, IT say they are already cabled up, so they don’t want to touch it. But I suppose we could always move it to the centre position – here.

Right. Well, let’s look at this a different way then. What you’re saying is, is that there are some things you have to live with and other things that you could change. Do you know what these fixed areas are? And what would you change if you could? Perhaps we could look at a different option here or explore the different options.

So I will talk to IT tomorrow to see if there’s any way they can add some additional cabling to this section here.

That’s a brilliant idea Michelle. Now, we’ve only got a few minutes left, so could I get everybody to summarise what they’ve agreed to do? Marcus?

Yes. I’ve agreed to double check with the heads of all departments for final special requirements on chairs, desks and IT equipment. I’ll send over the details to Estates and copy everyone in by Monday.

Thank you. Michelle?

And I’ll liaise with IT over the cabling issues and find out about whether or not we have any scope to move other sections around.

And I’ll be talking to the Estates about the delivery and collection of the packing cases and then we can let everyone know by what dates we need to pack up and be unpacked by.

I’ve agreed to be the contact point for when the final move details are circulated to the wider teams.

And I’ll deal with queries about the seating plan once the IT issue has been resolved and we’ve finally signed off on the plan. It’s much easier if I do it because I work across more departments than most of you.

Right. Well, all that’s left for me to do now is to arrange the next meeting, and to thank everybody for their contributions today. Just in the last few moments could I get everybody to reflect on what they’ve achieved today? Do we have any thoughts?

Well, I hope that I might speak for everyone when I say that I feel that we’ve covered an awful lot of ground today and that the picture looks a lot clearer now than it did when we started.

[Everyone nods in agreement]

Indeed, indeed. Yes, thank you everyone for your input, and to you Alan for all your help with this today. So, next meeting. Does two weeks’ time suit everyone?