I had a great chat with Rob Paterson on Skype today, comparing experiences of working with big organisations. We talked about how much advance planning there is for meetings. I’m not against planning per se, but a lot of it seems to be based on an assumption that the planner really does know better than the participants how the meeting should run. There’s also a lack of faith in the ability of people to come together and know what’s best in the moment; that’s why everything needs to squared off in advance.
I think the result of this kind of obsessive planning is dead meetings where people go through the motions. And no one finds out where the real enthusiasms lie.
In my imaginary Monty Python-based training course, I’d want to show this clip of Michael Palin on top form in the Meaning of Life.
