How To Avoid A Good Meeting

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Most of us spend a significant portion of our lives in business meetings. Often after a meeting I will hear people say it was a “good meeting”.  What they mean is that there was an intersection of information and emotional satisfaction. I rarely go to a meeting where the host berates people and hear it described as a good meeting. While being berated can be fun, it’s an activity most us try to avoid. Actually, most of us want to avoid anything that is emotionally unpleasant. Herein lies the problem with most business meetings, specifically meetings with suppliers.

The Illusion of Stability
Most people are inclined to believe that tomorrow will be extremely similar to today. This belief keeps us calm but diminishes our penchant for change.  Emotions are stirred when this illusion is broken in a meeting. When faced with the possibility that tomorrow may be different, most of us start with denial, move to anger, consider the bargaining process, lapse shortly into depression, jump back to anger and at some point in time move to acceptance. At this point change is possible. Eliciting this response is our goal when we have a meeting with our business partners.

The point of most supplier meetings is to discuss opportunities for improvement and put together a plan that allows these opportunities to be realized. It starts with a frank assessment of the issues supported by data. Sometimes this discussion will become emotionally uncomfortable. It will feel at that moment like a bad meeting. Be assured things are going well.

Don’t Worry If About Getting Christmas Cards in the Mail
Unless we state our issues very clearly, people are likely to hear what they want to hear. For example, you might say at a supplier meeting “We did not have a single lot rejected last quarter, but your on-time delivery was 42%. We would like to see that improved.” What you meant was, if on-time delivery is not improved the next time we meet, I will give all your work to another supplier. What they heard was that their performance needs to improve, but their quality was good. It’s a Yin and Yang conclusion that is unlikely to light a fire under their organization.

Break on Through
Don’t be afraid to tell them how this performance makes you feel, what you need and when. Being direct doesn’t mean you can’t engage in constructive problem solving. Realize your trying to break through a sophisticated defense mechanism designed to keeps us calm in the face of impending calamity.  It takes a bit pressure and precision to achieve our aim.  So, if the next time you have a supplier meeting and people look a little shell-shocked and fail to describe the meeting to others as a good meeting, don’t worry, be happy.

About the Author
Tom Petersen is the Managing Partner of ThreeCore, an operational consulting firm in Beverly, Massachusetts.  Tom consults for multinational companies engaged in the design and manufacture of high-tech products. His team is dedicated to helping companies create competitive advantages using innovative strategies and process-driven improvement. For more information go to www.threecore.com or follow Tom on twitter @3CoreConsulting.