Daniel Mezick's new book for the agile manager due out in March. He was so kind to offer me a preview, from which I quote.
CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION
Everything is changing, and changing more rapidly than ever before. The rate of this change is increasing like never before.
In 1978, Chris Argyris & Donald Schön published Organizational Learning.
In 1990, Peter Senge published The Fifth Discipline.
In 2001, a tribe of pioneering people in software wrote The Agile Manifesto.
In 2008, Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright wrote Tribal Leadership.
The Culture Game, first published in 2012, builds on the shoulders of these giants. The Culture Game is a how-to manual containing specific practices and principles for increasing group learning inside tribes, groups of about 20 to 150 people. It is a concise how-to manual of sixteen essential learning practices that you can use right now to encourage a greater ability to respond to change inside your teams, inside your personal network, and within your entire organization. What is next is up to you.
Ok, as I have not read much of the book yet, let me skip close to the end and see if there is some value for Polytopia. Intuition at work...
Here is to meetings, apparently (preview page 44)
Working agreements are exactly that - agreements. Establish working agreements by discussing the following when every meeting starts:
Core working agreements. Are there any previously established, core working agreements we are no longer honoring? See below for a description of how to develop core working agreements. These are the default for each meeting with this group of people. Discuss any amendments.
Who must leave. Discuss who in the room must exit before the meeting ends.
Start and stop time. Explicitly state these times.
Cell phone usage. Use of cell phones during meetings reduces engagement. Discuss acceptable cell phone use during this meeting.
Use of laptops. Use of laptops during meetings dramatically reduces engagement. Discuss acceptable laptop use (if any) for this meeting.
Breaks. After 45 minutes, people tend to “check out” as their focus drops. Provide a break of 7 to 12 minutes for every 45 to 50 minutes of sit-down meeting time.
Punctuality. Discuss the end-of-break boundary. Consider agreeing that the instant that the door closes, the agreed-upon break is over.
One conversation. Try to establish the rule that when one person talks, everyone else must listen. Discuss prohibition of side conversations and over-talking.
Anything else. Ask the group if there is anything else that makes sense to agree to, before we start.
Write down the understandings on a white board or flip chart paper on the wall. Make these agreements very visible.
Ah, this synapses with two recent findings in my universe:
- The Modern Meeting Standard as a framework from a quick'n'easy how-to book.
- What I heard about effects of attention span from a trainer for automotive service technicians. Qualification tests pass rate after a day of 90-minute sessions around 40%, after a day of 45-minute sessions usually above 70%.
Imagine you start applying this. How would it change your people interaction and meeting culture?
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