Weekly meetings and how to keep employees excited

[adrianh]

>>Negative people in general just P*$# me off.

...but people that are too positive are also annoying. I worked with a guy, we used to call him ProzacMan, he would bounce off the walls all the time. We had to go to a client once to sort out a hell of a problem after their server crashed - old backups, faulty tape drives.etc...Yet this twat was standing there with a fat smile, all happy and going on about how its not a problem.

Anything extreme is problematic, negativity, positivity, optimism, pessimism, etc. Over positivity is painfull when you know that there are many issues that have been overlooked but being over negative brings others down. Being eternally optimistic is dangerous and being pessimistic is depessing.

As the Greeks said "Moderation in all things"

With regards to customers: "The customer is always right" is total garbage. You know, sometimes the customer can be a total twat, yes, I speak for myself too. I have a very short fuse early in the morning or if I'm in a foul mood and sometimes the service providers get to bear the brunt of it. I believe in the following "Provide a quality product at a premium price to a quality customer". I find that the customers that give me the most grief are the ones that spend the least money. They try to haggle over every price and honestly I do not have the time or inclination to haggle over a R300 luxury item. Buy it from me, and if you feel its too expensive then don't buy it from me. 80% of the customers are satisfied, 10% are overjoyed and 10% will never be satisfied (because it is their nature - some people are in their element when they can complain all the time).

[ava_camen]

snack time in between or after the meeting so they can look forward of something.

[cibecs]

Try a company blog!

[sikander7860]

make them stand up and do some stretches before the meeting.
Bring in some free coffee or tea.
Add some humour

[johnwarner75]

How long do you 'take to the floor' for? Long enough to send them to sleep?

[Blurock]

Managers in many corporate organisations still think that they have to have that weekly meeting. Most of the time it has no purpose and just p#$#ss off clients who are inconvenienced by not getting the service they require.

Often the message can be conveyed in 5-10 minutes, but the meetings drag on and on...

I also get frustrated when I'm looking for someone and have to hear that they are "in a meeting". A secretary or PA should rather say that her manager is consulting with clients or is out of the office and then offer to take a message.

Maybe my gripe comes from my early days in banking when a group of managers used to play cards at lunch time. They got so engrossed in their game that it sometimes continued well into the afternoon. Like the extended lunches.