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- A possible meeting protocol
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- Another take on opening PCs, or not
- Getting some process going
- Selling a more open environment to management
- Running an effective meeting
- Licensing rules for virtual machines
- The ROI of metrics
- Legal challenges to virtual machines
April 04, 2008 | Comments: (0)
A possible meeting protocol
Dear Bob ...
[In response to "Running an effective meeting," Advice Line, 3/24/2008)] An old military tradition when soliciting consensus or opinion on a specific topic is to ask the meeting participants in reverse seniority order. The thinking there was that you'd get the person's real opinion, rather than hearing him parrot the senior officer present if you went in the order of seniority.
Do you think that this is a worthwhile approach in civilian meetings?
- Old Military Traditionalist
Dear OMT ...
My orthodox Jewish friends tell me the Talmud offers similar guidance. In capital cases, the rabbis who form the deciding council speak in order from most junior to most senior, for the exact reasons you cite.
I don't know how applicable this is to business settings, since the rank of the people who participate in most planning meetings isn't as clearly fixed.
With one exception - I've advised leaders numerous times to speak last ("Knowing when to speak," Keep the Joint Running, 12/8/2008).
- Bob
Posted by Bob Lewis on April 4, 2008 01:19 PM
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