Category: Meetings

Identifying the cleverest person in the room…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Business, Information Technology, Leadership, Learning, Meetings, Project Management, Psychology

IT professionals have experienced rapid innovation, constant engineering process evolution, progressive professionalism and quality improvement, and the commoditisation of technology and services over the last five decades. As an IT professional, the Badger’s worked with many clever and intelligent leaders, managers, and technical people who thrived on this continual dynamic change. Clever and intelligent people have always been at the heart of IT, but clever people don’t always have the greatest intelligence, and vice versa!

While fixing a dysfunctional project decades ago, the Badger had to attend a meeting involving the company’s Managing Director (MD) and other senior company staff and their opposite numbers from the customer to decide the project’s future. It was the Badger’s first time attending such a senior-level meeting. During the pre-meeting briefing, the MD sensed the Badger’s nervousness and reassured him that others would be doing the talking. As we entered the room containing the customer’s team, the MD winked at the Badger and whispered, ‘Tell me afterwards, who’s the cleverest person in the room?’  The meeting was difficult, but it concluded with agreement on a way forward. Deciding on the cleverest person in the room was also difficult. Afterall, how do you tell who is cleverest in a room of clever and intelligent people?

After the meeting, the MD playfully repeated the question and the Badger answered with what he thought the MD expected, namely that it was the MD! They chuckled, shook their head, said it was one of the customer’s team, and then went on to tell the Badger that cleverness and intelligence are different, but related, traits and that he should understand the difference to judge people and situations well. Cleverness is about speed of thought, ingenuity, emotional insight, adaptability, and creative problem-solving, while intelligence is about deep understanding and learning capacity. Clever people can think quickly, improvise, and solve problems in novel or unconventional ways, characteristics that are valuable in dynamic situations like debates, negotiations, or tricky interpersonal circumstances. Intelligent people, however, can acquire, understand, and apply knowledge in one or more domain, characteristics that are valuable in the likes of scientific research, planning, and the mastering of new disciplines. Clever people can be intelligent, and intelligent people can be clever, but the cleverest person in the room is always the person who has the best blend of both traits.

Learning more about the distinction between cleverness and intelligence over the years has been extremely useful. Since people are at the heart of the operations of any organisation, learning more about the difference not only arms you to pick out the cleverest person in the room, but also changes your perspective of those with impressive job titles who, the Badger’s learned from experience, are often unlikely to be the cleverest person in a room of other clever and intelligent people!

Victima non sum; victor sum…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Information Technology, Meetings, Opinion, Psychology, Training

It can be perplexing when you encounter someone in an organisation who seems to take great joy in causing you discomfort or embarrassment. There are, of course, meetings in any organisation that can be challenging because you are accountable for a project or business stream (for example), but these are usually conducted professionally and respectfully rather than with a primary objective to enjoy personal discomfort and embarrassment. It’s inevitable, however, that you will sometimes encounter an individual who enjoys creating discomfort and embarrassment as part of exerting their dominance. It’s an unpleasant dynamic to experience, especially in front of others, but it’s a dynamic that can reveal lots about the perpetrator.

Why do some individuals clearly enjoy making others uncomfortable and embarrassed? Well, they often have an underlying insecurity and use the creation of discomfort and embarrassment to exert their dominance, control, and superiority. Sometimes they use it as a pre-emptive defence against being embarrassed themselves. Sometimes, of course, they just lack emotional intelligence and are completely oblivious to the impact of their behaviour! As the popularity of reality TV shows illustrate, enjoying the discomfort of others is not unusual because drama draws attention.

How do you handle someone who enjoys making you feel uncomfortable or embarrassed? Firstly, draw on any assertiveness training you’ve had. It can be very helpful. Secondly, trust yourself. Take a deep breath or two, don’t get flustered, speak calmly and thoughtfully, and don’t be defensive. This helps preserve your dignity and shift the power dynamic. Thirdly, assert your boundaries. Signal that you will not tolerate interactions that you feel are malicious, unnecessarily personal, or bullying. Don’t be frightened of getting up and leaving the interaction if necessary.

The Badger was recently approached through a mutual acquaintance to meet two directors of a small company who were seeking advice about addressing problem IT projects. One, the CEO, was a gruff, volatile, egotistic character who belittled the Badger’s experience and ridiculed every answer he gave to questions. The Badger became uncomfortable, embarrassed, and – yes – quietly angry. The CEO tabled the monthly financial status numbers for a project and asked for a comment. The Badger glanced at it and said the project was failing! ‘Rubbish’ riposted the CEO. The Badger calmly rose from his seat, uttered ‘victima non sum, victor sum’, and ended the meeting.

The other director left the room too, apologized for the CEO’s behaviour, and asked how the Badger knew the project was failing. The Badger explained. It transpired that everyone knew it was failing, apart from the project sponsor, the CEO, who was in denial! The Badger declined the director’s plea to become their advisor. Just remember, when someone enjoys making you uncomfortable or embarrassed, keep calm, trust yourself, and keep ‘victima non sum, victor sum’ – I am not the victim, I am the victor – in mind…

Uncomfortable meetings…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Delivery, Information Technology, IT Project Management, Leadership & Management, Learning, Meetings

When a signed contract is in its delivery phase there are normally regular progress meetings between the two parties involved. There are often ups and downs during delivery, but for most IT sector contracts these bumps in the road are normally ironed out through these meetings and associated follow-ups. Some contracts, however, experience major problems that cause strained relationships and lead to confrontational interactions. Meetings between client and contractor can then become quarrelsome, uncomfortable, and unproductive. When this happens, no matter what training you’ve had, it requires iron personal discipline, resilience, and control over one’s emotions to avoid wasting energy by getting angry. That energy is better channelled to turn the tables in your favour.

The Badger has experienced many uncomfortable meetings, but two in particular stand out as memorable because they were challenging from both a human dynamics, and a contractual, perspective. The first related to an IT contract for a system to computerise a manufacturing process in a new facility being constructed by a major US prime contractor. There were delays in constructing the facility, and the prime contractor blamed these on the IT contractor. In one important meeting, the prime contractor’s lead resorted to shouting, thumping the table, and angrily questioning the Badger and his team’s competence. The second related to a contract delivering business process operations (BPO) for a public body. There were service difficulties because the client and contractor teams had different understandings of their contractual obligations. The client’s lead convened a meeting and vociferously blamed the contractor’s team for all the difficulties and for being unprofessional. The lead was in aggressive, transmit-only, finger-pointing, bullying, and raised-voice mode, and they would not allow others to speak.

These were uncomfortable, tricky meetings. In the face of vitriolic verbal onslaughts, they were handled by not arguing, staying calm, listening carefully, maintaining civility and professionalism, and then acting decisively once the meetings had ended! The decisive actions, which the Badger isn’t expanding on here, forced both clients to face up to their own contractual obligations and behaviour and to take steps to repair relationships. In both cases, when things had settled down, the clients admitted not only that the contractor could ‘look after itself’ commercially, but also admiration and respect for the composure, resilience, discipline and professionalism they’d seen from the contractor’s staff.

The Badger mentioned the above meeting dynamics to a young IT project manager recently. They were horrified and commented that they wouldn’t cope with such unacceptable shouty meeting dynamics today. The Badger smiled and suggested that  since humans are all different, then exposure to volatile characters and shouty, bullying meetings can be useful for personal development. With a look of disbelief on their face, the youngster called the Badger a dinosaur. The Badger laughed. That’s nowhere near some of the things he’s been called in the past!