As an introduction to my first “Howling” article, I’d like to state for the record that although I go by “Grilldog” not everything is going to be about grilling, nor is it all going to be food related. I’m sure anyone that watches my Public Access TV show on many fine stations around the world, like in Salina, KS, they know I rant about those corporate sponsored food shows all the time, you know the ones… they tell you they are going to teach you how to cook in a certain period of time and then show up with everything pre-measured, pre-wrapped, pre-proportioned, pre-arranged and a lot of other words that start with PRE. Therefore, I will dedicate my Howling article to other issues that I have to Howl about and provide you, hopefully, with some good, insightful Grilldog’s Tips to Live by.
Frequently, while on the set of my TV show, warm hearted, industrious fans somehow feel free to run up to Good ole Grilldog and exuberantly express their unsolicited advice. This advice could be on anything from Marketing, Production, Script, Sponsors, Location, Props, etc. Unfortunately, by the time I’m at this stage of shooting, everything has been taken into consideration, and I am not about to make changes unless I start to see everything going very wrong. However, if you’re a fan of my show, you’ll know the more wrong something goes, the better the result of the show! The question remains, how do I respond to these well-intended enthusiastic fans that won’t have them feel like their voices were not heard? If the truth be told, most people just want to be heard. Since I can’t stop production for a lengthy and in-depth philosophical discussion on why I can’t stop everything and integrate their suggestion. I listen, and say, “ah, let me see if I understand your suggestion.” I then repeat their suggestion and explain that a Board of Directors coordinates our production. The Board discusses the various aspects of the show, votes, and then their determinations decide the entire direction of our production. Our Board consists of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Marketing Director, Script Director, Producer, Director, Financial Manager, Pre and Post Production Manager and of course, Good ole Grilldog. I assure my outspoken fan that I will bring their suggestion to our next meeting. However, truth be told, meetings make me Howl!!!
With all of my years in the Commercial Industry and supporting Military/Government contracts I can safely say that 99% of meetings are a waste of time. Typically, they are a result of poor problem solving techniques by the individuals who are supposed to be in charge of a particular project or problem. His or her inability to personally do research, gain an understanding of the situation and develop a conclusion results in monopolizing everyone for hours on end. During these meetings the usual result is that no one on the team is getting any work accomplished because they are all usurped and doomed in a time vortex called, “the meeting”. As I stated, meetings are the result of poor problem solving techniques. Therefore, how should problems be solved?
Effective problem solving within an organization or group naturally begins with a problem. The solution of the problem is assigned to the person most qualified to solve it. Problems need understanding, just like people need to be understood. People gain understanding between each other by effective interpersonal communication. The communication involves sharing information with each other as well as providing insight and understanding. Therefore, the assigned problem solver needs to do research and gain insight into the problem by “leg work”. Either reading documentation or communicating with all groups and/or persons involved with the situation. Once the problem is understood, the next step is to develop a plan. Again, if the plan is out of the scope of the planner then the planner should again do “leg work” and find the most educated person on the subject and together work out the plan. There is no need to call a 3-hour meeting for the entire team if any one person’s input is answering “maybe” to one or two questions. At some point it should be relatively simple to produce some sort of an initial plan. At that point you distribute the plan to the key people, give them a turn around time and then consolidate their inputs. Typically, this can result in a fine laid out plan. Plus, the entire team has not wasted half a day of manpower.
In short if you are amazed that with all your meetings your production is lagging, you may be having too many meetings. If a problem arises and the first thing you do is call a team meeting, you are not effective. Believe it or not but one of my supervisors once called a meeting for the entire team to discuss the fact that we were having too many meetings and develop a plan to thwart that! I know, I know, what about my fan that I’m planning on taking their suggestion to my board members? The truth is, I really have a board of directors that only consists of myself…makes life a lot easier. Therefore if you wander into a local watering hole and recognize me over at the bar in front of the TV with a pitcher of beer in front of me, I’m not watching sports, or trying to get out of housework or getting drunk; I’m having a board meeting. Now that’s a Grilldog Tip to Live by.
Grilldog
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